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Awoo.

is shadow the hedgehog so bad?


drnknssofshdw

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This game is just embarrassing on so many levels. Horrible concept, disgraceful story, awful control, even more awful characters, and everything about this game is overall pointless and a stupid attempt to try and appeal to older audiences and whiny preteens trying to feel like they aren't still in 5th grade. Even attempts at appealing to the former already falls flat on it's face because no mature person feels the need to shove a swear in every sentence and thinks everything is better with guns.

For one, so many things in this game were just not needed. The guns, the aliens, the moral choices, the multiple ending, all serve no purpose in the grand scheme of things, especially considering that there's still just one true ending, already defeating the purpose of the multiple endings and moral choice.

The aliens were a lame and horribly executed mess that made a good and already complicated backstory even more complicated by filling it with unnecessary crap that serves as the puke icing on an already shit cake that was Shadow's character and reputation in this game.

And don't even get me started with the vehicles and the guns which completely downplay Shadow's already powerful abilities and just does not work in this context. It's this case that really justifies the "Why does [character] need [item]" complaint, cause in this case, it's a perfectly able and powerful character using guns, which would actually be less powerful than his abilities, when he can shoot energy from his finger tips and when his primary objective is to defeat an army of aliens. And this isn't even considering the lack of explanation as to what's motivating Shadow to use guns in the first place. Especially considering how it was blatantly shown in the very first cutscene that Maria was killed with a gun.

And the gameplay is shit.

The only real benefit this game had was that it pretty much resolved Shadow's concerns with his past, that one scene giving him the best character development he's had in forever. But it could have been handled in so many better ways and it certainly did not need to involve aliens. Unfortunately, the damage was already done, and that one good piece of character development gets overlooked by the fans and the public.

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I feel that the main problem with the story is that it basically retells Shadow's story arc from Sonic Adventure 2...only now it's bogged down with a ton of excessive baggage that drowns out most of the hopeful, idealistic message from SA2.

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Although the comment is a bit long, I'm gonna have to differentiate myself from the others here.

Personally, I REALLY like this game; it's one of my most favorite Sonic games. While the game is nothing totally special, the game in itself was still a lot of fun.

First, I'm going to have to start off with the "bad."

Graphics: The CGI cutscenes are very nicely done, but the gameplay graphics are a bit blocky and don't have that much detail. Sometimes the buildings and surroundings will look flat, like an end of a trail in order to not jump off to the side.

A glitch or two: Now, I only have the Gamecube version, and from what I read, it's the most refined verssion, while the others are problematic ports. Th only glitch that I've come across was that, whenever the console got too hot, the game froze. (This seems to be a problem on older consoles only, though.)

Confusing levels: I don't mean some of the end-to-end ones like Westopolis. I'm talking about ones like "The Doom," which is like a maze and is really hard to navigate. It provides a challenge and change in other "speed-centered" layouts, but they can be really frustrating.

Swearing: If you make the characters swear, don't make it out of place. Almost all the time, the language feels very forced and seemed to be added in the last minute. The foul language could've been much worse, though. :P

Now the "good."

Storyline: Yes, the plotline is pretty far-fetched and a bit silly, but I don't think it's all THAT bad. If anything, it solved the mystery behind the Eclipse Cannon. Also, we got to see more behind Shadow's relationship with Maria before her murder. And unlike the others, I think the plot branches are very easy to solve. How I interpret the plotholes, from the beginning of the game to when he grabs the first Chaos Emerald, that's the actual plotline that is connected to the Last Story. The rest of the game, except the Last Story, are all "what-ifs," like what if Shadow took Black Doom's side and became completely evil, or what if Shadow saw the androids and considered himself to be one of them.

Weaponry Gameplay: The gameplay's not all THAT bad. Although you use mostly guns, it's the main WEAPON. The gameplay is weaponry, swords, healing guns, and guns, to name a few. The Chao Gun is also quite cool. Also, you don't have to use it ENTIRELY, but it helps the player A LOT.

Characterization: Swearing aside, the characterization of Shadow was not too bad, in my opinion, and concluded the Shadow saga nicely for me. I enjoyed viewing Shadow's psyche and how he had to conflict himself as to which side he had to choose from. Although I'm a bit biased towards this part more than the others. the characterization, to me, is the best part of the game. After playing the game, I'm glad Sonic Team revived Shadow; I wanted his past explored a little more than from Sonic Adventure 2.

All in all, the game's not a "classic," but it's a good one if you want to pass the time and explore Shadow's characterization.

And to upset a lot of people *laugh*, if I was given the choice between Sonic 3 & Knuckles (a.k.a., "the greatest Sonic game") and Shadow the Hedgehog, I'd pick Shadow over S3&K by FAR.

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He uses guns /end.

I never understood why they couldn't have just had him using Chaos Control to fire different types of lasers out of his hands, and leave it at that.

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Well, I'm going to be different.

I love Shadow the Hedgehog. I find it to be great fun. Now, El Gran Gordo's post opened my eyes a bit with how out of character many of the people were (mainly that "everyone making way for Shadow to be awesome" thing, I never thought about that before, and it does sting a bit).

Gunplay worked fine and I found it fun. Never had any troubles with the same auto-aim that's been steering my homing attacks since Sonic Adventure 1 (auto-aiming in this felt like it used the exact same logic of range to the enemies as homing attacking did).

It was all speed gameplay with no gimmicky characters or anything which was nice. 22 levels of consistency.

Bosses were a little weak for mostly requiring guns (though for fun I did beat every one without guns once (except Iron Jungle Egg Breaker, you need to use a sentry at least for that) and it is possible) but much better than Heroes' rubbish offerings.

Soundtrack is a little samey and bland at first, but I find it great when I really listen to it.

Story was... well the cut-scenes were lame (everyone animates like robots - which is better than Heroes' hyper overanimated characters but much worse than SA2). The story itself though was... well I was okay with it. The whole Shadow is an alien and black doom thing didn't bother me that much, as it personally filled in a few plot holes in SA2 (mainly the true reason for the Eclipse Cannon's existence - I can't remember if a reason WAS given in SA2, but defense against Black Doom was a much cooler plot twist if you ask me).

But yeah, I enjoy playing Shadow a lot, and have replayed it several times and got all A ranks and beaten Expert mode. Never bothered with getting all the keys, but I've almost loved it enough to get 100% completion anyway.

I agree with whoever said it was the most polished gameplay-wise of the four "Adventure"-era games, with the exception of maybe Sonic Adventure 2. But the control felt mostly responsive (only slowing Shadow down at high-speeds was occasionally awkward), and the grinding was the only time they did it right until Unleashed game out.

Oh, also, guns. They were fine. Much better than the shit they did in Sonic 2006 to make him different from Sonic. I kinda personally want guns to become his gimmick, like Tails has flight and Knuckles has explorey levels.

Edited by JezMM
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He uses guns /end.

Yeah, shame he didn't use his guns like

or like DMC3. But yeah, guns just ruin it and useless if he can use Chaos powers.

Even though I haven't played it, I'm with the majority who says it's bad, and they made valid negative points or cons about the game.

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JezMM's post

And all this time I thought I was alone!

I really do kind of like this game. *Holds up flame sheild*

Graphics- Needs work, but some parts look amazing non the less. But still needs a LOT of work.

Story- This is kind of a love it or hate it aspect. While some feel it completely disregards SA2, I feel that it complements it. It explains more about the GUN raid, and pays tribute to the game. The Biolizard couldn't survive without the life support system. So what better way to fix that is to anilyze and use immortal blood?

Interestingly enough, this makes sense in a way. With cloning and stem cell use, we could hypothetically create the 'ultimate being'. We could take desireablt organs of the same blood type from people (ex. Muscles from an athelete) and combine it together in an atifisial carcus. As long as the body then recognizes it as 'self', then you likely may have created life. You could also do this as a cloning technique, generically altering certain aspects...

Enough of that, though!

Gameplay- Actually, not THAT bad. Do the guns make sense, no. DId they make sense in Prototype, no. but the guns work in this game. They automatically lock-on which helps keep the action moving, just like a Sonic game should (honestly I don't know what that reviewer was thinking, saying that it doesn't lock on, just face the general aera of your target and shoot, good job, you've figured out how to aim!). The action is smooth, the platforming is good, and the level designs are varied (although some stanges are more inspired than others).

Controls- Much, much, MUCH better than Heroes' mess. The controls feel smooth and good, but a little too loose. The camera messes up only on sharp angles, a bit of a nuisense for platforming, but it has never killed me.

Over all score: I would give it a 7 or 8 depending on my mood.

*Holds up flame sheild higher*

*NOTE THAT I ONLY PLAYED THE GC VERSION!!

Edited by BlazingTales
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Shadow the Hedgehog was nowhere near as bad as Sonic 2006, but it was still awful none the less. The storyline/s were stupid (aliens invading earth? how cliché can you get?) the guns felt like they were thrown in as an afterthought, the mission objectives were tedious (kill every enemy in a level? Is that the best they could come up with :huh:), you had to complete the game at least 10 times to see the true ending etc...

Edited by Leon K Fox
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(kill every enemy in a level? Is that the best they could come up with :huh:)

No, chasing after getaway vehicles and destroying them was the best they could come up with. Those missions were kinda fun.

Destroying all the enemies was the WORST they could come up with. XP

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No, chasing after getaway vehicles and destroying them was the best they could come up with. Those missions were kinda fun.

Destroying all the enemies was the WORST they could come up with. XP

You know what I meant -_-

and I thought those other missions sucked as well. The whole game felt cheap and rushed, I loved Heroes but its engine did not do this game any favours.

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Gah, the game displayed the Ultimate Hard Lock Mechanic. You could roll bast enemies a a good clip and blow them to kingdom come with barely as much as a jink in their direction. It was so simple that it made me feel dirty all over. I actually felt like I was cheating. If they were going to implement guns, the least they could have done was add a little skill to using them.

Shadow was already a crush character, but the guns just made the game outright unfair for the bad guys (not that it is ever is fair to the bad guys ^_^ )

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pffft the game is about as hard as my cock after looking at a nude Thatcher.

That said; the game is BAD but I find it enjoyable for just how corney it is.

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Shadow the hedgehog, huh?I'm going to speak for myself as a really hardcore Shadow...

Shadow the Hedgehog is a game that should've never existed. At least not in the way it was presented to us. Every bit of characterization that Heroes ruined was brought down further by ShTH.

I support keeping the character, but I'm also one of those folks who don't overlook what is mediocre or below. It's almost as if everything they got right in the earlier 3D titles, such as the dark, conspirical tone in SA2, the intensity of SA-Heroes, and great characterization was brought back and nuked down to what would be unbelievable.

Aliens were unnecessary, most of the land vehciles were unnecessary, and the guns were poorly done, and also unnecessary for a character who could shoot lightning bolts from his finger tips (although one could say the same for the DMC series characters on the guns). Every character was mucked up beyond description, and the game ADDED more to Shadow that what was already known about him.

It takes the ENTIRE story of the game in order for you to get to the one explaniation as to how Shadow survived his supposed "death" in SA2, that Eggman's robot saved him. How whack is that?

And what's more of a shame, all of this mess could've been avoided had they simply shown Shadow falling from the sky at some part in Heroes OR if they had added an hidden scene at the end of SA2 showing how he could've survived (because I'm not an advocate of killing ANY character off :D).

Since then, it became the ignition of how a lot of things are in a wreck today for the series and the fanbase. -_-

Edited by ChaosSupremeSonic
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My personal opinion is that Shadow the Hedgehog has a curve almost everyone who plays it experiences.

You start off not knowing what you think of it, like a horizontal line of opinion, and partway through you may start enjoying yourself when first playing through it and some of the stages are admittedly interesting and the levels a mixed bag of being downright terrible to amusing and fun. However, your opinion of the game will quickly drop when you think more about it. The plot that literally is jumping all around and bringing some of the biggest cliches in sci-fi stories, terrible controls and lazy design, the gun concept though not game breaking is in no way needed, the obvious trying to appeal to kids by showing Shadow to be a bad-ass mother fucker with a soft side for death, boss fights that are often just downright boring (though I will say I did enjoy those GUN vehicle bosses and the Egg Dealer), and at the point the game does so many things that just aren't right.

To the point, this game feels through-and-through to be cashing out to all the 10-year old Shadow fanboys and fangirls to scream how awesome Shadow is in a way only a 10 year old child could really appreciate.

It's not the worst game ever made, but it is below average. Which is a shame, because admittedly behind lots of the things horrible about it, I really did enjoy some of the stages individually.

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I wouldn't call it a polished or good game. But I actually found it to be decent. It was definetly playable to me. I even liked the story. I enjoyed seeing Shadow being snappier in this game. It worked for the games atmosphere. I didn't see it as being aimed towards "angsty 10 yr olds" at all. The guns I had no problem with. I can shoot enemies with ease. Mission structure was fun to play thru. And I liked how you got see all the characters from previous games, and how they were responding to the situations. Music was great.

The graphics I was dissapointed with. The quality in textures were just unimpressive. VFX were good though.

The vehicles I don't understand why they couldn't have made to be actually fun. It's like the programmers read the requirements for what the jeep or motorcycle needs to do, and they just did the bare minimum. Where's the passion in your programming? I was happy with grinding, but where's my sparks?

2P mode was lame.

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I wouldn't call it a polished or good game. But I actually found it to be decent. It was definetly playable to me. I even liked the story. I enjoyed seeing Shadow being snappier in this game. It worked for the games atmosphere. I didn't see it as being aimed towards "angsty 10 yr olds" at all. The guns I had no problem with. I can shoot enemies with ease. Mission structure was fun to play thru. And I liked how you got see all the characters from previous games, and how they were responding to the situations. Music was great.

The graphics I was dissapointed with. The quality in textures were just unimpressive. VFX were good though.

The vehicles I don't understand why they couldn't have made to be actually fun. It's like the programmers read the requirements for what the jeep or motorcycle needs to do, and they just did the bare minimum. Where's the passion in your programming? I was happy with grinding, but where's my sparks?

2P mode was lame.

Sonic Team failed when they designed the motorcycle... actuallly vehicles in general failed because they were useless except during parts where you were forced to use them... Shadow wasn't really snappy he was more obnoxious and sounded like a mouthy little 13 year old (no offense to 13 year olds...). Sonic Team has no passion, it's just make a sonic game and call it a day, I don't even think Sonic is aimed at my audience anymore but I look at the games to see what's going on in case something interests me.

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Sonic Team has no passion, it\'s just make a sonic game and call it a day

They just come up with ideas that isn\'t going to go well with a lot of folks, I wouldn\'t call it passion, but likewise I wouldn\'t call it a lack of it either. More like a concept gone wrong.

I don\'t even think Sonic is aimed at my audience anymore but I look at the games to see what\'s going on in case something interests me.

Of course they don\'t aim for your audience, you\'re not a kid. That\'s what Sonic Team is really targeting in the long run. And they\'re also the ones making more of the purchases than the fanbase altogether.

In the long run...

The sooner Sonic fans realise that they make up probably less than 10% of the sales of any Sonic game, the sooner they will realise why no game will ever be aimed at them again.
Edited by ChaosSupremeSonic
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From what I've seen, many people just don't like the concept of it, and some don't want to like the game for that reason.

Edited by Icecoldfrieza
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I'll keep it short (damn wii keypad sucks) but sth was a bad game. Not to be rude but nothing about this game is action packed. It's simply below mediocre and I will never subject myself to such crap like shth again... typing on the sucks but I don,t feel like going down stairs... :P

Im already used to the keypad, im typing with it right now :P.

Anyway, Its OK(GC version) but its not a buy(unless its really cheap).

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From what I've seen, many people just don't like the concept of it, and some don't want to like the game for that reason.

Maybe for some people, but I went in with an open mind. I like FPS/s and I had no problem with Shadow (in fact he's one of my favorites) so I was looking forward to this game.

That door slams shut pretty hard though. The game really lacks execution in some of the most simple aspects in a matter that is flat out disgraceful to any third party development, let alone a psudo-first party. There are more than enough reasons to bash this game other than Shadow + Guns = Fail.

Edited by Sega DogTagz
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Well, the reason they made ShTH in the first place is because many fans wanted to have Sonic in a darker story, AKA one with guns. But Sega didn't want to turn their beloved Sonic into an anti-hero, so they made ShTH...

They probably didn't work hard enough on the plotline or graphics. I haven't played the game, just read plot summaries, I find it interesting that they killed Eggman...

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^ No, there was a poll asking about what character SEGA should make a game about. Shadow won.

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Im already used to the keypad, im typing with it right now :P.

Anyway, Its OK(GC version) but its not a buy(unless its really cheap).

Huzzah for plugging my wireless keyboard into the Wii usb port!

Anyways...

I don't really care about black dooms flatness. I like generic villains. Sometimes they say funny things. Those rammifications....

But the dark edgy thing... it really has screwed up the feel of Sonic...

The game itself? I actually like it, but the endless amounts of pitfalls, and those horrible "past ark" levels with Maria are just bad. And the vehicles control like bricks with wheels stapled onto them. Some of the levels are really good... but others are "so-so" ...and then one or two are terrible, like the ones on the Ark, and the one with Knuckles and those red egg thingies you had to destroy...or...were they bombs? ( It's been a while. )

I can play Shadow the Hedgehog, and enjoy it, but the story really was no good... not that I really play Sonic games for the stories or anything, though the characters amuse me, for the most part.

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