Despite its flaws, Sonic Heroes is a truer, and more unique 3D Sonic game in comparison to all of those prior.
The overall plot for Sonic Heroes is variable upon each of the characters, much like the Adventure games. This time, however, it is all separated by the teams of the game. Team Sonic's goal is to find Eggman in order to prevent him from taking over the world, Team Dark is trying to find Eggman for revenge and treasure, Team Rose is on a hunt to find Froggy and Cheese the Chao's brother, and Team Chaotix are doing a job for a client. Throughout the story the characters meet one another and have some sort of battle.
The overall gameplay is broken down into four different teams which have varying types of gameplay. Each team has three characters with the types of Speed (the fastest, can use a homing attack and is used the most) Fly (one character carries the other two do reach certain heights and distances) and Power (pretty much to clean through most of the enemies.) Team Sonic has gameplay that is pretty much the base for all of the other teams, Team Dark has more difficult stages, Team Rose has much more easier stages, and Team Chaotix's stages are more objective based.
Like the previous two 3D Sonic games, the quantity of emblems translates to something. In this term it is for unlockable multiplayer modes. These will mostly be a hit and miss for everyone from the traditional racing to battle modes.
All of the games' graphic design is completely from the ground up while they could had easily imported models from the Sonic Adventure games for the engine use. The models are shinier than that of the previous games and are more significantly colorful. Speaking of, the entire game is just blasting with color making for a bright and cheery setting which rather suits the series well like it did for the Genesis games.
Your technical experience with Sonic Heroes is ultimately dependent on the platform you are playing on. While there are some drops in the frame rates in the terms of multiplayer, the entire game otherwise runs very smoothly at a consistent frame rate. The PS2 version however is noted to have more problems than others with it, supposedly struggling to keep it up.
The overall controls are pretty smooth with really only one large exception: the horrible camera. This thing just gets in your way quite often and there are occasions where I die because of its mishaps. Controlling the thing itself can be a bit of a problem too, as it can get a little too sensitive on some occasions. Other than that, everything is responsive and the game feels quite well along and cooperates with the game's physics to help create a fun atmosphere.
What I also enjoyed about the gameplay is the new feature called "Team Blast". This can be used after doing enough damage to enemies and is an attack that can help you if you feel if you're in a tight situation. This has unique effects for each character and none are really negative unless you're trying for a speed run which in some occasions (for Dark Stages) can delay some progression.
The music for the game acts like it's deeply linked into the rest of the game, and it looks, sounds and feels like it. It just fits the game so well that it's kind of hard to deny. While every team shares the same soundtracks for stages it doesn't affect the game negatively.
The voice work however is in the end; a really heavy love or hate it. While the cast from the Adventure games return with a few add-ins for some characters, it sometimes just feels so out of place. There also sometimes seem to be awkward lines that come up every now and then in the story. I would list the biggest one, but that would spoil the plot.
The replay value is a hit or miss. While there are four different teams to choose from, their stages are barely any different. There are only a few tweaks here and there to make them different from each other and frankly it's a bit of a turn off from playing the rest of the story modes when you know the other parts are nearly the same. It can get challenging and sometimes tedious though if you plan on getting all of the emblems to unlock the harder stages, but sometimes it seems as if it's not worth the trouble.
Your overall experience with Sonic Heroes can likely be affected by the platform you're playing it on. The GameCube version is the one that comes to mind when I personally think about the game, the team had some troubles upon developing it for the Xbox since a lack of experience of developing for the platform, and the PS2 version suffers from a sometimes jittery frame rate. Fans of the Sonic series should give this a try definitely, but bystanders are probably just better off staying with the Adventure games.
Presentation – 7.5/10
Graphics – 8/10
Gameplay – 8/10
Sound – 8/10
Replay Value – 6.5/10
Overall – 7.6/10 (7.5/10 upon rounding.)