Shadow the Hedgehog (Game)

Stages

1 / Westopolis

This is your city style level, now as obligatory in the 3D games as green hilly zones in the 2D adventures. Shadow first witnesses the destruction of the Black Arms in Westopolis, and huge lasers from the army's ships are destroying the city as you progress. Within seconds, Sonic is at the scene and catches up with you; your Hero aim being to knock the blocks off of those pesky alien varmints.

Soon enough though Black Doom spots you and commands you to defeat the GUN soldiers littering the level. Doom's Eye follows you as you progress the Dark Mission. Throw some buses to help clear paths of enemies, and remember that there are enemies for Hero and Dark missions if you walk right past the Goal Ring.

• Hero Mission: Defeat 45 aliens (with Sonic). Completing this mission takes you to Lethal Highway.
• Neutral Mission: Reach the goal ring. Completing this mission takes you to Glyphic Canyon.
• Dark Mission: Defeat 35 G.U.N soldiers (with Doom's Eye). Completing this mission takes you to Digital Circuit.

2A / Digital Circuit

Westopolis > Dark Mission

It's all gone a bit 'Neo' as Shadow is digitised into the United Alliance (read: the 'owner' of the world; read: America)'s computer system. Black Doom wants him to delete the core program to throw the world into chaos. Fair enough. How GUN Beetles managed to find their way in there though is just about anyone's guess. Or those worms. You meet Rouge in this level, who would rather you get the Chaos Emerald ("for the government").

Heading for the Goal Ring will lead you on the path to sort-of Good. To head onto deleting the mainframe, continue on using the searchlights by the Chaos Emerald. Use the Beetles to progress through the stage via searchlight. At the beginning of the stage, hold left. You'll get a shield - there are even twists and turns at the beginning of the warpy thing.

• Hero Mission: Get the Chaos Emerald with Rouge to head to Prison Island.
• Dark Mission: Destroy the Computer Core with Black Doom. Next stage is Cryptic Castle.

2B / Glyphic Canyon

Westopolis > Neutral Mission

Shadow ends up on some ancient ruins that he doesn't recall... seems to know where the Chaos Emerald is though. Must be that 'Spidey Sense' of his. You'd be forgiven for thinking Sonic Team messed up the Floating Island somewhat (after all, Knuckles is on it) at first glance, but Black Doom apparently built these ruins ages ago so he could come back to the planet and... do stuff. It needs activating by 5 green temple jewels though, which are literally ahead.

Knuckles is searching for the Chaos Emeralds because he has butterfingers, and wants you to destroy the Black Arms so its safety is guaranteed. Tornados abound ala Windy Valley, with an environment much like Red Mountain. There are several Temple Jewels in high places, in case you miss any.

• Hero Mission: Defeat 50 aliens (with Knuckles). You advance to Circus Park.
• Neutral Mission: Reach the goal ring. Ignoring Hero and Dark will lead you to Prison Island.
• Dark Mission: With Doom's Eye, activate the five temple jewels. You progress to Cryptic Castle.

2C / Lethal Highway

Westopolis > Hero Mission

With Black Doom's destruction plan well and truly buggered, it's time to give chase. The main ship is making a break for it, and Black Doom wants you to ignore everything and get out before the Black Arms plan a powerful long-range strike in retaliation. Sonic on the other hand, wants to ground (or rather, destroy) that ship.

There's no Neutral ground in this stage, like Digital Circuit, so it's one way or the other. Stock up on weapons on the roadside before charging the ship on the straights if you plan on gunning it down.

• Hero Mission: Help Sonic destroy the fleeing Black Arms ship to go to Circus Park.
• Dark Mission: Just get the feck out of there. Leads you to Prison Island.

3A / Cryptic Castle

Digital Circuit > Dark Mission

Shadow exits the Digital Circuit and spots the rotund Dr. Eggman farting about somewhere. So Shadow gives chase in one of Eggman's medieval bases. Cryptic Castle isn't the most technologically advanced base, which only adds to that baffling Doctor's character really. Light lanterns to open up the next route through the stage.

Amy asks you to look for Cream and Cheese, lost in the castle somewhere (how did they get stuck behind a wall?), while Eggman politely asks you to light the five lanterns to activate his defences. Why he relies on such a method can only be answered in some kind of audiobook adaption featuring some boring celebrity, but that's how it breaks down. You can also head for the exit and just stalk Eggman.

Cream is hilariously easy to find (shame on you if you found it hard), but Cheese is around the area with many Chao. If you're looking for an elusive lantern, look for extra little lanterns to make a bouncy skeleton head thing appear.

• Hero Mission: Help Amy rescue Cream and Cheese. Next stage is Sky Troops.
• Neutral Mission: Reach the goal ring. to head for The Doom.
• Dark Mission: Help Eggman light the five lanterns. Next stage is Central City.

BOSS: Egg Breaker

Very reminiscient of something from Sonic Heroes, Eggman plops into some insane huge-fisted robot. One hand is crafted like a mace which is slammed into the ground on occasion. Amy helps Shadow in this Boss Stage.

3B / Prison Island

Digital Circuit > Hero Mission
Glyphic Canyon > Neutral Mission
Lethal Highway > Dark Mission

I wonder how Takashi Iizuka's gonna talk this one out? Prison Island being destroyed in an explosion in Sonic Adventure 2, apparently GUN's decided to rebuild it, toxic poison rivers and all. Black Doom wants you to take out the GUN peeps there, and the ever annoying Charmy is looking for five secret disks. You could, of course, ignore them both and head right for the Chaos Emerald too.

Keep shooting the fire-breathing plants to turn them into buds, but they will grow back after a while - you can't totally destroy them. Many of the secret disks are on an alternate path to the norm, usually on a higher path.

• Hero Mission: Collect 5 secret discs with Charmy. Head to Mad Matrix.
• Neutral Mission: Get the Chaos Emerald. Next stage is Sky Troops.
• Dark Mission: With Doom's Eye, defeat 40 GUN troops. Advance to The Doom.

3C / Circus Park

Glyphic Canyon > Hero Mission
Lethal Highway > Hero Mission

Whoever said Eggman had no class? The portly doctor has taken rings from all over the world and has been extravagant enough to build this lary theme park. Most likely also serves as a mini-base too, no doubt. You run into Tails here, who vows to get the rings back that Eggman pinched. On the other hand, Eggman wants you to eradicate the GUN soldiers trying to fart on his parade. It's not wise to go on a destructive bender if you aim to collect the 300 rings; because you only need to defeat 20 GUN units, you will likely end up doing Eggman's mission by mistake if you end up destroying everything in your path.

Use the shooting galleries to gain rings - use your gun or turrets to pop the balloons and avoid the purple Eggman ones. The turrets are extremely difficult to work in the galleries though. If you get hit, you lose some rings you picked up. Zip straight ahead to reach the Goal Ring and complete your Normal mission instead.

• Hero Mission: Collect 300 rings with Tails. Head to Death Ruins.
• Neutral Mission: Get the Chaos Emerald to go to Mad Matrix.
• Dark Mission: Defeat 20 GUN soldiers with Eggman. Next stage is Sky Troops.

4A / Central City

Cryptic Castle > Dark Mission

This level can be very confusing and irritating to the first-time player. Central City is plunged into chaos when the Black Arms arm bombs all over the place. Doom's Eye follows you as he commands you to detonate the five huge bombs. Knuckles wants you to clear the surroundings of the little bombs (which really might not make much of a difference, compared to the huge bombs).

The key to completing this stage is first deciding which alliance you wish to switch to. If you want to complete the Hero Mission, head left at the start. For Dark Mission, go right. If you follow these roads, it's simple to follow the missions at hand; simply shoot at the large bombs for the Dark Mission. You will need to steal a suck-up-type gun thing from a Black Arms creature and then use that to suck up the small bombs to complete the Hero Mission. Beware though, the small bombs are timed and any damage it takes will make it explode.

• Hero Mission: Remove 20 small bombs with Knuckles. Head to Air Fleet.
• Dark Mission: Detonate the 5 large bombs with Doom's Eye. Head to The Ark.

4B / The Doom

Cryptic Castle > Neutral Mission
Prison Island > Dark Mission

Flashback time, as Shadow is thrown into the conflict on ARK that haunts his past. Maria, as bug-eyed as she is, pleads for you to help the human researchers that need aid. Pick up nearby Heal Pods (they look like empty item boxes) and lob them in their faces. You'll easily spot the researchers - they're dressed in white and look like an OAP trying to get up after being pushed down by a juvenile. Black Doom would rather you took revenge on the GUN army that invades the ARK and attempts to destroy you. Bear in mind there are 50 of them, and you'll no doubt die from their constant "Men, forgive me" speeches rather than gunfire.

You can head for the goal ring and ignore the pleas of the good and bad also. This stage can get very complex when you get to the corridors, but as long as you follow the trails of rings you should have some idea of where to go. Save Points should also give some indication - press X/B (GCN, XB) or 'O' to see where in the 'timeline' of the level you're currently at. If you're near one of the last save points, then you can be sure the goal ring is nearby. The goal ring needs you to go up several lifts.

• Hero Mission: Heal 10 floundering scientists with Maria.
• Neutral Mission: Head for the Goal Ring.
• Dark Mission: Eliminate 50 GUN units with Doom's Eye.

4C / Sky Troops

Cryptic Castle > Hero Mission
Prison Island > Neutral Mission
Circus Park > Dark Mission

It's a case of "lesser of two evils" in this stage, as the ruins that Black Doom dumped on the planet aeons ago has lift off. Eggman, not too happy that he won't have much of a planet left to conquer, has sent his Egg Fleet to take care of matters. Aid the dark side by hopping into gun turrets and destroying the Egg Fleet ships approaching. Or, if you want to help Eggman, destroy those five green jewels that you've seen in Glyphic Canyon by shooting them.

You can zip past everything and get to the goal ring instead too. Funny when you start blowing up Eggman's fleet that Black Doom calls the scientist 'pathetic'... where if it weren't for Shadow blasting the ships in the first place, 'Dr. Claw' would be crapping his pants. Aim for the gun turrets on the ships before taking the entire ship out, so you don't get peppered with bombs.

• Hero Mission: Eggman wants to be heroic again. Destroy five temple jewels.
• Neutral Mission: Reach the goal ring. Next stage is Iron Jungle.
• Dark Mission: Help Doom's Eye destroy five Eggman ships.

4D / Mad Matrix

Prison Island > Hero Mission
Circus Park > Neutral Mission

Mad Matrix is very similar to Digital Circuit, but the main area of the stage is a bit more 'free' so to speak. Chaotix are trying to extract some data out of Eggman's computer mainframe, and Espio's digital figure needs your help in accessing four main terminals throughout the level. Black Doom has bombs on the main circuitry and wants you to detonate them by speeding through them on the circuits. The main area is a vast bottomless pit-based affair, with a large network of circuits to zip along. All the bombs you need to activate are littered around the circuits, so if you intend to fulfil the dark side, you need go no further.

There are different coloured towers that house the spare terminals that you need to touch if you side with Espio. If you fancy just getting to the goal ring, head for the red tower and go right after you reach the huge vacuous room with the large sphere in the middle. That'll get you to a small platform with an Egg Pawn on it - complete the colour puzzle and the platform will take you to the goal ring.

• Hero Mission: Help Espio access the four computer terminals.
• Neutral Mission: Head for the Goal Ring.
• Dark Mission: Activate 30 bombs wired to the main circuitry with Doom's Eye.

5B / Iron Jungle

Sky Troops > Neutral Mission

More information coming soon.

• Hero Mission: Team up with E-123 Omega to destroy the Eggman Machine.
• Neutral Mission: Reach the goal ring. Next stage is Lava Shelter.
• Dark Mission: Defeat 20 GUN soldiers with Eggman.