E3 2003: There\'s a nifty kind of irony to some of the features in Sonic Heroes, the first game in Sega\'s flagship series to debut on multiple platforms. A game coming out on three competing consoles also happens to star teams of three heroes, working in concert with their different strengths to overcome a shared goal. It\'s a funny contrast to the tooth-and-nail competition between PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube, none of which would ever think about working with the other...although, perhaps we\'re just reading too much into this.
Its tandem three-character gameplay, regardless of whether you want to read it as a comment on anything in particular, is the central feature of Sonic Heroes. It\'s presented more or less like Sonic Adventure, with our speedy heroes blazing down a high-speed track, but instead of just one star, there are now three lined up in single file. Or, depending on the formation you choose, they might run side by side in a neat delta formation. Or they might all hang together from Tails\' arms as he flies them across a gap to their next destination.
Even though there are three heroes, you see, one of them has to lead. To reflect who\'s in charge at any given time -- Sonic, Knuckles, or Tails -- they have three formations, which in turn affects what type of challenges they can overcome. Speed formation, where Sonic takes the lead, is naturally useful for covering ground at a good clip, or building up the momentum required to get around a loop or clear a long jump. Power formation, with Knuckles in the lead, lets the team smash through barriers and clear other obstacles requiring a little brute strength. And Flight formation, of course, lets Tails grab hold of his partners and helicopter his way over a gap or up a high cliff.
At least in the early demo, the game offers some cues pointing towards which formation is useful in any given situation. While blazing through the level, you\'ll cross through gates that pop up a warning and swap the team over to the recommended formation. It looks as if the level design will eventually offer more than one option in some situations, though, so it\'s not as if the game devolves into a simple Simon-Says sort of affair.
It\'s also cool to learn that there isn\'t just the one team of characters to play with. It\'s not clear whether other teams besides the main heroes will be available at the start, but the game will contain other trios led by different characters from throughout the Sonic series. Sonic Adventure 2\'s Shadow will lead a team of darker opposite numbers, while there\'s also going to be an all-female team led by Amy from Sonic Adventure. The complete selection of characters hasn\'t been revealed as yet, but it\'s good to see Sonic Team taking advantage of the expansive cast it\'s built up over the years.
Sonic Heroes has a ways to go before we can get a solid handle on how far it plans to take its multi-character gameplay. The first demo level is very simple, a linear high-speed excursion in the style of the first level from Sonic Adventure. It\'s also not all that visually astounding, with relatively simple backgrounds and characters as yet -- Billy Hatcher is much further along and looking better so far. Sonic has the potential to become something very cool, though, if Sonic Team can create level designs that use its concepts to the fullest. Let\'s hope his multi-platform debut makes a suitably impressive splash.
Publisher: Sega Developer: Sonic Team (Sega) Release Date: December 31, 2003
Poor knuckles...Always stuck with people of lesser talent.