I used to love the Sonic series. In fact, Sonic the Hedgehog was the whole reason I decided against getting a SNES in favor of a Genesis. I can still remember wasting hours upon hours of play time trying to unlock every single special stage in the game in order to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds and turn into the Super Charged 'Gold Sonic'. Then things began to go wrong, really wrong. Although they do have their merits, all of the recently released Sonic games (minus the ones found on the GBA) have sucked. The games moved farther way from the fast-paced platformers that made the series and more towards 'Adventure' games featuring poor level designs and pointless quests starring every character in the Sonic universe. Sonic Heroes is the first step in getting back to what the Sonic games were originally about, but still falls short of the mark.

Sonic Heroes looks and sounds like an old school Sonic game. Each level is comprised of big areas that make no logical sense and are filled with all kinds of ramps and every twisting road imaginable. There is even a level that recreates the Casino Night level from Sonic 2, complete with giant slot machines and pinball paddles. Character designs are nice and show a considerable range of emotions. Even the music (although I HATE the theme song) and sound effects, complete with that all too familiar ring chime, are pure Sonic. For a moment I thought I was back to my days with the Genesis, and then I realized the game was in 3D. I don't know what it is about the blue hedgehog and 3D, but the two seem to have nothing but problems when they are put together. The game is certainly playable, but the camera angles are pretty awkward and can sometimes get in the way of the action. Even adjusting the camera is a bit of a pain because it doesn't work entirely well and actually sets up a worse angle than the one you're trying to fix. Another problem comes in with the sheer amount of time you spend watching the game. Even though the levels are pretty long, a fair amount of that time is spent watching your trio of critters go through twisting roads.

The return to old school Sonic games can also be seen in the layout of the game. The evil Dr. Eggman is up to his evil schemes again and has created a machine that will help him to take over the world. Of course, Eggman feels the need to inform Sonic about his scheme and gives him 48 hours to stop him. Never one to back down from a challenge, Sonic, with Tails and Knuckles in tow, sets out to meet Eggman's challenge. Levels play out in a linear fashion. You race through two themed levels until you reach a confrontation with Eggman and one of his machines. Along the way you can collect rings, which act as both your life points and will grant you extra tries for every 100 you collect. If you can find the secret key in each level and make it to the goal (which is more difficult than it sounds), you can unlock secret areas where you can gain more extra lives and Chaos Emeralds.

Sounds like a typical Sonic game, right? Well, did I also mention that you're doing all of this while controlling three characters at once? All of the characters in the game are placed into four teams: Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark and Team Chaotix. Each of these teams consists of three characters, each with special abilities and formations. When controlling the Speed member, your team goes into Speed Formation. This gives your team super speed as well as all abilities that go along with it (like the Homing Attack). The Flying member puts your team into Flying formation and lets you reach higher places. Finally, the Power member gives your team devastating attack moves and allows you to smash through breakable walls. After filling up a meter, team members can combine their powers to pull off a Team Attack, which is basically just a really powerful attack that clears out groups of enemies quickly.

The main challenge of the game is switching between formations and finding the best way to go through each level. Though it may sound hard, its not too tough since the game will either automatically switch your formation (by passing through a Switch Gate) or will give you visual or audio clues as to when you should switch. I noticed that the overall focus of the game was to get through each level as fast as possible and get the best ranking available. I felt this gave a mixed message because the team gameplay seemed to suggest that the focus was more on problem solving and using team members' skills.

Choosing which team to play with does provide more than just aesthetic differences. Playing through the game with Team Rose is the equivalent of playing the game on the Easy difficulty setting, while Teams Sonic and Dark act as the Normal difficulty level. Players looking for a real challenge can go for Team Chaotix, which is comprised of characters from the oft forgotten Knuckles Chaotix on the Sega 32X). I definitely recommend going through the tutorial (or playing through the game with Team Rose first) in order to fully understand the game, since its control scheme can, and does get confusing.

Sonic Heroes tries to bring the series back to the simple roots of gaming. There aren't many combos or control schemes to memorize. Instead, all action functions are mapped to two buttons, with the other buttons controlling the camera or switching between characters. This isn't a bad deal until you realize that there are more than two actions per character, and most moves are based off of either your proximity to certain objects or how long you hold the button down. The simplified control scheme becomes a complete train wreck when you try to Light Dash (where Sonic can run in mid-air across trails of rings) and end up speed dashing off the side of a platform because you weren't as close to the rings as you thought. The types of mechanics may have worked in 2D, but don't in 3D.

I also had issues with teammate AI -- or more directly, their suicidal nature. There were a number of times where one, or both, of my companions would dash off the side of a platform. These deaths aren't permanent and they come back after a short time -- but they have the worst sense of timing. In the second act of level 2, your team has to make it up a pipe while lava rises and slowly destroys platforms. Making it up the pipe requires deft rotation between your Speed and Fly members. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I died because one of those members was killed due to poor AI and left me without someone to switch between. However, it is unfair to blame problems like this solely on the AI, since it also stems from a combination of sloppy control work, an awkward control scheme and the aforementioned lack of focus. If the point of the game is to make it through as fast as possible, then don't have me switching between characters as much. On the same token, if you want the focus to be on using my team mates skills, then give me a few more options when solving these areas instead of only one choice. I can see what the developers were trying to accomplish with the game, and in some cases it works, but most of the time it just brings more headaches than it is worth.

If you can look past the technical problems, Sonic Heroes still provides a decent play experience for a rainy weekend. Even with four Teams to choose from, there is not a lot of replay value, but its fun while it lasts.