I know there were some naysayers who were downing the game from the start because of its look, and they're full of shit because the game is gorgeous. To call it dazzling would be an understatement. The colors are much more vibrant than the Sonic Adventure games, the construction is humongous with absolutely no pop-up whatsoever, and the levels are much more visually creative. The more "realistic" environments of the Adventure games have been abandoned completely in favor of the old style, and the results are a sight to behold. Anyone who's ever played and enjoyed one of the 2D Sonic games should play Heroes just to see how well the look has evolved into the third dimension.

There are definite moments of inspiration in the design itself, from the rain-summoning frogs of Frog Forest to the bullet flights out of Rail Canyon's giant guns, and also some nice graphical touches such as the comically creepy peeping skeletons in Mystic Mansion. There's alot of polish here, and if all the elements had come together, it really could've been the next logical evolution of the Sonic series. So now let's look at why it isn't:

Article A) the team system. Of course this is the big gimmick, but it has, exactly as I'd feared, devolved into the magical squirt gun of Mario Sunshine. At first it seems like it could be a good idea, and there some clever moments in the level-design where it works quite well. But by the end of the game, you realize you've been cheated out of the experience you really wanted, and you wish the extra dynamic just wasn't there. Sonic games have always been about simplicity, and the cumbersome character-swapping gets confusing and ultimately feels out-of-place. Why should I have to switch to Knuckles to blow those enemies out of the way when, in any of the old games, I could've just rolled through them in quick succession without having to slow down? It's unnatural, and much like Sonic Adventure 2, it just doesn't give you the experience that you want to get from a Sonic game.

Article B) control. The first problem is that the Light Dash still doesn't frigging work. Light Dash, catch one Ring, then fall to your doom. Another big problem is that little fall to the ground thing characters do every time they take damage. Every single time you get hit, your character gets knocked back and there's about a 2-3 second period where you cannot move. By the time you can assume control again, your Rings have escaped to all corners of the platform, your moment of blinking invincibility is over, and you're still being gunned by the same enemies that hit you in the first place. Plus fallen Rings magically defy gravity now. At least in Sonic Adventure, they'd fall to the ground and stay there, making it easy to leap back and grab a few. Now they fall to the ground, then bound back up to whatever height it was you took damage at, making it even more difficult to grab those few recycled Rings that stand between you and death. Your partners also experience the "fall-down" when they get hit, which is extremely aggravating when you're trying to blast some enemies out of your way as Omega or whoever but you can't because they're lying on the ground somewhere recuperating from the last time you shot them into the armored side of an Egg Pawn.

Article C) cheap deaths. The idea of cheap hits, of course, is nothing new to the Sonic series. But the precedence it has taken since Sonic Adventure 2 is extremely troubling. The game likes to send you plumetting to your doom every time you have minimal control over your course, such as rolling down a chute in Bingo Highway or grinding precariously on a series of rails in Rail Canyon. The really annoying thing about this is how few and far between point markers are. You tend to keep dying on the same unfair bits, so you end up replaying certain chunks of level ALOT. This isn't challenge, it's just frustrating. How many more games with this design sense are we going to have to endure before someone at Sonic Team realizes it's a devolution?

Article D) the worst bosses ever. I think Silv complained earlier that we've hit an all-time low in enemy design... I don't know about enemies, but we definitely have in bosses. Eggman's contraptions are needlessly complex. Everytime I'm finally able to beat one, I have no idea what it was I did. And that's only when you get to fight some new original machine. On every other Zone they cop out and leave you facing either one of the other teams or an endurance match with swarms of enemies. The team battles are even more confusing and boring than the Eggman battles, and the enemy endurance rounds... well, that's pretty self-explanitorily bad.

Article E) the characters talk too damn much. Remember how aggravating it was to bump into a Tikal hint orb or an Omochao in the Sonic Adventure games? Now imagine that going on all the time. The inane chatter really detracts from the immersiveness, and there's no option to turn it off.

Article F) the worst Special Stages ever. I can even get behind the Sonic Advance Special Stages, and I was thrilled when I heard that they were going to be making a comeback for Heroes. What a waste of excitement that was. I can picture how this development began:
Peon designer: "Naka-san, the final burn is scheduled to be printed tomorrow, but we just realized we forgot to include Special Stages."
Naka: "What are you panicking about? You've still got the rest of the afternoon to design and program some Special Stages."
Peon designer: "B-but Naka-san..."
Naka: "Don't talk back to me, bitch! It's time for me to go hump my ferrari and you're in my way."

Article G) an idiotic story. Say what you will about storyline not being important, but the Sonic games have always had some kind of interesting narrative, dating all the way back to Sonic 2. I don't mind that it takes less precedence than it did in the Adventure games, but this is absurd. Eggman sends Sonic and co a letter that says, basically: "I've got the ultimate weapon and I'm going to take over the world. Just try to stop me, nyah-nyah." And that's it. Shit very similar to that happens in the much more well-written Sonic Battle for the Game Boy fucking Advance, and Tails is all like: "Man, that's too obvious. He's trying to lure us into a trap." But all the characters are working on a much lower plateau of mental aptitude in Sonic Heroes. Omega, the new E-100 series robot, is hell-bent on getting revenge against his creator... for being locked in a room too long. Like, ouch. Did Iizuka let a family member handle the scenario writing?

Article H) It's ridiculous that I even have to get to an "article H" in serious design flaws.

Article I) horrible theme songs. I'm not talking about the in-level music, which is actually quite good and sufficiently old-school, I'm talking about the vocal themes you get at the end of each team's story. If I met Senoue on the street tomorrow, I'd slap him. Forget the kick-ass "It Doesn't Matter" or "Live & Learn" of times past, the almighty lead composer has resorted to Saturday morning schtick with lyrics that border on Sonic R bad. Senoue is an extremely talented composer who did some amazing stuff for the two Sonic Adventure games, all I can imagine is that he wrote the Sonic Heroes theme songs immediately after hearing about his mom's death or something.

I know I'm being extremely harsh here. Heroes isn't really a bad game and I'd even venture so far as to say it's good when taken on its own terms. But it's not the game it needed to be, and not what I (or anyone else, I wager) wants from a Sonic game. If Sonic Team doesn't know where else to go with the series (and admittedly, after going 3D, there aren't many frontiers left), then it's once again time to leave it alone. There's been enough damage here, I think.