Before I begin, I'd like to apologise for the lack of... well, anything.  My computer finally died late October so, if you sent me messages during my down-time, I'm sorry for not being able to respond.  Anyway, let the thoughts begin...

Sonic Heroes.  It's a strange game.  It's been hailed as the saviour of the Sonic games, and also as the demise of the Sonic games.  So which one should you believe?  The answer is: Neither.  You have to judge for yourself.  Don't believe me?  Look at this example.

Ages ago, my friend reviewed this game.  He hated it.  So much, that he took it back the next day to get his money back.  That's a pretty strong statement, right?  Everything he said about it made sense.  So I ended up avoiding this game.  Every time I saw it on the shelf, I scoffed at it and its $99.95 price.  Days went by.  Days turned into weeks, which turned into months.  All the while, the price went from $100 to $80 to $60 then settled at the standard half price, $49.95.

Eventually, with each passing of the game, I would stop and look at it a bit more often.  I began to wonder, "Exactly how bad is this thing?"  But the price was still too high for me to buy a 'known' bad game.  (Renting the game wasn't really an option to me, it seems that every damn video store here has the Gamecube on some sort of blacklist.  But they'll quite happy rent out Nintendo 64 games. o_O  Someone wanna explain that to me?) Then a month or so ago, it went all the way down to $30.  I've never seen a store mark a well-known game that low that wasn't second-hand.  I gave in to curiosity.  I had to know if this game was really as bad or as good as they say.  So, was it?

In a word, no.  In many words, it was neither brilliant nor crap.  It was just an average game with some very good points, and some very bad points.  Let's look at each part of the game and see where it both excels and fails.

First, the story.  Four teams of three each have a different story, Team Sonic are out to stop Robotnik (yes, I know his name has been changed/reverted to Eggman, but I like the name Robotnik, so there.  ), Team Dark are also out to find Robotnik but in order to destroy him/steal his treasure/find out information.  Team Rose are out to find Sonic, who apparently had Froggy and Chocola (every time I hear that name, I think of chocolate milk mixed with Coca Cola.  Bleah..) with him at one point.  And Team Chaotix is a detective agency who must help a mystery client. (A mystery to those who have never seen such a plot twist anyway...)  Sounds good?  Yeah, except when you find out they all go through every stage the exact same way!  So the plot doesn't really matter, it's just a way of filling in the gaps.

Next up, is the characters.  You have three characters, a speedster, a flyer and a powerhouse.  Sounds reasonable.  You immediately think of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and it fits.  But what about the other teams?  Namely Team Rose?  Who's the speedy one out of Amy, Cream and Big?  Who?!  AMY?!  Amy, the pink hedgehog, who has throughout the Sonic history been noted as slower than a turtle with a three-ton weight on its back, is the speed character?!  And not only that, somewhere between Sonic Adventure and Sonic Heroes, she has turned from an admirer of Sonic with a huge crush, to some sort of psychopath fangirl, obsessed with marrying Sonic.  That is not the Amy I intentionally liked.  This isn't the Amy you're looking for.  Move along.

The bosses are really really... uninspired.  It's all the same thing.  Run run run, jump, hit hit hit, run run run, punch punch, hooray a winner is you.  Either that, or you'll face regular enemies in an arena for three minutes or so before Robotnik gives up and says, "Don't get too excited boys, those were the easy ones!" *disappear*  Yeeeah.  I'm playing Team Rose with two girls out of three and he still says that.  Nice editing job guys.

But speaking of bosses, I have to admit I really like the final boss fight.  Possibly because IT'S A TOTAL REMAKE OF THE FINAL FIGHT FROM FINAL FANTASY VII!  Don't believe me?  Metal Sonic transforms into a giant mass of... metal which really has the same shape and look as JENOVA.  Not only that, teams of three attack it from different points to weaken it.  Then the main team attacks it in midair before defeating it.  It's FFVII with Sonic characters.  The only thing missing is Sonic attacking a regular Metal Sonic afterwards with multiple Light Dashes or something.

Oh, and another thing about the last story.  When I saw Team Sonic about to transform with the Chaos Emeralds, I was really excited.  I thought, "Finally, Super Tails and Knuckles!"  I mean, they were in Sonic 3&K, so it's not totally unreasonable.  Instead, we get Tails and Knuckles covered with a bubble shield or something.  We got Bubble Tails and Knuckles.  Come on!  All I wanted was a Super Tails and Knuckles, it's not like I was after Super Amy (though that would be cool) or anything.  I just didn't want Goku with two bubbles.

Oh yes, Super Sonic in Sonic Heroes is Goku from Dragonball Z.  Apart from the obvious Super Saiyan look (which I don't really mind), Super Sonic's lines could've come from Goku himself.  Read these lines while looking at a picture of Goku:

"You thought you could actually defeat me, by turning into a MONSTER?"

"Too bad it's all over, FOR YOU!"

"Anytime you want a rematch, I'll be waiting."

Uncanny, isn't it?

But despite those downfalls of the game, it's not that bad of a game.  Sure, sometimes you'll have to remember to move a little to the right after flying of a pole because the game has angled you so you'll fall into nothing instead of onto the rail, and the game may decide to swing the vines backwards instead of forward when trying to outrun the giant alligator, and doing the Ring Dash across a chasm may leave you falling to your death but...  I can't think of a way to end this positively.  Oh wait, yes I can.

Compared to the other Sonic games, it's a terrible sequel.  But look at it by itself, and it's a fun game to play and well worth the $30 I spent on it.