VG Review - Shadow the Hedgehog

There are many Sonic 3D games I've heard of all in my life, and nearly all of them are a hit-and-miss! Sonic Adventure was awesome, Sonic Adventure 2 was near-perfect as a true sequel, Sonic Heroes was decent, but a little too mindbreaking, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 was utter crap and right next to Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, it's one of the most vile and hideous games I have ever had any contact with whatsoever! Other 3D titles like Sonic and the Black Knight and Sonic and the Secret Rings (both being Storybook entries) aren't as farfetched as you think, but to me, way more playable than Sonic 06! Sonic Unleashed started bringing back the old Sonic universe we knew in love, but one problem: The Werehog stages, and the Werehog, itself! And finally, Sonic Colors came out a year ago and gave us even more returning faith: the voice acting, Sonic Unleashed-like stages, Super Sonic playable in regular levels, well-written dialogue, no Werehog, and best of all, only Sonic was playable... And that's what I liked about the original games, themselves: good storyline, fantastic gameplay, and beautiful outlooks on level design. But before that abomination many call Sonic 06 came to existence, there was an older abomination that is a hit-and-miss like few 3D games, but for the most part, a miss: Shadow the Hedgehog! And I'm not talking about the character, since he is incredibly badass in his own right... You see, Sonic Team screwed up his character pretty badly on this game, adding in particular, guns, weapons, and horribly uninteresting vehichles! Who's the idiot who made this?! Just aside all of this, Shadow the Hedgehog is basically like your everyday 3D Sonic title, such as running quickly, reaching goals, collecting rings, and taking out any obstacles that are in your path. Shadow's rings that he collects during gameplay are his health points (Duh!), and if he has rings while getting hit, they're simply bounced out of him, and you can find more... But if Shadow has no rings whatsoever, you immediately lose a life! Simple, right? Eeh! Eeh! Eeh! This time, the controls are screwed up in this installment, making Shadow the Hedgehog quite a painful game to play. To make matters worse, this game is drastically different: bringing the addition of guns and other weapons to the mix and even transportation, making this more of a third-person shooter as well. I'm sorry, but when I first saw this, I thought to myself, "WOW!! Shadow with guns?! It's a dream come true!", but now, this idea has the word "SUCK" all over it! Also, am I the only one who really hates choosing paths as missions? Why yes, it's fun for the replay value, but overall, too far complicated to complete getting all ten endings and then obtaining the final one... Jeez!! Is that all necessary or did Sonic Team lose their entire mind with this game?!?! Oh, well! At least Shadow still maintains his speed level from his original game appearances and is actually a protagonist for once... In this game, I guess. You have three different mission paths: "Hero", "Dark", and "Normal". Hero missions have you undertake different objectives by the characters following the heroic way, while Dark missions have you do such things in another way by the Black Arms or of course, Doctor Eggman. The Normal missions have you just reach to the end of the stage, which I advise for the most part doing, but am I interested in playing this horse vomit?! No, no, no! Also, I'm not going into any further depth on two-player mode gameplay, other than you just controlling Shadow, Metallic versions of him, or palette swaps! Let's jump into the ridiculousity of the storyline: The G.U.N. (stands for "Guardian Units of Nations") are attempting to stop the evil plottings of Doctor Eggman and the Black Arms along with the good side (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, etc.). Shadow the Hedgehog takes place three months simply after the events of Sonic Heroes, with the main character knowing three things thus far: his tryings of escaping the ARK, Maria's death by the G.U.N. soldiers, and his own name. Shadow wants to know if he is really an android or not, having hints given from Sonic Heroes... I'm gonna go with the possible answer of ANDROID because in my theorized storylines of the Sonic Universe, I really think that the Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2 could've been a different person and not what he is now. If you don't believe the mighty Ouroburos, then that's fine... It's your own opinion! And this game whenever you like it or not is up to your decisions, okay? Well, we are on an agreement here since I advise you to play both Sonic 06 and Shadow the Hedgehog, and tell me which one's better... And either way, in my opinion, they are both atrocious and pathetically stupid 3D titles. I rank Shadow the Hedgehog however a 4.5 out of 10! So as this phrase goes, "Hero or villain? You decide!" I'm Ouroburos.TheNewSaurian, and hope you look out for my new up-and-coming game ideas, as well as more updates around the corner..

Pros

 * Nice choice of music... for a darker Sonic installment, at least
 * Shadow's speed in this game is not too shabby, unlike his Sonic 06 counterpart!
 * The graphics remind me of a mix between Sonic Heroes and the first Sonic Adventure entry; both are great titles, in my opinion.

Cons

 * Darker feel makes no logical sense
 * Addition of guns and vehicles
 * Confusing, yet unsurprising storylines... O-kay.
 * Shadow's homing attack leads to cheap deaths easily
 * Horrible controls
 * Having to find/kill a certain number of items/enemies in order to complete a mission.
 * When the music isn't good it's very repetitive
 * Maria's character. Need I say more?