How does the Sonic fanbase feel about Sonic Heroes?

[8ther]

Looking back, what exactly does the majority of the fanbase think of Sonic Heroes? is it considered to be one of the finest in the series like Sonic 3 & K? or is it as bas as 06 and Sonic 4?

[Chaos Incarnate]

Never played it, but probably will soon.

 

It's a very mixed game among the majority of the fanbase, the team-based gimmick seems to get a lot of praise, but I've seen a lot of people criticize the control, finding it to be very slippery. 

 

In shorter words, I think the majority of the fanbase liked the premise, but thought the execution could have been handled better.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

In shorter words, I think the majority of the fanbase liked the premise, but thought the execution could have been handled better.

AKA Nearly every single Sonic game that ever existed (with some exceptions).

[Doc]

It's mixed really, I have seen those who have called it the worse, and those who have found it the best. Games like Sonic Adventure, and Sonic 2 get more praise though. It's definitely no Sonic 06 and maybe it's as good as colours, in terms of how well the game was perceived.

 

Personally, I adore the game as it was one of the first sonic games I've ever played and it blew my mind. I found it so fun playing the game and I found it enjoyable getting to the end of the level. Also I thought the team formation is a pretty clever idea.

[Diogenes]

It's not as outright horrible as ShtH or '06, but it's a bad game and the point that I consider when the series really started to fall apart. They stripped out almost anything meaningful from the story, with the characters just sort of wandering forward and fighting each other for no reason. The character models have this ugly, plasticy look to them. And the gameplay is...several different layers of terrible, more than I have the energy to unpack at the moment. It's...a disappointing sort of game.

[spinny]

I once did a graph on my opinion of the Sonic series' stabability and what stuck out to most was this...

 

 

While I don't believe Heroes is a better game than Sonic Adventure, I still think it's a great game to play at times and I'd take it over Sonic Adventure 2 or Shadow the Hedgehog anyday.

 

Granted, the PS2 version is a steaming pile of dog shit with the absurd framerate, glitches, etc.

 

But going by the GameCube and PC versions (my usual turn-tos for playing the game), it's an absolute blast.

 

Frog Forest is easily one of my favourite levels in the entire franchise and the nostalgia of 10 years ago that has never faded away in recent years really holds the game up in high regard in my personal opinion. The music is also great to listen to when working on a story, art, etc. It's almost as variable as the Sonic Adventure soundtrack; keyword: almost.

 

The controls are slippery, yes. But I would rather take this game's controls over twitchy and just plain BROKEN 06/Secret Rings style controls. I also believe that this game has slightly better controls than Unleashed. Yes, it takes warming up. But when you do, the result is so satisfying.

 

 

Sonic Heroes has a very similar setup to the Classic trilogy; two acts, a boss fight, then onto the next trope. The tropes seen in this game are often claimed as some of the best in the series; and I have to agree with that. The tropes are imaginative (...sans Green Hill Clone Seaside Hill :U) and provide me enjoyment every time I play through them.

 

Overall, Sonic Heroes is an enjoyable game that I've had a blast with every now and then over the past 10 years. It isn't the best, but I'm not gonna lie... to me, it's up there.

[KHCast]

It introduced interesting and varied tropes, and had some great music to go with them...aside from that it's pretty mixed among the fanbase. It's not worse than 06 or SHTH imo, but it's not one of my favorite Sonic titles. The game can be slippery when playing as the characters and at times just a pain to play. The level design is one of my biggest pet peeves with the game, especially later down the line. So overall, I say it's meh.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Goofy

[Doc]

It introduced interesting and varied tropes, and had some great music to go with them...aside from that it's pretty mixed among the fanbase. It's not worse than 06 or Heroes imo, but it's not one of my favorite Sonic titles. The game can be slippery when playing as the characters and at times just a pain to play. The level design is one of my biggest pet peeves with the game, especially later down the line. So overall, I say it's meh.

 

 

Eeer

 

 

How does the Sonic fanbase feel about Sonic Heroes?

[KHCast]

Eeer

Edited. I'm just so used to putting that game in that spot.

[Indigo Rush]

Eh.

 

It has a lot of good qualities to it, the presentation in terms of visuals, art design and music are very much classic. It definitely had some kind of nostalgic essence to it that I can't seem to shake off for whatever reason. It was a fairly decent game...

 

...but it doesn't really stack up well nowadays. Our expectations for gameplay, storytelling and structure are so much more refined and developed that I can't see the fanbase going gaga over Sonic Heroes like it did when the game first came out.

 

It did a lot of cool things, but at its very core, it's barely passable in terms of the standard of quality that Sonic should be known for. It's just... eh.

[TheOcelot]

Heroes was for a lot of fans their first Sonic game/first 3d Sonic game, so it does have nostalgia going for it. The character co-op was interesting and the two acts and no hub-worlds structure was nice, as was having special stages for the chaos emeralds.

 

To be honest I can't stand this game. My experience comes from the terrible PS2 port which doesn't help. I dislike the:

 

• Controls which are dreadful, so slippery. The homing attack is a mess. The special stage and grinding controls are even worse.
• The graphics (on the PS2 version) look horrible. They have a kind of plastic feel to them. 
• The levels go on way too long. Badly overstay their welcome.
• Forcing you to go through the same levels four times is absolute bullshit.
• The boss fights drag, go on too long, and the team fights make no sense.
• The soundtrack with the exception of a few nice tracks is rather bland.  
• The story is rather dole and uninteresting. Shadow's sudden return from the dead is not explained.
• Shadow should never have been in this game in the first place.
• The in-game and character switching dialogue gets tedious very quickly.

It's aged pretty badly in my opinion.

 

Sonic Heroes is a game that I am never touching again. 

Edited October 11, 2013 by LiviD dEAth benDer

[Nepenthe]

Heroes is the first Sonic game I had to finish spurts. Even as a kid, it wore me out. The controls on their own are too haphazard to become comfortable with, ranging from slipperiness on the ground, heavy stalling when bouncing on things in mid-air, to those really finicky rails. The mechanics of the team gimmick don't make up for it either, being so specialized that the potential for interesting strategy and puzzles are reduced to a veritable game of rock, paper, scissors, as it lacks an undercarriage of unique design elements and enemies throughout the game to contextualize the maneuvers at your disposal in different ways and make it a little less brain dead. Where there was real opportunity for some interesting puzzle-platforming and room for some "aha! I know what to do!" moments, instead there's flow-breaking combat moments that only get more frequent the more you go on. The monotony of it all is further hammered home by the fact that the four campaigns are nearly identical- no different level order (which makes one wonder how they even met up at all before the ending), no exclusive levels for different teams. Just the same seven or eight areas, in the same order, with the same mechanics that beat the same enemies and obstacles every time.

 

On top of this is the fact that the storyline is more thin than the last two games. While we were actually told about in the marketing cycle, the game once again fails to make up for the disparity by showcasing character interactions that run completely counter-intuitive to the teamwork morals of the game, along with a good dose of Flanderization on part of poor Amy. Metal Sonic is once again poorly utilized for his potential and reputation, enacting an underdeveloped coup and turning into a dragon with every single super power under the sun which contradicts to his appeal as an actual character in this franchise, that being that he's supposed to compete with Sonic on the hedgehog's own terms.

 

The best thing about this game within the context of its release is its graphical fidelity compared to the Adventures. The 3D and FMVs obviously got better, most noticeably with the English dialogue finally being properly lip synced, but nowadays its actual graphical appeal is questionable with plastic-y looking character models and color, lighting, and textural schemes that don't make much sense and frankly just look jarring and garish. It wishes it were the modern games, or even Sonic Lost World, an unreleased game that does the whole "optimistic color scheme with every trope under the sun" significantly better that I can't in good conscience give Heroes even that anymore.

 

There's the music too, I guess, and while I am a sucker for the Special Stage theme (<333) and "What I'm Made Of," I frankly don't remember most of the music, mainly because I don't even care enough to go back and listen to it. It's probably Adventure or Unleashed levels of God-tier for all I know. But at this point, I can't be arsed to look into it.

 

Despite all of this, I don't really hate the game or anything to that degree. It's too irrelevant for me to hate, which is kind of a tragedy in and of itself as- with most of the other 3D titles- there are awesome ideas buried under its outer layer that I would like to see redone by the talent working at New and Improved Sonic Team, and these ideas for one reason or another won't get that chance.

[Hack_Hedgehog]

Have to say, It's one of my favorite sonic games currently out, it's not the best but it will forever have a special place in my heart <3

[Cyalume]

I once did a graph on my opinion of the Sonic series' stabability and what stuck out to most was this...

 

 

While I don't believe Heroes is a better game than Sonic Adventure, I still think it's a great game to play at times and I'd take it over Sonic Adventure 2 or Shadow the Hedgehog anyday.

 

Granted, the PS2 version is a steaming pile of dog shit with the absurd framerate, glitches, etc.

 

But going by the GameCube and PC versions (my usual turn-tos for playing the game), it's an absolute blast.

 

Frog Forest is easily one of my favourite levels in the entire franchise and the nostalgia of 10 years ago that has never faded away in recent years really holds the game up in high regard in my personal opinion. The music is also great to listen to when working on a story, art, etc. It's almost as variable as the Sonic Adventure soundtrack; keyword: almost.

 

The controls are slippery, yes. But I would rather take this game's controls over twitchy and just plain BROKEN 06/Secret Rings style controls. I also believe that this game has slightly better controls than Unleashed. Yes, it takes warming up. But when you do, the result is so satisfying.

 

 

Sonic Heroes has a very similar setup to the Classic trilogy; two acts, a boss fight, then onto the next trope. The tropes seen in this game are often claimed as some of the best in the series; and I have to agree with that. The tropes are imaginative (...sans Green Hill Clone Seaside Hill :U) and provide me enjoyment every time I play through them.

 

Overall, Sonic Heroes is an enjoyable game that I've had a blast with every now and then over the past 10 years. It isn't the best, but I'm not gonna lie... to me, it's up there.

That big of a drop between SA1 and SA2, huh? Whats the deal with people hating that game? I don't understand.

[Nepenthe]

The sad yet annoying thing about SA2 is that its aging, as well as backlash against this mystical majority of people who still praise it as the best Sonic game, has completely overtaken the recorded knowledge of its actual reception at the time. I feel like people nowadays honestly think that SA2 was just pure shit when it came out partly because they're pissed that some 12 year old kids still find fun in it, when that isn't the case. The line for when the base broke really needs to stop going backwards, when I feel like 2005 was the blatant downhill spiral of it all.

[TheOcelot]

The sad yet annoying thing about SA2 is that its aging, as well as backlash against this mystical majority of people who still praise it as the best Sonic game, has completely overtaken the recorded knowledge of its actual reception at the time. I feel like people nowadays honestly think that SA2 was just pure shit when it came out partly because they're pissed that some 12 year old kids still find fun in it, when that isn't the case. The line for when the base broke really needs to stop going backwards, when I feel like 2005 was the blatant downhill spiral of it all.

 

This so much!

 

SA2 was far from perfect and had it's fair share of problems which Sonic fans rightfully point out, but the hatred towards SA2 for being the most popular Sonic game is quite frankly pathetic.

 

For me the dark era started with Heroes, proceeded to ShTH and ended with Sonic 06. I was shocked at just how bad Heroes was when I first played it. That is of course just my opinion. You like what you like which is perfectly fine.

Edited October 11, 2013 by LiviD dEAth benDer

[iDEATH]

I never had a saturn or a dreamcast so Sonic heroes was the first Sonic game I owned and was able to play since the megadrive era.

 

It's not perfect by any means, that fucking casino level and rail.....fucking.....canyon oh my god.....but it's a decent enough game. It's pretty fun.

 

Don't think I ever completed it though now I think about it....those special stages....

[Vertekins]

Heroes eh?

 

I recall how amazingly flat an experience it was back in very early 2004 when it released, having practically none of the variety/scope of the overall game design or refinery in areas such as characterization and story of the two games that preceded it and never used it's gimmick to any truly clever degree, a problem that's still been prevalent for the past 3 years in the Sonic series today. Sonic Team haven't learned from Heroes really when it comes to monopolizing on their ideas but that's for another topic.

 

It's aged pretty badly and the overly-long stages tend to become a right chore to stumble through because level design is;

 

- Fixated with bottomless pits. Rail Canyon? Pits. Frog Forest? Pits. Bingo Highway? Pits. Hang Castle? Pits, pits goddamn pits.

- Doesn't really use the characters abilities in a particularly fun or imaginative way.

- Makes the mistake of giving enemies swathes of HP and making a lot of them very irritating. Spiky Flappers, Armored Egg Hammers, Klagon's and groups of Cameron's can go die in a fire.

 

I'll give it it's dues, the level tropes are truly awesome and a refreshing change of pace after the Adventure games with their very 'real world' locations, Heroes bringing in a large variety and including some uncommonly-seen very cool tropes like haunted, canyon, sky etc and the music was pretty cool.

 

And eww, I always strongly disliked the character models in this game both in-game (WTF have they been polishing themselves with? Shiny McShine fur wax?) and in CGI. It's a mildly fun game but it's flaws are copious and glaring.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

The sad yet annoying thing about SA2 is that its aging, as well as backlash against this mystical majority of people who still praise it as the best Sonic game, has completely overtaken the recorded knowledge of its actual reception at the time. I feel like people nowadays honestly think that SA2 was just pure shit when it came out partly because they're pissed that some 12 year old kids still find fun in it, when that isn't the case. The line for when the base broke really needs to stop going backwards, when I feel like 2005 was the blatant downhill spiral of it all.

That and the whole kneejerk reaction to all things darker and edgier. One moment we're having legitimate complaints towards cursing and guns, the skip over several years and we have a tizzy over just the word "genocide" in Lost World.

 

Now about Heroes? It had some good ideas, good visuals, and an all around interesting concept. The team play could be seen as an extension of the 2-player coop with Tails back in the Classics except now you have an extra partner to help you out. The different stages are gorgeous and varied in appearance, and it's like Heroes wasn't afraid to be grounded in some of it's levels while going off the wall in others.

 

Really, there are a lot of things to salvage from this game.

 

The problems with it? The story is one of the big ones. With Team Sonic, here you are talking about "DA POWAH OF TEAMWURK" and yet you get into teamfights other groups like Team Dark when they're both going after the same thing! At least when it came to other teams, there was the excuse of a misunderstanding...a misunderstanding blown completely out of proportion at times, or just out of nowhere for some, but at least some work was put into them.

 

In addition to that the story was completely barebones and didn't connect its dots very well. Why did Metal Sonic stage a coup on his master to beat Sonic when he could have worked with him for the same thing? How did Shadow survive the ending to SA2 (which gets explained at the last damn second in the next game of all places)? What the fuck does being Sonic Heroes have to do with defeating Metal Sonic? It's all a bit of a mess, although you can see where some work was put into some places while excuses were thrown everywhere else. Characters a flanderized and given little depth to the point they suffer as cliches or bare archetypes instead of being characters, and as a result of the team grouping it seems as tho no character is allowed to tag with another group, limiting their interaction with each other and denying a lot of variety that continued even into the later games after it.

 

And the script is all around narmy and cheesy. I know SA2 had some weird moments, but this is just cringing to listen to at certain scenes.

 

The HP of the enemies you fight is just too DAMN HIGH! The weakest mook takes, what, three hits to kill at your lowest level? That is too much. I'm not against the idea of making enemy more burly, but if the weakest enemy takes more than one hit, there's a problem. And that's without getting into the stronger ones that take tens times as much to take down, or that and are invincible and require chance to expose their weak points to hit them.

 

And then there's the overuse of pits and grinding. I could understand it in some places like Sky Fleet, but I expect far more ground that what was in this game.

 

The game is so-so all around. It's much more passable than the likes of ShTH and Sonic 06, but it can come off as worse than the Adventures in some aspects.

[Neon The Hedgehog]

To me Sonic Heroes was ok. Its not my favorite but its neither is it my least favorite. I liked that you could play as some of the lesser used characters, like the chaotix. Sure the game had issues, all games do on some degree or another. But I would not call Heroes as much of a failure as 06.

     Mostly because of this: The levels in heroes were rememberable to me. Each one was unique and fun to play. In fact casinopolis is my favorite level because everything was made of bright neon lights, even the palm trees. Even though the game has some glitches, the level designs themselves were nice. It was a lot of fun to play and I go back to that level from time to time.

            Whereas with 06 none of those levels stuck with me. There is not one level that I feel like revisiting because I dont remember any of them. I honestly cant say whether I like 06 or not because it was not unique enough to stick in my mind. It was kind of a blur of blah. Although I do appreciate the music of 06 a little more than the music of Sonic Heroes. But I like all sonic music so that is not saying much.

[azoo]

Sonic Heroes was poop.

Sure, it had its good ideas and concepts, but almost every Sonic game has had that somewhere hidden in the mold. I guess the kicker for Heroes is that it's good ideas and concepts were a bit more obvious to see than the games that quickly came after it.

Every single time I try to play the game I try to convince myself its not that bad, but it easily is one of the most unbearable titles in the series.

Almost every bit of dialogue and interaction between characters in the game is embarrassing, the story's integrity (and thus the motive behind the game) is in the negatives, the visuals are a garish plastic-sheeny blend between the classic and SA2 style, and the game is slippery, jerky and absolutely lacking of decent pacing.

That last bit, combined with the fact that they wanted you to play the game four times through was the straw that breaks the camel's back for me. There isn't much of anything that makes this game slightly fun to play, or enjoyable to take in, its just obnoxious in its presentation and its gameplay.

In fact, the only obvious pluses I can give to the game itself is that some of the environments were neat, the music was pretty alright (minus "We Can".. good lord LOL), and... geez, I got nothing. The game just wasn't very good. At all. And like said, the environments, as well as stepping back from such heavy sci-fi / realism influence that was in SA2 was a step up. Heck, even a better focus on more than one character on the screen at a time was a decent idea, although Sonic 4: Episode 2 did a (sadly) much better job.

Heroes wasn't the obvious decline in the franchise like the two games that followed, but it definitely was the beginning of it, IMO.

[Stritix]

It's a decent game. It doesn't really do anything too wrong, but it doesn't do much right either. It's just kind of... there. The lack of story was disappointing, but the game had a unique charm to it. It was quite fun to play despite its flaws. I wouldn't mind seeing a HD rerelease sometime.

[Soniman]

I think it's a fun game. Would play again, in fact, I should do that soon.

Edited October 11, 2013 by SoniManbeast

[Wraith]

It's ok overall. I find the gameplay actually decent fun if you play team sonic and ignore the others. One run through of Team Sonic just makes Dark and Rose seem tedious while Chaotix is a whole other level of bullshit level design, 

 

 

The story is kinda bad but I don't really care about that. The music is fantastic. probably one of my favorite soundtracks in the franchise. The grapphics were actually pretty impressive for its time but they haven't aged very well.

 

I'd probably give it a 5.5/10 if I had to rate it. It would be an easy 6.5-7 if it weren't for the other teams, really. 

[SnipSnap]

First off, I REALLY have to thank Sonic Heroes because that was my very first exposure to Sonic. The gameplay was great, but some cutscenes can be a little awkward, and sometimes the game was frustrating to complete some levels, but nonetheless, I never made a big deal about it and enjoyed the game so much. Sonic Heroes was also one of my very first games I ever played too.