Background:
Four teams race towards an unknown goal that ultimately leads to Eggman. Team Sonic, members Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, head off on another adventure to stop Eggman from wreaking havoc. Team Shadow, members Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, and E-102 Gamma, look for the evil genius to find the key to Shadow's past. Team Rose, members Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Big the Cat, race off to find the whereabouts of Sonic the Hedgehog and friends. Team Chaotix, members Vector the Crocodile, Charmy the Bee, and Espio the Chameleon, are a detective agency following orders from “The Voice”. Choose your team and head off on your adventure through the gigantic levels of Sonic Heroes.

Gameplay: 9/10
Very nice. A switch of a button changes the head character of your three person team. In each team, there is a speed character, perfect for dashing, running, and speeding past or obstacles, a power character for bashing through said obstacles or taking on masses of enemies, and a flight character, making for a safer ride above enemies, obstacles, and other dangers. The action is fast paced, and you'll find the dashing, switching, crashing, running, flying, and racing addictive from the moment you begin. Chances are, you will play through the entire game as Team Sonic, and despite some of the levels which can be cruelly difficult, you will have a blast. There are many obstacles that are character selective, and some multiple routes, or different items to find if you know where to look with the right character. The three dimensional allows for a great deal of moment, even if there is still a definite path, like the older Sonic games. The levels, though, are more long than huge. Sonic Team should have put a little of the Adventure element from Sonic Adventure into the game, and made the levels a bit more expansive width-wise, and not just in their length. Alternate routes through the level exist, but do not offer enough range to add replayability to the stage. The character controls are tight, and whether you play on your Gamecube, PlayStation 2, or Xbox, you should have little trouble switching between characters in the blink of an eye while you blast through the stage.

Graphics: (Varies)8/10
The Gamecube graphics are solid, with very little clipping, and the characters look great. If this is the first 3D Sonic game you've played since Sonic Adventure 1 or 2 on the Sega Dreamcast, you'll be blown away. Perfection is in the details, such as Sonic and friends getting thrown back and falling back on the ground when hit, and not just blinking. My only protest would be the lack of character animatiions, such as Sonic's spikes rising and falling as he jumps into the air or the wind blowing their fur as they fly. These little things would have made the graphics brilliant. The environment, though, is large and detailed, and you'll find yourself wishing you could explore all the land you can see in the distance instead of being confined to your path. All the consoles make the game look worthy of the 21st century. The computer version also does an excellent job. However, you will find yourself having to find a balance between speed and graphics, as, unless your graphics card is excellent, the game will play slowly if your graphics settings are set to maximum and your computer can not handle it. Personally, the fast gameplay is far more important than how glossy Sonic and friends look, so set your graphic settings a bit lower and race at Sonic speeds.

Audio: 7/10
The sound is standard. The songs are good, but lack the catchiness of the retro Sonic the Hedgehog games (Golden Age – Genesis Era) in my opinion. Little to say on this subject; Sonic Team certainly did not slack, but leaves a bit to be desired. Even the vocals do not live up to their Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 counterparts, though some, such as “Team Chaotix”, will have you humming to the annoyance of those around you.

Replayability: 6/10
Replayability is a downfall of Sonic Heroes. The multiple paths through the levels for the different teams, boasted about on the release of Sonic Heroes, are basically nonexistent. Teams Shadow, Sonic, Rose, and Chaotix follow basically the same paths throughout the levels (Chaotix branches off a bit). If you play through the game as Team Sonic, you will find almost no incentive to play through all the exact same, long and arduous levels as Team Shadow. It is simply boring to go through all the same places over again. An even greater loss is that the teams are almost all the same. Besides some minor differences in the power characters, each teams gameplay is almost exactly the same. There are some minor differences. Espio the Chameleon has some interesting ninja moves, and Amy can do some interesting things with her piko piko hammer. However, when these minor differences are set aside, the different teams are really not different enough to constitute playing through the entire game, the same levels, again.

When All is Said and Done:

Despite it's deficiencies, I still recommend this game for a buy. Even if you only play through it as Team Sonic, it is worth it, for this game is a whole lot of fun. The action is fast paced, the levels long, and the enemies numerous. I recommend this one.