meats & fishes

Let me first say this: Shadow the Hedgehog is one of those games that you can either love or hate, and I didn't enjoy it a whole lot. I don't have a lot to say on this, but what I will say needs to be said.

I took hold of this game trying not to think of it as another Sonic game. After all, it's a step away from the usual Sonic formula. Yeah, you've got a hedgehog. And yeah, you've got some high-paced action. But equip the hedgehog with firearms and vehicles, and then add in some evil alien things to that high-paced action and it turns into something quite different. I'm all for the people who want to take some chances and try something new to see if the product something fresh, new, innovative and overall just great. And so, I was more than willing to see if Shadow the Hedgehog would turn out to be a hardcore badass game where I'd be able to zip around and fill aliens full of lead. I suppose I got all of this, but just not in the way I expected.

The first thing I noticed was the beautiful CGI work in the intro and first cutscene of the game. It was incredible. But then, every cutscene afterward was all in-game graphics. I'm usually not one to complain about graphics, but it seriously pisses me off when developers wave stunning material in our faces, then pull it away before you get a second glance. I can't stand it. That was my first and least significant beef with the game. But let's move on to the actual game itself.

The story starts with some big scary alien dude talking with Shadow about his past and how, if he collected all seven emeralds, he would fulfill his purpose. Or something along those lines. So Shadow, intrigued by the alien's apparent knowledge of his past, goes into the city of Westopolis to begin his quest.

I was a bit disappointed when I discovered that Shadow doesn't start out with a gun. But after running through the first level, it wasn't long before I got my hands on one. However, I was sorely disappointed when I found out that I hadn't obtained "Shadow's gun"-- I obtained a gun. A gun that, when depleted of ammunition, would be dropped like a piece of garbage. Great, so now I get to go gun hunting throughout the game which, although not really hard, can be inconvenient during some parts. I will say that Shadow the Hedgehog offers a wide array of weapons available to our misguided pro/antagonist; from a big sword to a rocket launcher.

Another thing that you'll soon realize when playing is that you can choose whether you want Shadow to be good or evil by defeating enemies accordingly. What I mean is that there are pretty much always two groups of enemies scattered throughout the levels. One group is composed of "good" guys, and one of "bad" guys. When you destroy enemies, one of two bars at the top of your screen will fill up depending upon whether it was a good guy or bad guy you killed. The bars are "Chaos Control" gauges that, when filled up, can be used to harness the power of Shadow's Chaos Control ability. When you use one of the bars, Shadow will speed ahead through a good portion of the level, and when the other bar is used, Shadow will create a large explosion that destroys all enemies within a certain radius.

To add to the anxiety of having to choose between good and evil, you're going to have to deal with some peer pressure, too. Throughout all the levels you play through, you'll have a different "partner" assigned to you during various parts. For instance, in the beginning of the first level, you'll run along with Sonic. Then, later on in the same level, one of the evil aliens will follow you around. They don't really do anything, but will scold you if you attack an enemy that is allied with them. For example, the alien guy will call you a traitor if you attack the aliens while he's with you, and Sonic will point out that the GUN soldiers are on your side if you happen to hit them. But because your partner doesn't do anything but talk and yell at you, they get pretty annoying; especially characters like Charmy Bee, who has a more irritating voice in this game than he did in Sonic Heroes.

Anyways, the main factor that comes into play when determining what path--good or evil--you will follow is if you accomplish certain goals assigned to you by your partner. If you help a good guy carry out a task, you'll proceed through the hero story, and vice versa with the bad guys. In the end, depending upon which path you've chosen, there are a variety of endings you can witness, giving this game a pretty decent replay value--assuming you've put up with the game to the end, or are willing to put up with it more than once.

The concept and explanation given above really make the game sound pretty cool and interesting, but it's really a bitch to play. The gameplay is kind of... slow. And that's not good when it's supposed to have that Sonic speed edge to it. They've got a lot of stuff everywhere, and if you don't stop to take out some enemies or look around the area to make sure you've gotten everything you want to get, it feels like you're missing out on a lot of the game. I'd be confident to say that you could probably go through the entire game without destroying an enemy, although you shouldn't hold me to that. But you'd be able to successfully beat the game by passing at least 80% of the enemies if you wanted to.

Also, giving Shadow a gun was kind of pointless. If you play through it like I do, you're so used to using your homing attack on enemies [after being trained to do so since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast], that you'll just forget that you can even shoot your enemies. It almost makes firing your weapon more of a chore than much of a feature.

Then there's the deal with the vehicles. Unfortunately, I haven't personally had the pleasure of experiencing vehicle use first-hand, other than riding around on this slow-moving flying alien. Although it was my only experience, I'd have to say that I've done it once too many times. It's nothing even remotely exciting.

The level design on its own was problematic. When you first load up a level and start going through it, it looks pretty cool. It's always easy to believe that the level you're currently playing is going to be cooler than the level you previously played. And it's true, for the first few moments you're playing it. However, the levels repeat themselves so much that by the time you're done with one, it feels like you've already gone through it six or seven times. Don't like the first minute of a level? You're not going to like the rest of it, either.

Another problem I have with the game is the story. Now, I haven't played through the "real" ending myself, but I have looked into it and discovered what happens, and all about Shadow's past. I'm not going to reveal any of that; just know that I'm aware of and understand the "real" story of the game. And I'm not upset that all of the various endings give you different stories--that's the point of having more than one ending. The thing that I dislike the most about it is how, if you don't follow the right path, you have no idea what's going on at all. If you go along the wrong path, you don't hear an explanation for the aliens, and you don't learn a thing about Shadow's past. Take the neutral path for instance. By the end of the game, everyone acts as though the aliens never existed. By the end of the game, Shadow doesn't care about his past anymore. By the end of the game, a lot of bullshit goes down. The least they could do is make up some nonsensical story, rather than leaving you with absolutely none.

My final point to touch on is the "hardcore badass-ness" that I mentioned way back in the beginning of this review. I really think that Sonic Team is trying a bit too hard this time around. I believe that a lot of us can agree that Shadow was pretty much the most badass character in Sonic Adventure 2. That's what he was supposed to be; that was his assigned role. Now apparently there needs to be vulgarities to make him even cooler. I'm not saying I'm offended by profane language; it would be ridiculous and hypocritical of me to say such a thing. What I am trying to say is that it would seem as though Sonic Team is trying to make their series into something that it's not supposed to be. Like the old phrase goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". It just bugs the hell out of me when Shadow mutters "Damn!" when he gets hurt. It bugged me when Shadow told Eggman "You're going straight to hell". Making your characters swear doesn't impress me, Sonic Team. Everything was fine without it.

Overall, I suppose that Shadow the Hedgehog can be a cool game if you can stand playing a game that uses an engine that doesn't work for the game. And if you can, then I'm sure it'd be great to play through the various endings to get the full experience. But if you've got doubts about it, then you're probably going to want to let this one go. It is definitely not a "must play" game by any means. If you want to know about Shadow's past without the unnecessary task of playing a sub-par game, then just do a bit of research on the game's ending, and you'll find all that you need to know. I think that all in all, I can cast this title aside with Sonic Heroes as a game I'm going to pretend I've never played before. At the same time, I'll pray that Sonic games of the future turn out several times better than this. And I sincerely hope that they found something for the new Sonic title that will actually work. Here's hoping.