Shadow the Hedgehog

At the very start of this game,whoever the vocalist of Crush 40 is (they have more than one and it doesnt stay consistent even in the Adventure games) proclaims,trying to embody Shadow as a character, that "he hears nor fears no evil ,his hands will crush them all" and tell us essentially that he has based his affair on nothing(anyone who gets that reference lol).But this is but a mere Promise,because duh, this is a game! ,and the opening theme kinda lets you in on that very subtly by presenting you with a very rigid dichotomy(Black Hearted evil/Brave Hearted Hero) at the very end,while "holding on for dear life".It's hard to tell if its intentional or not but truly intersting that this game borders on hitting on some of the same points of critique as Undertale,even if unintentionally.Speaking of Undertale this game is also part of the family of games where you have several endings depending on "morality",it's not as fleshed out in terms of unique dialogue as Undertale(partially bcz of 2000's technological limitations,though i am unsure if this game would have gone full ImScared and manipulated the player's PC for the sake of telling a story if released today).

One place i think this game really shines,from a non-gameplay perspective atleast, is that no matter what path you play it is a struggle for Shadow to stay 100% authentically himself in the face of reified common sense "morality",which most of the time just means killing the Black Arms,like in the level Cryptic Castle where Eggman's robots are actually incentivized to be spared instead of killed like they would in other Sonic games(to some it may be called a piss poor morality,and i think its intentional,even if not its still part of my point that it's so basic and reductionist).And i must say,to the person i am ,this is VERY resonant and powerful,it's part of why i will for instance never rate a piece of media based on anything but how much i enjoy it compared to what else i enjoy.This game has a few variations on "hero" and "dark" endings but the most notable ones include Shadow literally implying that he is fully willing to commit suicide bcz since he was created from Black Doom's body he is therefore Evil (it's like SA2's self-sacrificing Shadow but instead of him thinking it was Maria's desire to save the earth,there is no such pretentions of doing something for a friend here,Vector,the only thing close to a friend following him in that scene,even looks at him weird for such an implication,not in a judgemental way but an extremely confused one.),him embracing that Black Doom is his sole creator and denying his agency fully,which isnt even shown to have to no direct consequences but left to imagination.This game also like SA2 has a Last Story i.e a singular canon outcome and it IS one where Shadow kills Black Doom ,however the absolutely ridiculous/hilarious line "You're killing me of boredom ,black doom!" makes it very clear this is a self-interest project of Shadow.

It is then revealed(admittedly in a slapdash way) in the final fight with Black Doom that Shadow was rescued by Eggman after he died in SA2 and had his memory rebooted then ,kicking off the entire plot.Now,a question one may have is about how Shadow's edginess is intact and not his memory,and admittedly this is a plot hole,but even more admittedly i legit do not care!(i dont mean this agressivly).
Shadow was ,ever since his introduction in SA2 an extremely edgy character,but while in SA2 he was insecure and constantly trying to match up to Sonic,Shadow in his own game feels like someone who has accepted his own edginess and fucking owns it.There are many examples of intentional irony this game has which people overlook bcz they want to believe game reviewer narratives of how this game takes itself too serious like SA2's Omochao being turned into a fucking gun or the fact that there is a level called Cosmic Fall right where SA2's Cosmic Wall takes place.Whether the big picture is intentionally hilarious or not,those comedic moments are part of why i love this game all the same,and some of them are just entertaining,not even comedic,Jason Griffith gave Shadow a comically growly voice that i really enjoy here,and apparently is in the US dub of the anime Sonic X ( i have only watched the portuguese dub and too long ago to even remember).There's also all the cotradictions going on,especially with the GUN officers in this game,especially that one general who thinks Shadow got Maria killed,and he isnt exactly wrong,but GUN themselves are implied to have Maria killed,because Shadow is a powerful character and literally everyone that isnt in the main Sonic cast wants a piece of him,some of those are plot holes but they are also amusing to watch.

And done with the non-gameplay elements is when perhaps my opinions get even more fringe and controversial.The physics are admittedly slippery but i still overall think this game is easier to control than Heroes and more satisfactory than SA2(that game has a chance that you will press forward and sonic wont,this doesnt happen in this game).I will defend the slower homing attack contrasted to the Adventure games and Heroes.The guns which people rave so much about actually are useful considering these enemies are mostly long range shooters,that actually shoot, unlike say the Beetle sentry droids,and there is a variety of stylish and outlandish guns(like the one gun shaped like an egg that fucking sucks people into it and turns them into small balls you can throw back).

This game has levels i find rough,BUT unlike stuff like SA2's Eternal Engine/Security Hall,its the type of stuff i look back and say to myself"skill issue" at all the deaths i have(not that that means i care about capital L capital D Level Design or capital F Fairness,i have games that are unfair in my good ratings).A good example of this is the infamous Lost Impact,a level which at first i spent over 40 minutes on.You may ask yourself why and the answer is.... because i thought you could jump on one of the background elements,you may call that confusing game design but as soon as i went a little up Shadow literally said "try going down" as if to mock me,it was fucking surreal.And with the characters telling you where to go on most of the more maze like sections,as well as ring trails which point to the correct door(yknow the type of level design Super Mario World gets praise for).Cosmic Fall is kind of a janky level but the devs kind of also knew what they were doing by giving you 14 MINUTES time limit and having the camera literally point you in the dirction you have to go if you wait enough,2 things that if this was SA2 (sorry,i love that game for the record but its fun taking down the bizzare sacred cow that game is to Sonic fans) would probably not happen.The only level i truly do not play that much defense for is Central City.Mad Matrix is i guess a "so bad its good " level by most people definition,but i cant lie i still enjoy it,and its more indication of the devs knowing what they were doing bcz the A rank requirement for the infamous Dark mission where you curl up into a ball and run along a circuit is comically low,as well as finishing the level in 20 MINUTES giving you a time bonus.

And when this game nails a level it fucking does,i love basically every final level in this game for different reasons.Hot Shelter is a showcase of the fact THIS GAME,not Sonic Unleashed was the first 3d sonic where i actually feel comfortable rail grinding and especially rail switching,Final Haunt and Black Comet are pretty similar but the latter has that weird spinning top gimmick from Prison Island which i really enjoy while the latter brings back the aformentioned egg shaped gun except you use it to suck WALLS ,its truly ridiculous and i love it.This game legit made Undertale Genocide style gameplay something i actually desire to regularly do on its own,via enemy counters,one lets play i watched had someone get to the end of the level and finish the level with 10 ENEMIES LEFT at the very end of the level,Sonic Heroes's "kill all enemy" missions were not even close to being this "forgiving" ,as much as i also enjoy Sonic Heroes.All that really matters is i enjoy this gameplay overall tbh,if maybe this game didnt have all those "fair and objectively accepted" (in as many quote marks as i can even put here) spots,i am unsure if i would enjoy it any less.The last thing i would want is to make some kind of transcendtal claim to quality like so many people think this game does to capital E Edginess.

pump action mp5
lol

I do not like Shadow the Hedgehog and yes, I’m referring to the character. I made this explicitly clear in my review of his debut title Sonic Adventure 2 because Sonic’s negative mode contrast doppelganger has always left a bad taste in my mouth. This should come as a surprise to anyone because Shadow is a character that catered to my age demographic during his prime. It’s hard to believe now, but the cultural landscape of the 2000s was oozing with edge. The trendy sports and reality television showcased a potential for people to be subjected to grievous pain, “Crawling”, “Bodies”, and “Down with the Sickness” were songs that were taken seriously, the bar for comedy was set to be as taboo-breaking as humanly possible, and the internet was an uncharted frontier of cutting-edge content that shocked society with both its breadth and graphicness. Compared to how restrained and socially-conscious everything has been since the mid-2010s, the years of my childhood and adolescence feel like a bygone era. Shadow the Hedgehog was designed with the intention of remastering Sonic for the new, edgy millennium, and the character had successfully resonated with the youths of that time as planned. Even when I was a kid who was supposed to, however, I always thought that he was an uncharismatic jerk whose presence created a storm cloud of unnecessary, overwrought melodrama over the Sonic universe. This is why I avoided his self-titled offshoot game released in 2005 even though I was meant to eat this game up like an all-you-can-eat buffet. It didn’t help the game’s case that the general consensus was that it dug a deeper hole for 3D Sonic’s less-than savory reputation. So you see, reviewing Shadow the Hedgehog is not a retrospective of how I perceive this game now then when I was a child like the previously released 3D Sonic games. It’s instead an instance of morbid curiosity finally instilled into me as an adult to find out if I was right in passing on this game long ago. God help me.

Shadow certainly is the most interesting Sonic character on the basis of background and moral standing. He’s got a checkered past, and the most damned thing about it is that he hasn’t the foggiest idea of what it consists of. Shadow the Hedgehog continues the same amnesia-addled mystery narrative that Sonic Heroes started with the character’s general uncertainty, and his past is only hazy to Shadow because the player is already likely privy to it from the events of Sonic Adventure 2. The only part of the mystery that will have the player scratching their heads is how Shadow still exists considering we all watched him perish in the cosmos over Earth’s orbit. Shadow’s mission in his eponymous title is to unravel the mystery of his existence, and our mission as the player is to see how deeply the developers retconned the climax of Sonic Adventure 2. All the while, Shadow must contend with an all-out war on Earth between the humans, a plague of black aliens, and an irate Dr. Eggman in the background. Shadow’s road to self-discovery is going to be a bumpy one, to say the least.

Shadow’s journey is also going to be rife with complications because he controls like absolute dogshit. People who write off all of Sonic’s 3D outings often claim that the shifty camera is the prime culprit in dooming the series to horrid mediocrity. Still, while there is some understandable merit to this criticism, no one took fault with Sonic’s controls (or at least not for all the 3D entries leading up to this point). In both Sonic Adventure titles, Sonic speeding through the levels was as smooth as a syrup enema, hence another reason why the transition to 3D for the blue blur was actually less muddled than most remember. If this is the 3D Sonic title that triggered the downfall of Sonic’s mobility for every subsequent 3D entry, I find it funny that he wasn’t even the one who caused it. Shadow moves with the grace of a college freshman girl drunk on a fifth of mango pineapple flavored Svedka, or to say that his general movement has zero amount of grace. This game’s version of Shadow would fail a sobriety test because he struggles to keep himself on a straight path. Any intentional deviations from a direct route result in swerving around with jagged dramatism, as if strafing while running was another aspect of Shadow’s amnesiatic stupor. Shadow’s sludgy rate of acceleration hardly puts him on an equal standing with Sonic’s lively speed capabilities either. While Shadow will not cooperate with the player, somehow, he will still constantly bump into enemies on the field as if his wonky trajectory is due to him being magnetized to them. Thankfully, Shadow only loses a modest sum of rings upon being hit as opposed to the standard penalty of losing all of them, but is this change due to the developers being fully aware that the player will encounter problems? What gives, Sega? Shadow’s lack of stability with his general movement is inexcusable, and is the primary factor in the game’s poor quality.

Even though it doesn’t make a lick of sense, I guess every player should be slightly relieved because speed is not the name of the game in Shadow the Hedgehog. That is, unless the player is content with the game’s “neutral route.” The range of the six levels per campaign depends on Shadow’s actions in each level. A moral choice mechanic is implemented for each level in Shadow the Hedgehog, and a single campaign’s trajectory depends on the specific task completed. Three choices are presented to Shadow; hero, dark, and neutral, and the two opposite ends of that spectrum involve aligning with either Sonic and a number of his friends or the intimidating leader of the black aliens. Both objectives will be presented to Shadow near the beginning of each level with fairly clear instructions from either party, and Shadow will have to consistently cease his rate of speed to make a more meticulous effort in completing either task. Determining the route of Shadow’s journey on this basis is the most engaging and unique mechanic of the game, and strictly limiting the player’s route based on player choice is a great way to facilitate player choice. In saying this, it could’ve been executed a little smoother. At several different points in each level, the opposing faction of whichever task the player has assigned still pops their head up and automatically changes Shadow’s objective to their request. The player can change this in the pause menu but as we’ve learned from Ocarina of Time’s Water Temple, pausing the game to swap something out is the most vexing method of manual change. Besides that, both factions of “good” or “bad” irritate me to no end because Shadow will practically be accompanying them through the entire level. I’m either subjected to the inane chatter of a high-pitched Tails or Charmy the Bee or getting swimmer’s ear from Dr. Klaww in the shape of an evil octopus. Together, it’s like listening to a Brokencyde album, and that’s just gross.

There are a total of 23 levels in Shadow the Hedgehog, almost twice as many as the individual ones in the first Sonic Adventure title. However, the player will only experience six of them per campaign without the option to retrace one’s steps for a different outcome once the trajectory has been set. Let me just say that I fully appreciate the variety across the 22 levels featured in the game after being driven mad by repeating the same fourteen levels over four campaigns in Sonic Heroes. The player might get sick to death of playing the opening level of Westopolis, but at least there is a one and three chance that the following level will be fresh. However, until the levels were watered down and corrupted by both Team Rose and Team Chaotix respectively, the levels in Sonic Heroes were utterly enjoyable through and through despite the herculean length of some. Shadow the Hedgehog’s levels range from being promising to downright insufferable. Many level motifs are Sonic Adventure 2 reunions where we see the fallout of both Prison Island in radiated ruin as well as some subsector of the Space Colony Ark. Crazy Gadget was an exemplary space level compared to standing and waiting to use the crumbling rubble of the ark to fall and use as platforms in Cosmic Fall. Glyphic Canyon levels offer some loops and other classic Sonic level tropes, but Shadow’s restrained velocity doesn’t result in the same electric thrills that result in Sonic blazing through them. I somewhat enjoy the vehicle-intensive levels because the hopping mech and military car somehow control better than Shadow does. I also admire Lava Shelter because it managed not to fuck up the grind rail gameplay. On the other hand, I loathe any level where Shadow has to follow an airship and destroy it, or kill every enemy in the level. Who thought the return of that god awful Team Chaotix mission with the candles was a good idea? There simply aren’t too many exemplary standouts among the pack to compensate for the substandard ones.

Then there’s the other aspect of Shadow’s gameplay everyone knew an entire paragraph would be dedicated to because it was the major selling point of the game. Shadow’s role as Sonic’s edgy rival in Sonic Adventure 2 buttered up all the acne-ridden pre teens enough, but it was time to dial his coolness radar all the way up to eleven. When I saw my first indication that Shadow was getting his own game on the front cover of a 2005 issue of Nintendo Power, I couldn't believe my eyes. Not only was Shadow revved up on a bitchin Harley like he’s James fucking Dean, but he was holding a fucking hand cannon in the his left hand. I was gobsmacked. Despite my shocked incredulity, what I was witnessing was true. Guns are a main mechanic in Shadow the Hedgehog, the cherry on top of any edgy sundae. Shadow will pick up the misplaced firearms from enemies he has vanquished and use them at his own volition until the ammunition runs out. If that happens, picking up another gun to use is as simple as replacing a stick to walk with on a hiking trail. The guns range from pistols and AKs to the more fictional space blasters usually found in the scrap remains of Eggman’s robots. As fucking sick as Shadow looks strapped with a loaded gun, unfortunately, it all falls apart in execution thanks to the awful controls. Good luck aiming without a targeting mechanic while Shadow is zooming around like a hornet huffing raid fumes. The player will have to resort to primarily using the guns for combat because the trademark homing attack is both pitiful and unresponsive in this game.

Guns weren’t only introduced to make Shadow the Hedgehog moisten the pants of pre-adolescents or test the limits of the new E10 rating introduced by the ESRB that the game ultimately received upon release. They are indicative of the more mature direction the developers decided to take for a more complex and dignified character like Shadow the Hedgehog *snickers loudly to self upon typing this statement*. Or at least this was the developers sincere intentions that faltered into being Shadow the EDGEhog, a hilarious observational joke that absolutely NO ONE has ever made. In addition to the guns, Shadow also swears like the big man he is. None of these utterances surpass baby’s first curse words like “hell” and “damn,” but I’m still in disbelief that these words are present in any licensed Sonic property. Shadow asking himself where that DAMN fourth Chaos emerald is always gets a chuckle out of me, and the same goes for when he tells Eggman he’s “going straight to hell” as a threat before one of their fights. My favorite unintentionally(?) funny line is when Shadow uses the age-old simile of taking candy from a baby to convey how easy taking another Chaos Emerald will be. Then, he has to elaborate that he condones such an action because he’s the baddest mofo alive. Being a grouchy misanthrope is one thing, but this crosses the line. Who wrote this shit?

So does Shadow the Hedgehog’s narrative offer anything of real substance besides abysmal attempts at making Shadow seem cool? Well, the myriad of alternate endings to each campaign should at least make the player somewhat curious. Shadow’s journey to discover the truth leads him to the shocking revelation that he’s a clone of the original Shadow made by Eggman. Or at least this piece of information is only shocking to Shadow and anyone who hasn’t played Sonic Heroes, and that game revealed this twist with much more subtlety. The seven Chaos Emeralds are still out and about for all megalomaniacs in the Sonic universe, and the three general paths revolve around who gets to reap the benefits of Shadow’s emerald hunting throughout the story. The neutral path sees Shadow selfishly seizing all the Chaos Emeralds for himself to truly fulfill his arc of being the “ultimate lifeform” he touted for himself in Sonic Adventure 2. Even the hero and dark routes lead to practically the same outcome, with the only deviation of who Shadow screws over. He leaves the Black Arms leader to rot in the true hero story, and the same fate befalls Sonic in the dark route. In one ending, Shadow and Gamma kill Eggman execution-style as the screen fades to black. Jesus Christ, Sega. Only in the semi-hero ending does Shadow feel remorseful for his past (I don’t forgive you, Shadow). I am not willing to go to the lengths needed to unlock the absolute ultimate true ending where Shadow uses all of the Chaos Emeralds to destroy the alien menace with an audience of all of Sonic and his friends seeing this act of true altruism unfold in awe. It involves objectives needed to be done across every single level that I do not have the strength or patience to stomach. I will gladly settle for Shadow’s newfound confidence in whichever choice he makes.

At the end of the day, Shadow the Hedgehog is difficult to take seriously. Instead of providing a deep, profound character study for Shadow, the result of Sega putting Sonic’s hottest new character in the limelight made an already flawed character a total laughingstock. The story, the gun mechanics, and the brooding presentation reek of trying too hard to appeal to a specific age demographic that it comes off as pandering. Still, with this game as my example, I think the true culprit of 3D Sonic’s downfall is a rushed development period. This has been well documented with future 3D Sonic bombs, and one could make an example out of Sonic Heroes released before this game. Shadow the Hedgehog, in my mind, is the first truly bad 3D Sonic game, but it’s not because the game lacks passion. Specific elements of Shadow the Hedgehog such as the malleable story trajectory are admirable, and some of the levels show real promise. If the developers had the time to hone Shadow’s shoddy controls and the way the levels juggle their objectives, Shadow the Hedgehog could’ve been a solid 3D Sonic game. With its overall direction in mind, I’m not sure that even a competent Shadow the Hedgehog would’ve won me over, but at least there would have been a dedicated number of Sonic fans defending it.

This game definitely isn't good. I wouldn't say it's the worst game ever --- it's not even the worst game in the franchise.

There are some really, really bad games in the franchise.

Anyway, when my parents picked up an original Xbox at the local swap meet, it came with two games, this, and Enter the Matrix. I actually like this game better than Enter the Matrix. I guess you could say that I had a real "charming" first impression of the Xbox.

Naturally, I beat this game all the way through, making sure to get every ending. Not like I had anything better to do, homebody that I was. Even at that age, not quite jaded yet, I knew that I wasn't playing a good game, and wasn't sold that the gun-toting, motorcycle riding hedgehog was a "cool" character, despite the games every attempt to convince me otherwise.

Still a better game than Sonic 06.

i actually enjoyed it, its not very good but its an OKAY game. i dont understand the hate that much, the concept is wierd and in many ways its more comedic when its trying to be edgy but i think its worth playing for a few hours. soundtrack is great too.
i feel like it would be rated better if it was its own seperate game other than a sonic game.

Shadow The Hedgehog is such a strange game to me. When I was very young, I actually didn't think this game was real. I thought it was just a well-made animation of Shadow doing edgy stuff. Of course, I've known about this game for quite some time and I was always interested in playing it because I've heard so much about how bad it is.

They weren't kidding.

Shadow The Hedgehog is a spin-off in the Sonic The Hedgehog series that follows Sonic's rival, Shadow The Hedgehog, a character that's been around since Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow has lost his memory and is told by a mysterious dark figure named Black Doom that if he collects all 7 Chaos Emeralds, he will uncover the truth of his past.

I don't hate that this game exists. In fact, if this game never existed, many (Including myself) would've loved to see Sega give him a standalone game. Shadow is considered by many to be the best-written and most interesting character in the franchise. He has an interesting backstory and goals. And he's morally ambiguous. It's just horribly executed here.

This game has a very interesting gimmick. Each level has 3 Paths you can take. There's a hero side where you side with Sonic and his friends to accomplish a specific task such as killing all the aliens attacking or activating something, There's the Dark Path where you follow a villain such as Black Doom or Dr. Eggman into doing something they want. Or the Normal Path where you just get to the end of the level and be basically indifferent to them. Depending on what path you take per level, you will either go up, down or straight, on this timeline. As a result, there are 10 endings in this game and 326 possible stories to get to one of these endings.

It's an interesting gimmick. However, to get to the Last Story (Which is the only canon one), you gotta play and beat the game 10 times. One for each ending. This wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the gameplay.

The gameplay is an absolute mess. Shadow is way too slippery and falls off ledges all the damn time because of it. This game also has Shadow use firearms which range from a pistol to some weird alien stuff. The gun combat doesn't lock so aiming is horrible. The homing attack is inconsistent and the vehicles you can drive are so hard to control. You also have Chaos Powers. If you kill good guys, the red bar goes up which allows you to do a Chaos Blast which is very underwhelming. Killing Bad Guys fills up the blue bar which activates Chaos Control which either blasts you through the level or stops time (Which I guess is cool).

The level design is absolutely horrendous and Shadow just overall doesn't feel fun.

Another thing with this game, Shadow The Hedgehog tries to be badass and super cool and edgy. The opening animation (Which admittedly is very well animated.) has Shadow looking angry, driving a motorcycle, and shooting guns, while heavy rock music plays in the background (Thank god I Am... All of Me is a good Crush 40 song). Shadow tries to say badass things and even swears. (If you count "Damn" and "Hell" swears). This leads to hilariously bad writing and acting because the game takes itself too seriously.

Shadow The Hedgehog has great CGI animation and music. But it has awful level design, slippery gameplay, and a game that takes itself too seriously and is an overall bad character study of such an interesting character

"Where's That DAMN Fourth Chaos Emerald"