I think most people had mixed views when this game came out in 2005. Even the critics gave mixed scores which left people wondering if the game was even good or if some of the elements lacked or were too much for the Sonic universe. This game was a risky installment into the Sonic series and it starred our favorite black hedgehog, Shadow.
As I said before. This game was giving mixed scores and no one knew if the game was good or bad. It was created by Sega, who are widely known for the Sonic series. They wanted to create a darker and different approach to the Sonic world, using a new main character instead of their blue spikey mascot. Trying to appeal to older kids by adding guns and increasing the violence. This game just because a sloppy mess. I must admit that I did enjoy this game for a small while, but the mechanics and the controls frustrated me when coming back to it.
The story of this game is that Shadow is suffering from the "He has Amnesia and must find out who he is" cliche. He goes to find out who Maria is from one of his memories and to figure out if he's a good guy or a villain. The way you play will alter the story depending on whether you take the Hero approach, Evil approach or sticking with neutral. I found this pick-your-own-adventure gimmick to be surprising entertaining at first, but quickly backfires into the "Meh" category since when you finish one ending. You can't pick a level to go back and complete the rest of the missions. You HAVE to start way back at the beginning, watching all the cutscenes that you had previously seen and know what happens, which ruins the charm, and you barely get anything for getting all the endings, just the "true" ending, which isn't a great reward considering that you have to replay this game 10 times to get all the endings, even more so if you accidentally picked the wrong branch and have to start over.
You meet most if not all of the past Sonic characters, including Sonic himself, Tails, Knuckles etc. Who accompany you if you pick the option to do the Hero missions. There is also Doom eye, a villian who brought aliens to earth and cause chaos, confronting Shadow at the start and making it clear that he knew him and ordering him to bring the chao emeralds to him.
The game didn't have bad graphics, nothing like Sly cooper or Devil may cry standards. They were good at most parts, having different environments to zoom through. The game was quite linear, keeping to the same design as Sonic heroes. However, because of the whole replaying for all the endings. The levels can get stale after a while. The characters wouldn't shut up when doing certain things, always telling me what to do the moment I get there like it's holding my hand which most experienced gamers (And the audience that this is aimed for will mainly be experienced at games) don't want to tolerate. The music was interesting, fitted with the levels quite well in some parts, and I even enjoyed the song in the opening, but the charm fades quickly yet again when you have to reply the levels over again, mainly the first level, but this is not really a problem for people who complete it just once.
Shadow controls like butter on rocket shoes. There is an no way of controlling Shadow very well when moving at high speeds, making it so you end up flying off the platform and losing a life. His running is quickly slidey and he turns so fast that you end up tapping the right button and slamming his face into a wall. There are a large amount of weapons that Shadow can use to defeat enemies, but really don't have a purpose when you can just use your homing attack and the aim is just a nightmare. There are also vehicles, which I also find pointless because of the speed that Shadow can go, so he can easily just outrun them. For a game with slippery and fast movement; It can also feel slow at times, since you're usually blocked off by a wall and being forced to climb or just because of the platforming (Which is hard with the controls). There are also two super power ups, each can be used if the bad karma bar is full or the good karma. Good karma lets you use Chaos control, which makes Shadow zoom through some of level with ease, which can be a pain sometimes when you have to collect things or if it stops you in a dangerous spot. Chaos blast is for the Bad karma, and lets Shadow make... well... a big blast, destorying anything within range, which I found to be useful against large crowds of enemies.
Shadow the hedgehog tried to take itself seriously and use a darker theme that was a contrast to the past games, but I think it was a good idea that was created poorly. It did have it's moments that were fun (At least for me) And the story was engaging at times, but it felt like alot was thrown at you and the pick your adventure story they had was fun at first but can quickly become tedious. It's not a BAD game, despite it's flaws. I had a fun time playing it and was even great having friends over and laughing about some of the parts that are trying to be serious, which isn't easily done with a series that's based off a blue hedgehog. I guess if you're a fan of Shadow the hedgehog, then you may have no problem with this game, but for anyone else? I would just recommended just playing through it just the once. There are much better 3D Sonic games that I would tell you to play instead of this, but at least the multiplayer on this is a little fun.
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