Shadow the Hedgehog for Nintendo GameCube

Shadow the Hedgehog for the Nintendo GameCube; 3.8







Developer: Sega Studio USA
Publisher: SEGA
Designer(s): Kazuyuki Hoshino, Hiroshi Nishiyama
Composer(s): Jon Senoue, Yutaka Minobe, Tomoya Ohtani, Mariko Nanba
Platforms: Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation 2
Release Dates:
NA: November 15, 2005
PAL: November 18, 2005
JP: December 15, 2005
Genre(s): Platform, Action-Adventure, Third-Person shooter
Mode: Single Player, Multiplayer
Ratings:
CERO: A
ESRB: 10+
OFLC: PG
PEGI: 12+

Shadow the hedgehog is the stand-alone title for one of the Sonic series’ most popular characters of the whole franchise named ‘Shadow the Hedgehog’. The game was literally infamous for messing up the Sonic series more than it was amongst critics and most fans. Despite the game being reviewed negatively by most critics, the game still met with positive sales and managed a ‘Player’s choice’ on the Nintendo GameCube and other titles in other consoles the game was released in.

But why is the game so infamous? One of these reasons is the change of atmosphere in the Sonic series. The game introduced a much more darker plot not seen in the Sonic series before, packed with mild swearing, blood, and the use of firearms; all this causing the fandom to meet the game with skeptical eyes.

One of the most known features of the game is the fact that you choose the destiny Shadow takes. Shadow can choose from neutral paths, to dark paths, and to hero paths in all missions; characters both good and bad, help Shadow in this through the missions. Missions either revolve around doing a specific task or just to reach the end of a level. I’ve heard there are more than 300 different combinations for ending a specific destiny point; which, despite the game being rubbish, does increase replay value by tons.

The story itself takes part of Shadow’s amnesia problem and focuses on revealing the character’s past. Choosing a different path will enable you to view different alternatives for his past. In all of this, there are these alien creatures called the ‘Black Arms’ who claim they have knowledge of Shadow and his past which are not known to him; these ‘Black Arms’ are also blood-thirsty and enjoy destroying the whole planet and encourage Shadow to do the same.

Depending on the mission you want to complete in each mission, you’ll fill two gauges: The Hero gauge and the Dark gauge. Both gauges have different purposes; the dark gauge is used to destroy near-by enemies, while the hero gauge is used to zoom around the stage and completing missions faster. One thing, though: The Hero gauge is worthless if you’re playing hero stages. Most hero stages force you to do tasks around the stage, while the hero special just makes you zoom around the stage missing the tasks you had to accomplish to finish the mission.

In the game you can only play as Shadow the Hedgehog; as mentioned, you can use weapons to defeat enemies. The gun mechanics in this game are abysmal. Controlling in were the guns shoot is literally impossible, and sometimes, even if you’re shooting in the same direction an enemy is; you’re guaranteed to miss because there is no aim. There’s an urban legend stating that the guns do actually have an aim that you can activate in the controls, but I say ‘legend’; because I’ve never once in all the years of owning this game, seen this feature.

Long-ranged weapons such as swords have incredibly low ammunition making them almost worthless through the whole game. You even loose ammunition if you don’t hit anything, which at the same time doesn’t make sense since I’ve never seen a sword you need to re-charge in real life.

In the game you also have access to vehicles. You won’t have an use for most vehicles anyway, since most of them go even slower than Shadow and don’t really do anything.

Then there are the controls of the game. The Controls in this game are literally broken, no doubt about it. The controls are extremely sloppy, causing Shadow sometimes to fall unnecessarily in pits, or simply feel awkward when you’re moving him. When Shadow runs too fast, it’s impossible to move him and avoid obstacles that take damage away.

The Camera also takes a big responsibility in making the controls look awful. Sometimes the camera will put you in strange angles causing you to fall or have difficulty in shooting enemies. It is as if the camera didn’t let you see enough of some areas you could be cautious of where you will jump or evade falling.

These are one of the worst graphics I have ever seen for 2005; eye bleeding bad. It’s as if they’d make fun of you, because the game’s opening features decent GCI cut scenes; but the in game graphics are just awful. While there are breakable objects, the whole game looks ugly and dull. Features on humans look blocky and the human soldiers even resemble legos’s.


You thought all of that was bad enough? The voice actors are even worse. Without the ability to change the game’s language (A feature that was shown in other Sonic games for the Nintendo GameCube), you’re stuck with damned awful voice actors that are just inadequate and cheesy. The music isn’t bad, but sometimes they don’t even fit with the stages they’re shown in. The only musically productive things in this game are the songs with are sung, my favorite being the one by the Metal band, ‘Powerman 5000’.

The worst thing about the game is just how boring it is. Shadow the hedgehog doesn’t have any redeeming qualities because it’s flat-out dull. All these problems just make the game unplayable and not worth your time. If you were actually one of the titans who managed to complete all the basic endings in the game, you’ll be rewarded with a last mission.

Before I forget, the last mission takes place after the second ‘Hero’ ending; Which completely obliterates the purpose of having multiple endings.

Gameplay: 4.0 Boring and dull, the only interesting feature is choosing different paths through the game.

Graphics: 4.0 Blocky, feature-less, and not pretty to look at.

Controls: 3.5 Lame and broken controls which may cause accidental deaths and difficulty to manage.

Sound: 5.6 Horrible voice-actors and inadequate music for some stages. Sung songs aren’t half bad, though.

Overall: 3.8 This game sucks ass. There’s no fun while playing this game, this game gets saved from a 2 because of the music and the interesting outcomes of the different paths you can take.