Shadow the Hedgehog

"He is all he is...one wickedly awesome hedgehog."

Shadow the Hedgehog...that name may haunt him in the opening movie, but to me, that's an awesome name...goes with the awesome game.

STORY- 9.5/10
Probably one of if not the best aspect of the game. Shadow, having just helped out in Sonic Heroes, stands outside of the human town of Westopolis, trying to desperately recall anything from his past- only his name and a vision of a girl dying in front of him is all he can remember. Before anything else, creatures called the Black Arms Aliens drop out of the darkened sky and attack Westopolis. Black Doom, their leader, appears in front of Shadow and tells him to fulfill his promise to nab the seven Chaos Emeralds, then leaves. Shadow, not knowing what the heck h just happened, realizes that the Emeralds can break his amnesia. So he rushes into Westopolis...and into his destiny.

GAMEPLAY- 8.5/10
Nothing is better than slamming Robotnik in the face with a rocket launcher. Seriously.

OK, so the guns aren't really necessary. BUT they do make your life easier, and besides, most of them are rather cool. Though some of them are WAY out of proportion with Shadow (A huge Gatling Gun? One-handed? No way).

Shadow has all of his standard moves, plus a couple new ones, like the Dark Spin Dash for example. Most notable in his arsenal are his Chaos powers. To get a Chaos power, fill up your Hero or Dark gauge by killing the bad guys or good guys respectively. Once full, you are invincible, have unlimited ammo, and can really give the smackdown to any enemy dumb enough to shoot at you. Hero power lets you use Chaos Control to zip ahead REALLY FAST, while Dark power lets you unleash Chaos Blast to total everything in sight. Shadow can also drives 4X4's and ride alien birds and flip over semis- get the idea?

This leads into how you play. You have a number of ways to actually progress through the game via missions. Doing different missions (Hero, Neutral, Dark) in the different boards affects how Shadow nabs the Emeralds- and you ultimately decide what or who he is. Pretty cool, eh?

CAMERA- 8/10
It's a pain to adjust, I will admit. And sometimes, while riding around in Mad Matrix Zone, it's a nightmare. Overall, the camera isn't bad.

GRAPHICS- 9/10
Dark. That's all there is to it. Even Circus Park Zone has the air of nastiness in it (well, it IS Robotnik's twisted carnival). The graphics are smooth and polished, and the worlds are very detailed and psychotic.

AUDIO- 8.5/10
For some reason, they cut out the original voice actors and replaced them with the Sonic X cast. As far as swearing goes, it's not bad, but it is really weird hearing Sonic/Knuckles/Shadow mouth off. Just avoid Charmy.

REPLAYABILITY- 9/10
Dang. There's a lot to this game. Over 300 possible stories, 71 missions, loads of unlockables- you're going to be busy.

OVERALL- 9/10
Diehard Sonic (or rather, Shadow) fans will most likely want this game. If you are unsure, though, I recommend you rent it first. But it is fast, it is good, and it just ROCKS!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/27/06