Shadow the Hedgehog

"Only the most die-hard Sonic fan could enjoy this."

I've never been a huge fan of Sonic since he went into the 3D world of consoles, but I enjoy the older 2D ones on the Genesis. As soon as you look at the box it just screams "baditude". Its the recent trend that has been crapping up games across almost every genre by adding a little violence, guns, and a touch of badass to the main character. It's developers way of cashing in on the success of the GTA games. They don't realise that GTA was violent and crude from the start and wasn't simply made that way to push copies off shelves.

Story: 6/10
The questions about Shadow's past are finally answered, and the CG cutscenes do a wonderful job of moving the story along. However, the game has a plot hole big enough to drive a supertanker through. No matter which story path you decide to take(Hero, Normal, or Dark), all the baddies still attack you. Even if you are fighting for the good guys, they still attack you just as the bad guys do. WTF? It makes choosing a path to take completely pointless and boring.

Graphics: 8/10
Easily the best looking Sonic game out there. The CG cutscenes are stunning and the framerate stays rock-steady through the whole game, even when there is a lot of action onscreen. Kudos to Sonic Team in this department, but shine and polish don't make a game great. ST still hasn't learned this lesson. People don't buy a $20 drink to get a paper umbrella.

Sound/Music: 6/10
Nothing impressive here. Every so often some heavy guitar riffs kick in when you get in a gunfight or have either of your Chaos meters filled(more on that later). SFX are generic cut-and-dried Sonic noises, and almost all the guns sound exactly the same. All the bullet-type guns have one sound, and the rocket launchers have another. That's about it. The voice for Shadow is fitting, a pissed-off, I-want-answers, kind of baritone. Everything else is just par. Eggman sounds like Eggman, and the other Sonic characters sound in-place as well. Except for Amy, her constant reminders not to fall and to save the researchers in one level make you want to chop your ears off. I seriously muted the TV for that entire level so I didn't have to hear her, her voice is THAT annoying.

Gameplay 3/10
When is Sonic Team going to wake up and remember what a Sonic game is really supposed to be about? It's about blazing through levels at high speed and stomping Eggman's ass over and over again at the end of each stage. Of all the 3D Sonics out there, SA 2 probably did this the best but it still wasn't as fun or fast-paced as the original Genesis versions.

Differing greatly from previous Sonic games, Shadow The Hedgehog is a mission-based game. When I heard this I imagined that it would be pretty difficult to have an objective driven game still be fast-paced, and I was right. You can't go blowing though a level to get a good time, you have to be stopping CONSTANTLY to pick this up, kill that baddie, wait 30 seconds for an elevator, ect. It really slows down the game. STH isn't so much a Sonic game as it is a standard-fare third-person platformer, since you do WAY more platforming than moving.

Once you start a mission, you can choose via the pause menu which path you want to follow(Hero or Dark), or neither, Normal. For the Hero and Dark paths, you have an objective, generally kill X many people, or save X many people, respectively. Surprise! If you reach the goal ring without completing either objective, you complete on the Normal path, since completing either the Hero or Dark objectives instantly ends the level regardless of where you are.

Another Sonic faux-pau is waiting. Waiting is the exaclt opposite of what Sonic games are supposed to be about, but you'll be doing a lot of it in this game. Between waiting 30+ seconds for an elevator to come, or holding up so Shadow can inch up a pole really detract from the game's little sense of speed. The most speed you'll ever get is in the very first level, and only the first half.

Guns in the game are a waster of time and pointless, although they help since Shadow's attacks are so weak and hard to control. Get a gun and mash B to blast away anything onscreen, the auto-aim takes care of the rest. The few types of guns are pointless too, since they all sound, look, and shoot alike. Some shoot a little faster than others, but they all do about the same damage and all sound alike short of the rocket/homing launcher.

Controls, Another element that ST couldn't pull off, mainly in the form of the grossly overused X button. Normally it is the button to spin-dash, except if you have a weapon, then it is to swap with a nearby one. Except if you are near a bomb, box, or Heal Unit, then it is used to pick-up/throw those items. You can try to press X to swap weapons, but Shadow moves a tiny bit out of the weapon's range and you spin-dash into a bottomless pit instead. And if you are carrying an object but need a new gun, you're out of luck. Which is odd, since they Y button is only used to activate Chaos powers when they are charged, the shoulder triggers and the Z button are not used.

The Chaos powers. At the top of your screen are two bars, one red and one blue. Doing things obeying your current path will fill the red meter. Disobeying your current path(changeable in the pause menu) fills the blue meter. Once the bar is fully charged, it automatically starts Chaos mode, where you have a limited time to use the power by pressing the Y button. The Red bar will activate Chaos Blast, a large explosion destroying everything in the area. The Blue bar activates Chaos Control, which zooms you though a large portion of the level, often making you miss objectives. A neat concept, but they are both pretty useless. Very rarely are there large numbers of enemies onscreen to warrant the Blast, and the Control makes you skip objectives, making you backtrack completely defeating its purpose.

Buy/Rent/Don't Bother: Rent.
This game is worth a rent, as the couple hours it takes to blow through the story mode (the only thing speedy about this game is how fast its over) can provide a little entertainment. You can replay the story mode many, many times to take the different paths and get to see slightly altered bosses and varied cutscenes, but the ending stays essentially the same no matter what path you choose. Don't be fooled, this isn't a Sonic game. Its a generic 3D platformer with Sonic characters thrown in.

Bottom Line: 5/10
The most I can say is another failed attempt to re-create the fast-paced action of the 2D Genesis Sonic games. Instead ST makes tries to cash-in on the "baditude" bandwagon, making it unappealing to the kid-friendly 100% clean Sonic fans, but the pathetic attempts at baditude won't attract any mature aduiences to the game. Having guns and Shadow saying "damn" every so often is too weak to attract new mature players, and annoys long-time fans, so everyone loses here. Only the most die-hard Sonic fans should play this, just to learn Shadow's story if nothing else.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/05