Sapphire Valley Reviews #9: Shadow the Hedgehog · 1:09am Sep 24th, 2016
I want to apologize for how long this review took. I tried playing through this game again, and I just... couldn't get through it. I have a very low tolerance, as I only play games for fun, and there was this one mission that just damn near killed this for me. Thankfully I've played this game a bit before, so I remembered it.
So why does Shadow have a game? Well, sometime after Sonic Heroes, SEGA put out a poll asking which side character players wanted to have his own game. Shadow won by a landslide (surprise surprise, right?), and thus SEGA began working on their next big title, and it's... meh. I'll tell you right now, I do not like this game. That being said, I'm going to try and review this fairly.
Now, this review marks a bit of a change in format. Instead of breaking it up into Story, Gameplay, and Sound, I'm going to from this point forward break it up into Story, Presentation (which encompasses graphics and sound) and finally Gameplay. I think this is better, and paints a more clear picture of the game in question.
Without further ado, I am Sapphire Valley here reviewing Shadow the Hedgehog for the PS2, Nintendo Gamecube, and XBox.
STORY
The story takes place canonically after Heroes, but it seems to be more of a sequel to Sonic Adventure 2. It begins with Shadow standing under the emo tree looking out at the city, because he's emo now. He still has amnesia, and is trying to understand the flashes of memories he keeps having. Memories of the death of Maria, who he can for SOME REASON remember the name of, despite not knowing who SHE is.
Very selective memory it seems.
A black cloud appears over the city, and, I kid you not, aliens invade the city. Aliens. Freaking. ALIENS!
Shadow sees this and is like "Sucks to be them" and is about to walk off, until a mysterious being named Black Doom appears before him, claiming that Shadow is to bring him the Chaos Emeralds as promised. He then disappears, and Shadow decides to essentially believe in this mysterious entity who's CLEARLY not a good guy, and goes off to get the Chaos Emeralds.
Alongside Black Doom is the head of G.U.N., who has a serious vendetta against Shadow for some unknown reason. This means that now G.U.N. is after him. This guy... I don't like. I hate him actually. Not just because he's going after Shadow, who HELPED SAVE THE PLANET, but because his story doesn't make any sense.
You see, we find out eventually that he was friends with Maria back when he was a kid. At some point, he found Dr. Gerald Robotnik working on Shadow, with Black Doom standing over him. Because of this, he claims not only that Shadow is evil, but that he's responsible for Maria's death. Now, here's the problem with this:
First of all, why does he hate Shadow because of this? Because he "saw Black Doom standing over him"? That could mean anything. Second of all, we all know that it was G.U.N. that killed Maria. You know, HIS organization! Why is he the leader of G.U.N. if they're responsible for Maria's death?! Finally, how did he survive the Ark incident?! NO ONE survived it as far as I know except for Gerald Robotnik. And if he DID survive it somehow, how does he NOT know that G.U.N. was responsible?!
This is the biggest issue with the story for me. It doesn't make any sense. Not just in terms of the characters (Why don't Sonic and his friends tell Shadow who he is) but also in game as well. The story is told based off what you do in the stages, as each one has a different opening cut scene. Problem with that is the scenes are fixed. So for example: you take the neutral route and end up in one stage where he's antagonistic with Black Doom in the beginning. In another play through, you're on villain run, but end up on that stage using the current path, where Shadow is STILL antagonistic toward Black Doom.
See the problem here?
In terms of the story, there are 10 different ending, or rather, 10 different versions of the ending. Each ending is essentially just Shadow surrounded by the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow proclaiming "I am Shadow the Hedgehog," such and such, brief monologue about his "realization", ending with "THIS IS WHO I AM!" These are simple, but effective I guess. They close off the current story you followed. The problem with these, besides how many there are, is the fact that they don't really matter. In the end, once you get each different ending, you unlock "Last Story", which is the "true ending". So... the point of those stories, none.
In the last story, we learn a few things. First off, we learn that Shadow is apparently made with Black Doom's blood, but was also made by Gerald Robotnik to STOP Black Doom once he learned his true motives. Also, big shocker here, he IS the same Shadow from SA2. Dr. Robotnik apparently saved him SOMEHOW and nursed him back to life, using him as a base for his Shadow Androids.
Using the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Shadow fights Black Doom in his super form, killing him and eventually using the Eclipse Cannon on Ark to destroy Black Doom's base, the Black Comet. Shadow then decides to make the most of his FUTURE instead of worrying about his past, proclaiming "Goodbye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog".
Not gonna lie, that ending is pretty sweet in my opinion. It's a great resolution, basically saying that in the end, it doesn't matter who he was. All that matters is who he is now. I'd love this even more if this ending didn't ACTUALLY invalidate all the hard work I did in this game, which I will cover in the gameplay section.
But in terms of story, this game is a little sub par. Mind you, Sonic games aren't known for their story anyway, but at least other Sonic games made SOME sort of sense. Here, there's so much that doesn't make sense at all, that I can't even follow it. Also, it doesn't even matter in the end, because the final section of the game cancels out like 80 percent of the game's story. But for now, let's move onto the next section.
PRESENTATION
Graphic wise, the game looks... okay in my opinion. It uses all the same avatars from Sonic Heroes, and those didn't look back to me. But they just don't work here. Sonic Heroes was a more cartoony, upbeat game, so the graphics were made to match that. Here, they look off. Shadow the Hedgehog is a much darker game, so the cartoon like graphics just look out of place to me.
To match the darker themes, there are a lot of darker colors in the stages, which works to set the tone. Some of these stages are really cool looking. I mean, the first stage opens with Shadow falling down a long way, and you almost feel the G-force from that.
By the way, get used to seeing this scene. I'll explain why later in the review.
This game marks the end of Ryan Drummond's run as Sonic, and everyone else in that generation, as now the voices from Sonic X take over. This means Jason Griffith is now voicing both Sonic & Shadow. I'm going to be honest here, I sort of like the 4 Kids cast of voices. Mind you, I don't like EVERYONE. Rouge the Bat is one voice I have issue with. In the original, she sounded sexy because of how normal her voice was compared to what she was wearing and saying. Here, they've given her the standard "sexy voice" that you can imagine hearing in front of a saxophone whenever she speaks. It's forced, and it makes me not want to take her seriously. Also, I'm not too partial to Knuckles' voice either. I liked him having a smoother voice that could get fiery when he was angry. Here, he has the standard gruff voice that makes him sound like a raging demon. In fact, they now portray him as such, which goes completely against his character.
However, I sort of like everyone else, and that includes the new Sonic and Shadow.
Sonic sounds sort of like an older version of Jaleel White's interpretation from the old Sonic cartoons, which I liked a lot. He's a more heroic Sonic, which does work for him, as unlike Knuckles, he still retains his trademark personality, being just as arrogant, a wise cracker, and quick to anger, all while still being a genuinely good person.
His Shadow though is in my opinion PERFECT.
It's deep, dark, and sounds just as brooding as Shadow should sound in my opinion. He captures the inner turmoil of Shadow's character perfectly, making him sound like someone who's... not necessarily a bad person, but willing to do whatever it takes to finish his objective. The only issue I have, and it's only in this game mind you, is the forced cursing. You see, in order to make this game "edgier" they made Shadow curse, or at least made him say "damn" any chance he can. Such as when he dies (Damn! Not here?!) or during certain cut scenes (Where's that DAMNED fourth Chaos Emerald). They emphasize it so much that it just sounds silly after awhile. Also, why is it that putting in cursing and guns (talked more about in the gameplay section) just gives this game a E-10 rating, but putting in sexual content lands a game a T rating. I spoke about this at length in a rant earlier, so if you haven't read that, here's a link if you're curious about my thoughts on sexuality versus violence.
All in all, the game's presentation isn't terrible, but it's not the best. But now let's talk about the main thing we're here for. That's the...
GAMEPLAY
Boy oh boy, is this a tough one. This is where most of my problems lie actually.
The game itself is similar to standard Sonic titles, but with a few new elements to make this Shadow's game. You can still run fast, use the homing attack, and spin dash moves. However, both the spin dash and homing attacks have been nerfed. Life bars are back, making the homing attack pretty much useless along with how slow it moves. Also, the spin dash stops short all the time, and it just... stops. All momentum lost, making it pretty much useless. Why did this happen? The easy answer is to force the player to use the new element in this game.
Shadow can use GUNS now! In a kids game! Like, kids as old as my daughter! Who's still really young!
.............
Okay, but in all seriousness, this idea doesn't bother me as much in terms of the character itself. I can actually see Shadow being the type to use weapons. It's like I always tell people: Sonic is the one who will play with and have fun with the giant robot he's fighting, while Shadow is the one who has no problem picking up that rocket launcher over there and taking it out in one shot. It goes with how ruthless he is, and I appreciate that.
What I DON'T appreciate is being forced to use them because his other attacks are so badly implemented.
The guns control pretty well, as they almost always auto aim. Thing is, you can't hold more than one, which would make sense until I ask the question "Where does Shadow keep the Chaos Emeralds he's collected?" So you mean to tell me, he can carry seven large gems that are as big as his hand on his person at all times, but he only can carry one gun at a time?
Okay, sure.
Also, why the hell do melee weapons have ammunition? Could... someone explain that to me? Cause yeah, when you pick up a sword, there's an ammo counter just like with guns, and once they run out, Shadow discards it. I've picked up and used a sword, and as far as I know, they don't have ammunition.
Shadow himself controls horribly. He's so loose and slippery. Pushing the control stick doesn't have Shadow move gradually fast like most Sonic games. Instead, you just go plowing forward at your top speed. And with how slippery he is, it's almost impossible to control him, so expect to run into danger just because you were trying to adjust Shadow's position. You know what would great for this game? A run button! Like think about it. If you don't push it, Shadow runs slower. But if you push the run button, he activates the jets on his shoes to go at his top speed. THAT would be great!
The flow of the game's levels is based on which objective you complete. Levels have two to three objectives each: one hero objective, one villain objective, and one neutral objective. Completing the objectives alters which path you take on the level grid: completing hero objectives moves you down, completing neutral objectives moves you straight forward, and completing villain objectives moves you up. This isn't bad, but the objectives they ask you to do are what breaks this. Most of these objectives require you to defeat a particular enemy of a certain category, or destroy certain objects. The problem here is without a radar system or something, you have no way of knowing where all the enemies are, so expect to have that one last enemy left and have to look all around the stage for it. This is terrible in this one stage on the Ark, I HATED this stage! It's not linear, so not only can you get lost, but you'll also be unable to track down that last enemy.
And during the stages where you have one target to take out, the target always has TOO MUCH HEALTH! Remember the level I told you about that killed this for me? Yeah, it was one of these levels!
As you remember, there are 10 different main endings you have to get in order to unlock the final battle. In order to get each different ending, you have to beat the game, then go back to the beginning, and play through the WHOLE GAME AGAIN, but this time with a different route. This means you'll be playing through the first stage TEN times. You can't take short cuts either. You HAVE to play through the game ten times.
Now, how is this any different than other Sonic games, right? Like Sonic Heroes, where you play through the game four times. Well, in the case of that game, first of all, each team's story is different enough where I'm invested. Second of all, each team's levels are formatted slightly differently, being longer, shorter, or just plain different in execution. Finally...
THERE ARE ONLY FOUR STORIES!!!
In Shadow the Hedgehog, the stages themselves aren't different. Just the objectives you do, and most of those aren't fun to do. They're just tedious. After the third or fourth playthrough, you'll be sick of this game.
Finally, there are the powers. If you kill enemies pertaining to the hero side (usually the aliens) you'll charge up a blue meter, but if you kill enemies pertaining to the villain side (usually G.U.N.) you'll charge up a red meter. Once full, you'll enter a super powered state where you can use one of two powers. Blue is Chaos Control, which allows you to skip WHOLE chunks of the stage you're in, which is useless unless you're doing the neutral run, where you just need to get from point A to point B. Red is Chaos Blast, which is a massive field wide nuke killing everything around. Honestly, it's not as cool as it sounds. The forms themselves give you unlimited ammo though, which makes the other powers absolutely useless.
FINAL VERDICT
This game... was not fun for me. In all honesty, I feel like THIS was the start of Sonic's decline in gaming.
This game seems like fun at first, but once you dive into it you see how much of a mess it is. It doesn't control well, it's tedious, and overall the story just isn't as well developed. I feel like this game only exists as a cash grab, trying to take advantage of Shadow's sudden popularity. THe problem is that this game just isn't well developed. Instead of asking "What sort of game should Shadow have?" and then building that, they instead asked "What would go into a Shadow game? Guns, cursing, darkness, and morality," and then stuffed all of those things into one game, regardless of how they worked.
Guys, I'm sorry, but I can't suggest this game. This was not fun for me, and I don't plan on EVER playing this again.
That said, taking into account everything I said plus my own enjoyment of the game has me awarding Shadow the Hedgehog a score of...
3/10
Plus a recommendation to Skip It. This is not a good game in my opinion, and it's a shame because Shadow is one of my favorite characters.
Well, I did it. I FINALLY posted this review. I never really played Sonic Riders, so I'm going to skip reviewing that one. Which means the next review is... that one...
Why did I play that game...? I'm not doing that one alone. I will force someone to do this one with me if I have to- (remembers Princess Luna hijacking her review before) Ooh... it's revenge time...
Till then, I love you all lots! Stay beautiful!
Salute`! 
Honestly I enjoyed it if only because I enjoy the Black Arms as a villain. While they were stereotypical in their motives their designs, weapons, and over all level designs are just simply awesome as far as villains come. They were also a nice departure from the typical lost artifact or long buried ancient spirit thing that the Adventure games had and were a completely new enemy in the Sonic franchise. I also had zero problems controlling Shadow in my opinion. Also with the melee weapons having an ammo counter that's more because they're more like a limit for them. Instead of them running out of ammo it's more likely they get broken upon their last use. Also with the GUN leader dude I think it might be that he just found Maria dead and with barely any connection with GUN nearby, no pistol was dropped, or anything just sorta assumed Shadow did it himself. Make of that what you will but I enjoyed the story.
one more thing to mention. you're invincible whenever you're in the Chaos Mode(blue or red), and you can also build it by healing others (pft, useless and annoying to do without the healgun, though they do at least acknowledge you nicely.) and breaking stuff.
also, you can literally spam Chaos Blast when possible. makes several boss fights much easier.
oh, and theres actually a two player mode similar to Sonic 2's, where a guy can join in with any of the walking characters if they're following you(even maria, though she only gets melee attacks, which are useless)
Fair point, last I checked, yes, Knuckles has a temper, but he's usually fairly level headed, just don't mess with the Master Emerald, he doesn't take well to it.
So THIS is where that meme is from.
And if it's properly forged, it's not going to break very easily.
Sonic: one of the few things 4Kids could actually do correctly, the other being Yu-Gi-Oh! Personally I think this is the best voice Shadow ever had, none of the others came close to it. The most modern sounds like a parody of this one, which is funny because this one sounds like a parody of all EDGY characters.
I personally liked this game. It's far from perfect, but I find it to be a good form of stress relief.