What did you think about Shadow The Hedgehog?

[Scar]

Kiddy, fun, cartoony stuff CAN have darker themes and material in them.

Nobody wants whatever it is that Shadow or 06 were trying to do. But being able to tackle material with a little more depth, while maintaining a fun cartoon-like feel is definately possible, otherwise the Toy Story films wouldn't be so critically acclaimed.

 

Also Death Egg Music in Sonic 2 is creepy as fuuuuuck.

 

Edited December 19, 2012 by Scar

[ArtFenix]

Also Death Egg Music in Sonic 2 is creepy as fuuuuuck.

Hell yeah. I was almost scared when I was playing the game and hearing that music)).

 

being able to tackle material with a little more depth, while maintaining a fun cartoon-like feel is definately possible, otherwise the Toy Story films wouldn't be so critically acclaimed.

I prefer Avatar: the last airbender as an example more but yeah. It seems Sonicteam have no idea how to keep balance in their games.

[Faseeh]

Sandopilis. Although Lava Reef doesn't sound menacing in any way, it sure adds that mystery and "something dangerous is ahead" feeling. The levels themselves are like that. Death Egg didn't sound all that dark, but it did help me get the feeling that I'm on Eggman's final base. Doomsday zone.. Do I have to say anything here?))

I'm not exactly dalking aboud dark like in Shth, I'm talking more about the "something dangerous and evil up ahead / time to get serious" feeling that newer games lack.

those are not even Sonic games you know..

Aesteroid Coaster is a good example, in a cheery fun game, but it's dark and pulled off well. It's always nice to get contrast like this WHILE fitting in with the main franchise. So yeah +1 for Colors.

Also Aesteroid Coaster's Map theme is pretty creepy.

Also, Aesteroid Coaster is more dark than many of the ShTH levels.

Kiddy, fun, cartoony stuff CAN have darker themes and material in them.

Nobody wants whatever it is that Shadow or 06 were trying to do. But being able to tackle material with a little more depth, while maintaining a fun cartoon-like feel is definately possible, otherwise the Toy Story films wouldn't be so critically acclaimed.

Yeah, I'm totally okay with it if it's done well.

Edited December 19, 2012 by Christmas NiGHTS

[ArtFenix]

Aesteroid Coaster is a good example, in a cheery fun game, but it's dark and pulled off well. It's always nice to get contrast like this WHILE fitting in with the main franchise. So yeah +1 for Colors.

Also Aesteroid Coaster's Map theme is pretty creepy.

Also, Aesteroid Coaster is more dark than many of the ShTH levels.

Yeah, I'm totally okay with it if it's done well.

I knew you would mention Asteroid Coaster. It does look dark and gloomy but the music spoiled everything. I like the music quite a lot but it just doesn't fit IMO! It should've been darker sounding.. Like aforementioned tracks. Instead of that it sounds like having fun in the amusement park.

And I think the concept artwork of the level is MUCH better than how the level looks in the game.

[Faseeh]

I knew you would mention Asteroid Coaster. It does look dark and gloomy but the music spoiled everything. I like the music quite a lot but it just doesn't fit IMO! It should've been darker sounding.. Like aforementioned tracks. Instead of that it sounds like having fun in the amusement park.

And I think the concept artwork of the level is MUCH better than how the level looks in the game.

 

are you in my mind

 

Um, really though, Nega Wisps are more dark then many other things.

 

Ugh, Asteroid Coaster was pretty dark for me with the dark guitar tones and then drums, so oh well.

 

I don't find the Death Egg (the one in the video) any creepy at all. It's just opinions I guess.

 

Oh also, if darker = better to you, I'm sorry but no. Colors' concept arts are awesome, yes, but if you are gonna look at it this way...

[ArtFenix]

Oh also, if darker = better to you, I'm sorry but no. Colors' concept arts are awesome, yes, but if you are gonna look at it this way...

Well, I like dark themed things in Sonic games and animes and whatnot. I like lighthearted stuff also but maybe not as much.

 

Nega Wisps are more dark then many other things.

That's true. Didn't really like part two music...Part 1 was awesome though.

[Kuzu]

Nobody is against darker moments in Sonic games, we're against changing the entire tone and atmosphere of the series to do so, something both Shadow & 06 and to an extent Sa2 did. 

 

 

There's a difference between something being genuinely dark and foreboding, and something trying to be dark to the point that it's laughable.

[ArtFenix]

I can agree with that being said about Shth and 06 but Sa2 was totally fine.

I actually think 06 was fine as well if only there were some lighthearted moments and jokes.

Edited December 19, 2012 by ArtFenix

[Kuzu]

I can agree with that being said about Shth and 06 but Sa2 was totally fine.

I actually think 06 was fine as well if only there were some lighthearted moments and jokes.

 

 

Well Sa2 started deviating from the more fantastical levels compared to it's predecessors, and opted for a more "realistic" approach. And 06 basically throws out everything about Sonic in favor of basically one large generic RPG plot; Angsty backstories, demonic monsters who threaten the world, and melodrama. Even if 06 had lighthearted moments, it's still a far cry to the series` roots.

[ThisMachine]

I thought Shadow was interesting, granted not all 326 times. It had been while since a spin-off game and obviously Shadow had the popularity to warrant one and I wanted to see what they would do to flesh out the character after bringing him back for Heroes. I loved parts of the game like the music, especially the Highway in the Sky and EGGMAN remixes and Crush 40 themes, and the return to the ARK as well as getting to visit Central City and GUN fortress. 

 

However the game handled very poorly and for the love of Maria it wouldn't have killed them to incorporate an aiming system if there had to be guns. Certain aspects like that and vehicles were unnecessary and foolish attempts to make the game edgy. It would have been cooler to branch out the ultimate lifeform's chaos abilties even more than they did instead. Still it has moderate replayability thanks to the soundtrack and decent level design. If only it answered more questions than it raised. I can't help but think finding the computer room wouldn't have been such an ordeal with Vector's old VA.

Edited December 22, 2012 by ThisMachine

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well Sa2 started deviating from the more fantastical levels compared to it's predecessors, and opted for a more "realistic" approach. 

And Sonic Unleashed went several levels beyond and made it a whole THEME, if realism is the argument here.

 

Also, SA2 was in fact more of a sci-fi thriller than anything, so it's really not fair to call it "realistic" when it was centered on things like space-colonies, world ending laser canons, military AI drones and mechs, and biological superweapons that can control time and space. And only two of these things even fall close to hard sci-fi to even be called realistic.

Edited December 21, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Blue Blood]

And Sonic Unleashed went several levels beyond and made it a whole THEME, if realism is the argument here.

 

Also, SA2 was in fact more of a sci-fi thriller than anything, so it's really not fair to call it "realistic" when it was centered on things like space-colonies, world ending laser canons, military AI drones and mechs, and biological superweapons that can control time and space. And only two of these things even fall close to hard sci-fi to even be called realistic.

And then when you look at the stages, they're hardly realistic either. Pumpkin Hill? The Desert Stages? There's more realism in the way things look, but it's not necessarily a realistic style.

[Casshern]

Boring music, ugly graphics, and horrid controls= bad time.

[Amomynous]

Flanderisation, flanderisation everywhere.

 

Shadow: " Mysterious past blah Who am I? Blah angst blah blah serious blah."

Sonic:"Hey Shadow buddy-old-pal even though we aren't even friends! Aliens are attacking  lol isn't that great!"

Eggman:"Yes, I designed my mech so it could attack itself...WHO ARE YOU TO QUESTION GENIUS?"

Oh what the heck I think this Flash explains it better.

[K.T.E.]

Come to think of it, I actually enjoyed it. I mean, it's fast-paced and the level design is fantastic.

[ThisMachine]

Man, I remember the Doomed Shadow show, thanks for posting it.

[Tao Jones]

I really enjoyed this game. I loved the multiple endings, it was fast and the dark atmosphere of the game was quite enjoyable for me. Of course not the best console Sonic game but it was better than Heroes for me. I loved that it featured Shadow the most, I love that character

[BlazeHeatnix]

ShTH was my first 3D Sonic game and I had the PS2 version. I liked it when I was 13, but then again you tend to like overly edgy characters and nonsensical plots when you're 13.

 

It's fast-paced once you know what you're doing, and the gunplay works, but to complete objectives you have to move slowly through the level and search around, something I don't want to do in a Sonic game unless it makes my job easier, like searching for goal rings in Mushroom Hill to get Hyper Sonic early. Vehicles, what's the point? They never go as fast as Shadow does on foot and are just gimmicks to force you to traverse. The only times you need them are the walker to jump on high platforms, and the truck in Central City to go over the acid. The graphics suck and are dull and boring, and almost none of the music is memorable. Seriously, 23 stages and I can only remember 1 off the top of my head (except for the main theme, which I like), and you have to play through them 10 times so that's saying something. The actual gameplay though isn't that bad, and you can easily adjust to its crap factor if you're a Sonic fan.

 

My biggest complaint though, is the plot. Did Shadow's backstory really need that much more depth? It didn't really tell us anything overly necessary. Eggman tries to convince Shadow he's an android even though that doesn't make sense, and he didn't even do that in Sonic Heroes. That was Metal Sonic, who only did that to convince him to join his robot army. Eggman himself has no real reason to convince Shadow he's an android when it should be painfully obvious that he isn't. There were only a few slivers of mystery surrounding Shadow's backstory, did we really need to make up an entire GAME to explain them? And why don't ANY of my choices matter when only the Last Story is canon? What's the point of the game then?

 

There's also the HIDEOUS framerate and pop-in in the PS2 version but whatever.

Edited December 28, 2012 by BlazeHeatnix

[Skyward Sword]

Shadow the Hedgehog is one of those games which I have mixed feeling about.

 

For one, the tone is way too dark for a Sonic game, especially considering that Heroes was borderline self-parody with how diabetically light-hearted it was. The story is a nonsense excuse plot for Shadow to be badass and shit. The vehicles were redundant and unfitting. The graphics look even worse than Adventure 1 (which was 6 years old when Shadow was released.) and the art direction is bland, dark garbage which doesn't fit in the sonic universe. And, oh yes, the cursing was deplorable.

 

By yet after all that, I still tolerate this game and I actually like it in places. I think it's because of it being so bad it's good, although I overall feel it's just average borderline bad.

 

Hey, I like it over Adventure 2; at least that's something.

 

EDIT: I just realised why I don't hate it. It's just that it's very boring for some reason.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Khezu

[Heartless]

I feel like this game was rushed due to the hype that Shadow created. Maybe a 2/5.