Shadow the Hedgehog (GameCube)

My little brother, a huge sonic fan, brought his copy around yesterday and i was quite impressed. Shadows' game has got an edgyer, more adult feel to it, with light swearing and more violence than you'd expect. It still feels like a sonic though, Shadow speeds through levels at blistering pace, and jumping on enemys is still an options along with ofcourse, collecting chaos emeralds and gold rings. But thats about it, this game revolves around shadow and his murky ,and as yet, unkown past before he made his first appearence in SAII. Falling from the sky from the Space colony arc you land on earth with amnesia in the middle of a battle between humans and alien invaders, it is then up to you to guide shadow through a string of levels to reveal his beginings.

Sega have incorperated a good/evil mechanic with each level, allowing you to take shadow down a dark path by helping alien invaders or a good path by helping sonic and friends protect earth. If you chose take take one of these paths through the level, which involves killing a number of enemies or activating switchs excetera, you brach out onto a different storyline. With a total of 5 slightly different endings.

Its not all good however, Shadows control is far too sensative, with the slightest push sending Shadow flying off down the track. The gun control feels impractical with no desernable lockon feature which leaves you shooting air half of the time. Some of the character models are appaling and environments are still undeniably linear.

However, for the younger gamer this is blistering ride full or bangs and explosions, while for the Sonic enthusiast, this is a deep and interesting exploration of Shadow and his mysterious past.

shadow the hedgehog... why does that name haunt me, just who am I? and what about my memory!

shadow is a rebel haunted by his past.an accident, experiment gone wrong.for those of you who have played previous 3D sonic titles you will already know a few things about shadow.
the world has been invaded by aliens who are after the seven chaos emeralds, they hold the key for dominating the universe.the alien leader claims to know shadow, so its up to shadow to find out the truth about the aliens and his past: THE REAL TRUTH!
shadow is a hedgehog, very much so like sonic, created by professor gerald robotonik aboard a military research facility called ARK. this game is about finding who shadow really is, and ultimately deciding the fate of the entire sonic world.

the levels in shadow the hedgehog are instantly recognisable, although they have a much darker feel to them, rings are scattered across the landscape, enemies lurk around every corner, and sonic and his buddies pop up now and again to dish out some kick ***.
the way the game works is similar to sonic adventure and hereos. your character needs to run around an environment collecting rings and although the objective usually varies, your main goal is to touch the goal ring at the end of the stage. But depending on who you decide to help, the game branches over many different types of stories. In total there are 360 different types of level combinations. for example you can be good on one level then evil on the next. the game tells you what story type you have finished in the (long) game library, accessable from the single player menu. So like I mentioned the game is similar to typical sonic titles, but now weapons can be picked up from defeated enemies and used. The weapons themselves are only there for building up the hero/dark guage which I will go into later. picking up a weapon is easy. simply pressing X will allow that. The weapons can lock onto targets, but usually tend to move freely. Targeting enemies can be hard at long distance, but remember, picking up weapons is mostly optional, and they aren't meant to be precise. They are destructive and are meant to be picked up, fired madly then dropped at some place. you can also you parts of the scenery to dish out some pain to the invading aliens and the like.
The homing attack is back too! but this time SONIC TEAM have made sure that you have to be careful when defeating an enemy otherwise pressing homeattack madly will mean that you fly off - usually into the abyss. Instead hitting an enemy and spinning around away from danger in mid-air after you have hit it is the best option. this slows the game a bit though,and seeing as the Sonic series is meant for speed this does make you feel a bit put off. Although the physics are very similar to adventure DX's homing attack.

shadow can now use chaos control aswell. giving the game its "hero/dark" title. destroying and helping certain teams gains you the ability to use these powers. The hero power is CHAOS CONTROL and makes shadow whiz through the level like a hedgehog should. this is very cool but can also be quite annoying, because certain levels require you to destroy all enemies, and using chaos control means you will have to go back though the level by using checkpoints and search over again.
The dark power is CHAOS BLAST and allows Shadow to kill all enemies within a certain range (20 metres).this is also very annoying, because you can often kill your team mates by using it, so its best to learn when to use these powers. Shadow the hedgehog is based very much on trial and error.

Other reviewers quoted that this games graphics are not bad but are basically "souped up dreamcast game" graphics. which is like saying that gamecube is just a souped up N64. the graphics are that of Sonic Heroes and the games cut scenes are some of the best scenes in sonic ever. which me being a sonic freak and having played basically all the games pretty much says it all.

The levels are mostly gigantic and add real depth to the gameplay. taking certain routes just like in heroes. a good example of one of these levels is sky fleet.(I won't spoil the plot much you will have to find out yourself)

The games storyline has many twists and turns that keep you playing.
in addition the the guns mentioned earlier shadow can now ride vehicles. there are quite a few parts in the game where you can do this, riding flying enemies is part of the levels design but you can choose to drive ground vehicles. there are only a few flying sections as well, so if you do not like them, don't worry too much. Also found in the levels are keys. Collect five keys in an ACT and you can unlock a new vehicle or weapon by finding a special door. Collecting the keys is also essential for better times in an ACT, because some doors lead to shortcuts. It is well worth collecting all the keys.

The sound in the game is also very good, rings sound exactly as they always did and the gunfire sounds cartoony. The music is excellent too. Sang by crush 40 who did the themes for Sonic adventure DX and 2 battle and also for Heroes. Some of the old character themes make it in there too! The Eggman theme from adventure 2 battle, the ARK music, radical highway as the 2 player battle music and for the gun bosses, the music to city escapes boss is there also - so you know you're playing a Sonic game. The character voices have changed to the Sonic X characters voices. Whether or not you like it you are going to have to hear them anyway. Sonic sounds near enough the same, just like Eggman does too and although Shadow is voiced by a different person, you cannot notice any change in his voice.you can just notice the change in sonic and Eggmans voice. Tails sounds better in my opinion and he no longer sounds like metal scrapping on metal. Vector and charmy sound as if they swallowed a spike though (lol) but it actually makes you laugh a bit (unless i'm just very weird). the voices should have stayed the way they were (although Sonic rush also has the 4kids entertainment voices and they sounded fine) The voice actors who do other anime series such a "pokemon". Which if you listen is why Tails sounds like Ash Ketchum.

The contols in shadow are a bit lose mind. SONIC TEAM should have left the controls like they were as it was fine. Shadow glides along the floor now so it is a little harder to corner and dodge enemies when at top speed. The new control scheme is supposed to add realism to the gameplay, so you feel as if you are in shadows hover boots, but personally, I feel that it was fine as it was in heroes. Although there are bound to be people who disagree with me.
The camera is also a little worse now,as it now sticks to shadow and stays where YOU want it (YES!) but you have to move it using the C-stick, meaning that jumping, firing your weapon and spinning the camera to get a better veiw is a no-no. so this also means that the gameplay is slowed by a few seconds, which all count up if you want to get an A-rank on every level.

Shadow also has a great multiplayer mode, and although small, its vaguely reminiscent of the small soldiers battle mode on the playstation original. 2 people battle it out in a small version of a level using guns and other things.Very funny when played with androids who never seem to run out of ammo. Unfortunatly the multiplayer can suffer from slight slow-down occasionally when there is too much on screen happening.

Overall shadow is a great game ALMOST spoiled by tiny incidents. IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE SERIES. PLEASE BUY HEROES FIRST! heroes is far easier for inexperienced players and the like...

control learning curve: 0 - 15 minutes MAX

graphics: 8 (the same as heroes- but the cutscenes kick ***)
sound : 7 (voices could be improved and the car sounds loop)
gameplay: 7 (little looser contol dropped down from eight to seven)
value : 8 (takes ages to complete all 10 story endings- then there are 360 types of level combinations, the multiplayer and the unlockable vehicles and weaponry)

total score: 7 out of 10 (flawed but entertaining)

better than - Sonic Adventure 1
worse than - Sonic adventure 2 battle