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Fun at First, but then...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: March 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I got this with the anticipation that this would be the most unique of the Sonic franchise. You start off the game with a beutifully made cinematic about Shadow trying to remember his past. Suddenly, Literally out of the sky Aliens come smashing making a mess out of everything. Their leader Black Doom speaks to Shadow about a forgoton agreement. Black doom saying that Shadow should bring the 7 chaos emeralds. Shadow then relises that if he wants to find the secrets to his past he must locate the ancient gems.
After that Shadow's choices are up to you.
The first level is Westopolis. A city that has been heavily hit by the Black Arms. Speeding across the level you meet up with Sonic, who wants you to eliminate all of the aliens in the level. After killing a few of the aliens in the level and getting the first chaos emerald in the game, you meet up with Doom's Eye, who wants you to attack all of the G.U.N troops in the level. You then decide what you want to do and how you will do it. Overall this level (as well as some of the other levels in the game) was horribly designed and just had obsticles (i.e explsions)to get in your way.
The mst intersting part of the game were the weapons and veicicles. I was interested on how well they could put guns in such a light hearted series and they succeeded. The game uses guns and swords to increase your offense and veicicles could take you places that Shadow normally couldnt.
What I hated most about this game were the ingame cutscenes. They moved incredibly slow and you could not skip a cutscene if you have not watched it yet. The voice acting from 4kids were better than I expected but some were just a bad replacement of the original voiceovers. Curse words ar used very often so parents beware.
The last (and most definately least)thing I need to cover is the Multiplayer battles. You can play as the original Shadow, Shadow with orange highlights, and a bunch of robots modeled after Shadow. You and your opponent must fight to the death as you can use all of the weapons at your disposal. With very few arenas and characters to choose from, htis is the feature you may not be coming back for more.
So is Shadow worth your money? Well you want to play a troubled Hedgehog sppeding down highways,battleships and so much more with more than 300 ways to gets to the 10 endings then this game is for you. If not go play the more better Sonic titles out there.

Senseless Language

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 14
Date: December 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What is the point of all the swearing in this game? It adds nothing and ruins the game for the yournger kids.

Does Sonic's darker half have what it takes to dazzle discerning players?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 21
Date: November 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It's all too easy to draw parallels between Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. The classic mascot characters have endured the years to become videogame icons, recognized and loved by millions of game addicts around the globe. Nintendo's fat, Italian plumber helped pioneer the platformer genre and SEGA's blue hedgehog transformed it completely, placing a new emphasis on speed and rollercoaster-inspired level designs. In the old days, Mario and Sonic stood on even ground, each taking lead roles in an impressive selection of critically acclaimed titles. But as the years passed and consoles become more and more powerful, Mario's inevitable jump to the third dimension faired much better than Sonic's. Case in point: Super Mario 64 is remembered even today as one of the greatest games of all time. Sonic Adventure for Sega Dreamcast is conversely thought of as a flawed, but still enjoyable sequel by hardcore fans, and an altogether broken platformer by everybody else.

It is more than a little puzzling, therefore, that developers SEGA Studios USA and Sonic Team continue to draw upon that archaic, clunky design for various Hedgehog-based sequels. Sonic Adventure 2, for instance, hit Dreamcast and was later ported to GameCube with the same fundamental mechanics and shortcomings that blemished the original title. And now, the software house has created Shadow the Hedgehog for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, a game that looks and plays like it was designed for Dreamcast a full six years ago. Sonic's darker half occasionally shines in the same way that its predecessors did -- namely, with an impressive sense of speed and dazzling stages complete with trademark twists and turns. And it's solely for these reasons that anybody who defends the original Sonic Adventure will probably like Shadow's one. Alternatively, though, players unimpressed with Sonic's Dreamcast outings will find more of the same here, and unlike a fine wine, age has not improved the formula.

Identity Crisis
Shadow the Hedgehog seems to be Sonic Team's unofficial attempt at aging up its platformer games and as a result the title regularly deals with slightly darker and more convoluted themes that center on the balance between good and evil. The story is kick-started by a gorgeously rendered full-motion animation cinematic that introduces players to the troubled Hedgehog, who has recently lost his memory and is struggling to come to grips with his place in the world. The tale picks up after the events in Sonic Heroes and consequently Shadow can only vaguely recall in flashbacks that there was a girl named Maria, he may have loved her, and she was murdered.

Shadow isn't allowed much alone time before his thought process is so rudely interrupted by the sounds of war and destruction. An alien threat called Black Arms explodes onto the scene and demolishes everything in its path, including nearby city skyscrapers. This is, again, all illustrated in impressive FMA cut-scenes that seasoned Sonic fans will undoubtedly appreciate. Shadow observes this phenomenon with a level of indifference before he is approached by a demon-like figure known as Black Doom, who leads the extraterrestrial forces. The menacing entity acts as though he knows Shadow and commands the Hedgehog to retrieve the seven powerful Chaos Emeralds located throughout the land. The anti-hero begrudgingly agrees, but only because Black Doom promises to restore his memory immediately after the artifacts are collected.

This oddball setup is supposed to extend into and become an integral part of the gameplay experience. Shadow is out for himself and therefore he can and in fact does switch allegiances depending on the preferences of players. The hedgehog can be made to carry out Black Doom's commands, or he can switch sides and team up with Sonic and friends, or even Dr. Eggman. Changing teams is as simple as tapping the D-Pad during gameplay. One quick tap and Shadow will find himself being guided to various goals, such as destroying G.U.N. troops, for Black Doom. Another tap and Sonic and friends will appear at his side to fight against the Black Arms.

The concept itself is intriguing primarily because it enables gamers to choose different paths for themselves as the hero advances through the adventure. The choices made will have a direct bearing on the stages that follow thanks to a branching storyline that allows for several possible paths and endings. This is a clever way to extend replay value and we're confident that completionists will play through the title several times, switching allegiances, so that they may see everything that there is to see.

However, observing the unique goals per different allegiances is a messy undertaking marred by poor design. The fact of the matter is that any level of serious planned strategizing is wholly unobtainable in the intensely frantic makeup of the game, whose mechanics perpetually dart Shadow forward with both limited visibility and control. In turn, even when gamers are trying to fight alongside Sonic and friends, they will accidentally dispose of hordes of allies and even zoom into and activate switches or complete puzzle components that they should ignore. This truth renders the entire operation of choosing sides more or less useless.

Speed, Loops and Guns, But Very Little Fun
Dreamcast owners will already have an unfortunately accurate idea of how Shadow the Hedgehog plays (and for that matter, looks). To be brief, like Sonic Adventure before it. What this means is that speed and forward momentum are emphasized over control, puzzles, or to be frank, depth. Honestly, that isn't always a bad thing. Shadow, like Sonic before him, has his redeeming gameplay moments. We're referring to the rollercoaster-like stages complete with loop-de-loops, corkscrews and pinball bouncers that send the hedgehog zigzagging up and down environments at remarkable speeds. Because these scenarios are still plentiful, undeterred supporters of Sonic Team's efforts will undoubtedly find something to like about Shadow's quest.

That noted, these thrill-ride fundamentals have outworn their welcome, as far as we're concerned. Just because they dazzled players six years ago does not mean that Sonic Team can copy and paste exactly the same loops and spins into each new franchise iteration and expect everyone to be happy with the outcome. Admittedly, Shadow is at its best when the character is zipping through 360s and or skating a rollercoaster track. But it's also during these moments that the game plays itself. It is, in fact, possible, for participants to put their controllers down for seconds at a time and simply watch what unfolds. How is relinquishing control for what amounts to watching Shadow tumble through a scripted corkscrew a rewarding play environment?

Unfortunately for Sonic's darker half, there are all-new problems exclusive to his adventure. The very first level in Shadow the Hedgehog is a shining example of spectacularly lackluster game design and probably one of the worst single stages that we've played in any title for many months. The reluctant hero is thrust into a drab environment and immediately nudged forward -- right into a progression of objects, including obstructing walls and enemies. Disappointingly, the platformer also features a horrendously malfunctioned camera system that catches on environments or even occasionally runs amok for no particular discernible reason. The result? Commonly frustrating undertakings where the goal is to burst forward and gain speed, but before that can happen Shadow crashes into enemies and loses rings, or simply goes careening off a ledge. These impossibly trying outcomes are worsened because Shadow moves loosely through the worlds he explores, which at times makes precision navigation an insurmountable hurdle.

The character can, unlike Sonic, wield a number of imposing weapons, from massive swords to explosive projectiles. But in a move that again harkens back to the days of Dreamcast, there is no lock-on system in place and therefore what is a simple process in other titles is overly complex and cumbersome here. Successfully targeting and unloading a bazooka shot at an enemy may as well be left to chance. Sonic Team has positioned Shadow's gunplay as a primary selling point to the platformer, but in practice the mechanics are really not that enjoyable.

Recycled technology and replicated production values have ensured that Shadow the Hedgehog looks and sounds almost exactly like its Sonic-based predecessors. To Sonic Team's credit, there are more than 20 levels in the game and each is varied in design. Some areas have a futuristic look to them while others feature large metropolis backgrounds and more still take Shadow through lava and forest settings. Meanwhile, the game engine draws long, stretching locales populated with a moderate number of polygonal characters. And on GameCube and Xbox, the fluidity usually aspires for the 60 frames per second mark with some dips. The PlayStation 2 version is noticeably more sluggish despite the fact that it is visually lacking compared to its counterparts. And yet, these are small graphic victories, especially when held to today's more robust standards. Shadow oftentimes looks like it could have been designed for Dreamcast simply because the worlds and characters lack polygon numbers, which leads to a generally square presentation void of curvy shapes. Worse is that many of the game's textures are downright muddy, especially when the camera malfunctions and pans up close, as it consistently does. And overall character animation is primitive and incomplete when compared to the majority of today's games.

Shadow the Hedgehog is proof that Sonic Team needs to get with the program if it plans to compete with legitimate current and next- generation software. This is Sonic Adventure with guns and less polish, and players today are far more discerning than they were six years ago. Diehard Sonic fans will cling to the fact that the title still conjures up corkscrews and loop-de-loops, as well as an impressive sense of speed when Shadow really gets moving, and this is all true. But this doesn't make up for the game's long list of shortcomings, from stupid level design, unrefined controls and useless gunplay to disappointingly outdated graphics.

tHE BEST GAME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: November 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the best game ever. The gun part is the best (No violence)BUY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Highly disappointed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: January 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am very disappointed in this game. I have been playing Sonic almost all my life and I've seen nothing like this one. My siblings wanted to rent this game the other night and thinking it was like the others, we rented it. I saw that it was rated E 10+ so I told them that I had to play it first and make sure it was OK. When we got home, I stated to playing. I turned it off in less then 15 minutes due to the swearing and gun violence. This game is pretty much Doom or Grand Theft Auto for 10 year olds. I heard more cussing in 15 minutes of playing that game then I have heard in a rated R movie. I don't think it should be rated what it is. This game is NOT for children under the age of 13. Parents, PLEASE DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS GET THIS GAME!!!

Parents! Don't have a spaz!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: December 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Parents shouldn't be getting so angry about the cursing! FACE IT! Your kids are going to hear it some day! Better sooner than later. You can't stop them from hearing it, but you can stop them saying it. Rating it 'T' wouldn't help. I'm not a teen but most of my games are 'T'. Kids will still buy 'T' rated games at 9. Don't complain because it's getting you nowhere! Buy the game because it's awesome! If your kid has played Sonic games before, they'll love this. Don't have a spaz over nothing. This game rocks!

Shadow is just cool

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game, it is a bit hard for some of Sonic's younger crowd (my little cousin couldn't get past the 3rd level) but if you can beat the older games, you should do fine. The guns added a fun addition to the sonic gameplay, but the real fun is the classic sonic gameplay and fun levels. Shadow was cool in Sonic Adventure 2, and he was the only reason i didn't get rid of my copy of Sonic Heroes, his attitude, dark looks, and mysterous and dramatic past gives him an extra layer of cool..ness. The gameplay can get frustrating at times, and it sucks when you black out at the end of a 30 min level and must start over, but the game is a must have. The cursing in the game isn't much, only "damn" and "hell", and face it, most kids by the age of 7 have heard that already, the game isn't even that violent, even with the guns in it.

Great! P.S.: It's not that violent!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is great!(Hence Title 'Great')
The Shadow's graphics were a lot better than
in Sonic Heroes. I played this game for only 1
day and I love it. At first, I thought that this
game should have been rated 'T for Teen', but
a few hours later I realized that the game was
barely violent at all. Sure, the game had guns,
who cares all that much? Anyways, the game was
pretty short, resulting in 7 stages per story, and
two bosses. But considering that there were over
20 levels increased the value of replay. Two-Player
didn't offer much except for a 2-P battle mode.
They offered two characters, but with a variety
of different colors. Shadow and Metal Shadow are
available. The main reason I like this is because,
well, it has Shadow in it, he's the main character,
and It's a multi-ending game.
Heres a summary:

Pros:
-You play as Shadow and only Shadow(Unless
you count Metal)
-It offers great graphics
-Multi-Ending game
-You can unlock weapons
-Chaos Blast & Control are available
-New cast of Villains/Heroes
-Shadow's past is finally revealed!

Cons:
-Since it's multi-ending, they're may not be
any more Shadow games, if so, "Sayonara Shadow"
-Not much of a 2-P
-Wished they would offer more levels

In my teenaged opinion...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

In my opinion people should try this game a little more. No, not 5-year-olds, 6-year-ols or even 'mature' 9-year-olds. There is no such thing as a mature 9-year-old if you need to worry about them that much. Everyone needs to realize that the rating system will only work if you follow it. My little sister (Who is ten) plays this game with me a lot. We play co-op mode, and do you wanna know what? We're usually laughing so hard that we don't even hear the swearing. Sure, we can hear the silly voice acting and the good honest humor, but we don't notice the swearing.

Seriously, if your children pick up on the slight swearing (although I still say that 'hell' isn't a bad word) Then it's the parent's fault. My sister and I know that language like that is innaproprate. And don't tell me that a seven or six-year-old won't be taught enough, either. Anyone under ten shouldn't play this. The rating system is an important thing. If you get an M rated game for your ten-year-ol it is the same as if you were getting an E10+ game for your three year-old. It's your fault, not SEGA's. This is a good game, me and my sister enjoy it and have completed Expert Mode. If you don't at least make it to the Last Story you haven't really played it.

Also, The 'rasism' accusation is completely without ground. Shadow is black, therefore his father Black Doom should be too. End of discussion.

hi

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When they first came out with this game I thought it was going to be a disaster because theyve never before created a whole game starring shadow, it was only sonic.

When I got the game and played it for the first time it was very different from all of the other sonic games (Differences: guns, aliens, everything was darker, you were either bad, good or selfish, and you loved a little barbie-doll girl).

But after a while I got used to it and realized that it was a really good, fun game. The differences were the fun parts. Also the new things that other sonic games dont have is the seven keys, which, in the first level unlocks a car that you can run over people. I'll list them down:

Good

- Theres portals to take you back to the places that you've already been incase you forgot something or want to do something back there.
- You can choose what you want to do: Good, Bad or just take the Emerald.
-You can unlock cool things when you find seven keys.
-You can go in a car inside.
- You can have cool weapons and bombs.
- You can still go really fast like sonic
- Everyone (sonic, knuckles, tails, dr. eggman, big, that bunny, that girl who likes sonic, ect.) is still in this.

Bad
- Everyone (sonic, knuckles, tails,dr. eggman, big,that bunny, that girl who like sonic, ect.) sounds funny ( weird and different).
The levels get really hard after a while
-Some levels are so hard and confusing that it will keep you on that until you quit.
- The graphics are only good on the scenes when youre not playing, when you are they get worse.
- The levels are dark(to see in).
- Every time he dies he cusses.

So yeah. If you really like challenges, get this game. Its really fun once you get used to it. But I think that it should be rated T for guns and violence and cussing. Just get it if you're aloud T games. I hope this didn't sound mostly like bad things about this game because it's really good. You should get it. I RECOMMEND IT. yes... I do.

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