Shadow the Hedgehog

All right, the title for this comment doesn't mean that's a bad thing. This is not like other Sonic games because it's a Shadow game. The game is made to personify Shadow's character; a confused hedgehog capable of great and terrible things. The game is much darker than others and has a much more involved storyline that finally ties up all the loose ends left in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes.

Story: The story is a bit out there, even for a Sonic game, but it's still a great one. The story opens up with Shadow trying to remember his past, the only thing he can remember is the gruesome murder of a girl named Maria. As he contemplates this, the sky is filled with blood-shot clouds as aliens known as the Black Arms literally storm down and start killing and destroying everyone and everything. Laser cannons begin to shoot out from the sky, causing mass destruction. The leader, Black-Doom, then approaches Shadow and tells him to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and give them to him as part of a promise made long ago. From there, it's up to you to decide what to do; serve the aliens, help Sonic and Gun, help eggman, or simply collect the emeralds for yourself. Now, this is the basic concept, there is A LOT more going on in this game. The game has 10 different endings and you need to play through them all to understand what Shadow is all about. Once this is done, the final level is opened and this reveals everything from the alien's intentions, to Black-Doom's relation to Shadow, and even mysteries in Sonic Adventure 2 such as why would Gerald create the Eclipse Cannon before he went insane. The story ties everything up nicely and, surprisingly, there are no plot holes. The only complaint I have is that it is extremely difficult to know what event takes place when as there are so many paths to take (Over 300, no joke).

Gameplay: Now the gameplay can either suck or be great depending on which level you're on and which mission you're undertaking. There's really no in between rating for gameplay, it's either great or horrible. The main problem is that even when you have decided which side to serve, characters from opposite sides will randomly show up and tell you to help them even though you decided not to. That and the fact that everyone shoots at you, even the side your helping, making it very hard to make sure that you're serving the side you want to. Lastly, some missions are way too long; some take almost 30 minutes, especially for those who are new to the game. It's bad because the missions before hand are really short, so you're not expecting the next ones to be so long. Other than that, and I know that's a lot, the gameplay is usually very fun, fast, and action oriented. It can just be VERY frustrating at time, which is why I gave this game an 8.

Graphics; FMV are beautiful and are good enough to be mistaken as a fully animated Shadow movie. The action stages have good graphics, but nothing mind blowing. That's pretty much it.

Music&Voices: The music is great, especially the theme songs. Each one reflect Shadow perfectly. Some are sad while others are Gothic and some are cheerful. The action stages have very suitable music too and really makes the game that more enjoyable. In terms of voices, there should only be two to care about; Shadow and Black-Doom. I'm happy to say that, at least in my opinion, that both are fantastically done. Griffith does Shadow which concerned me. He's alright as Sonic in this game, acting is good but voice just doesn't fit, but his acting and voice for Shadow are simply top notch. You can tell he put A LOT of effort in this game. Black-Doom may be even better as this guy gets my vote for best villain since Ganondorf simply on voice. Almost every word from this guy is about the murder and torture of the humans. Great villain and the voice acting has to be heard to be fully appreciated. Other great acting goes to Mike Polluck as Eggman and Gerald Robotnick and the voice acting for the Gun Commander, Maria, and the President are also very well done. So, great game and it is something new and different.

I was really psyched for this game. Ever since I can remember I've been a Sonic Fan, and of course I bought my GC Soley for SA2 Battle (Other games have come along of course) So what can I say about this game.

On the Plus Side the story is fantastic. So many different endings you can chose from, so many paths to take, it's confusing which one to chose first. Good bad normal, whew! Not to mention the agonizing question "WHO THE HECK IS SHADOW?" After all he burst-ed on to the scene in SA2, as the ultimate Evil Carbon Copy Twin, with no absolute answerers. Including the end to SA2. (before him there was METAL) The darker story really makes it different from most Sonic games Another Plus, the variety of weapons. This raised some controversy amongst SONIC Fans. Even I was a little unsure. You know worried "Are they really making this as a Sonic Team Game, or are they just trying to jump on the HALO Band wagon. Fortunatley they didn't go overboard with the weapon use (although it is easier to use them) no blood gore, any of that nonsense. No first person shooting game style. So that was good. With Vocing, my deepest concern. First off with a character driven game like Shadow, VOICES DO MATTER. With a plain shooting game like 007 they don't. When I heard they fired the far more superior cast with the crappy Sonic X cast, who can't act. Fortunatley they actually acted. Jasson Griffiths who voiced both Sonic and Shadow actually did very fine with their voices. I was nearly fooled into thinking "maybe they didn't replace them after all." Despite Knuckles sounding like a 70 year old constipated man, and Yugi Moto the voicing was far better than expected. Music wise this has a new array of songs and music lead by the talented composer Jun Senoue, (?sp) and featuring the bands of Jullian K, Crush 40, and many more. The level music is catchy, and does bring up old Sonic Compostions of the past.

Now on the Miss Side, the controls can be a bit overwhelming for new players. Homing Attack can lead you right off the edge of a cliff if not careful. And the Triangle Jumps are a nightmare. And the Camera Controls aren't as decent as they should be. It's easy to lose sight of your character in a tricky areas, or to have a blind spot on enemy attacks. The Audio/Visual Sync can be over done or out of place. Some sounds drown out characters voices while giving instructions, and characters can interrupt instructions as well. Plus Music is often drowned out by the presence of sound effects. Fortunatley this is usually only in stages, and not in the Cinematics. With the Cinematics there are constant loading screens between cut scenes which really slow the story down. Although there is a variety of weapons to chose from, many of them especially the RPG's have very poor accuracy, which can make long range shooting difficult, in difficult areas.

Overall I really like this game, it was fun and enjoyable, I still have YET to beat the VERY Final Boss. This game was not a disappointment for me, I liked it, and it earns a solid 8 from me.

The overall gameplay I'm going to give is 8 out of 10. There are some minor problems of using the homing attack and then accidentally fall to you death and this is the first I witnessed when a Sonic game uses the word "Damn" more often in a kids' game, hence the rating: (E 10+ : Everyone Age 10 and Up) especially when Shadow loses a life. I heard that majority of the voice actors for this game are mostly the same actors from Sonic X or 4 Kids Entertainment. I kind of missed the original actors who played the previous voices of Sonic The Hedgehog and Shadow The Hedgehog from the previous games: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic Battle and no offense, the one of played as Rouge The Bat, (Kathleen Delaney, last I checked), it kind of makes Rouge's voice sounds older like somewhat in the late 20s-40s and personally, I would prefer the one who played Rouge's voice before (Lani Minella) from the other previous Sonic games instead.

I love this game it made and one of my sister's best I am going to get it from the library maybe I command that it is suppose to be for eight year old's or something I really like this game and I want it rate E for everyone but some of the parts are a bit confusing anyway, I wish it could have the blast video I can't wait top see what happens next because i'm also going to get Sonic the hedgehog from the library I always really hate Charmy I hope the Chaotix are not in Sonic the hedgehog because it makes me want to throw my digital camera at them shadow is so AWESOME! I can't wait ti'll I get XBox 360 off of amazon. for no good video game and about to sell my Nintendo 64 (IT SUCKS NOW!)

this is one of the best sonic games i ever played!the voice acting was good and the amount of violence actually worked out well for a sonic game.shadow is my favorite sonic character and this game just made him even better.The level lethal highway really took advantage of everything.Using a combination of weapons and vehicles made this one of the best levels in the game.When shadow debuted in Sonic adventure 2 for the dreamcast (later ported to the gamecube as sonic adventure 2 battle)he was an evil character,yet every game has made him good at the end.Shadow has more of a friendly rivalry with sonic but in this game shadow is willing to kill to find out his past.A great final boss and an interesting and surprising storyline make this one of the best sonic games ever made.