I might be a big fan of Sonic, but even I'm not blind to how bad this game really is.
Let's begin with the story. Shadow is struggling with amnesia after the events of Sonic Heroes. He can't remember anything about his past except his name and the death of a girl named Maria. He is suddenly greeted by a starfish-shaped figure named Black Doom, who tells Shadow of an agreement they had over the seven Chaos Emeralds of the game. Shadow, who is stunned by the fact that Black Doom knows his name, has no choice but to find the emeralds in order to make sense of his past. As usual, the plot makes little sense, though it does its best to try and create a dark story as a contrast to the usually child-friendly Sonic games of the past. It's a nice idea, but you'll soon see why this fails. Either way, the story has never been the Sonic series' strong suits, so this can be forgiven to an extent, since cheesy dialogue and bad voice acting have always been staples of the series.
Gameplay is the Sonic series' true strength. Since Shadow was created as a means of rivaling Sonic in terms of speed, while also having the ability to bend space and time while wielding a chaos emerald. Both of these abilities are used in Shadow the Hedgehog to traverse the levels and collect the rings for a possible high score and to progress the story. Unfortunately, this is where the problems really start. For instance, Shadow has hover shoes, which make him seem like he's skating rather than actually running, which by itself isn't a bad thing…if the animation and controls didn't look and feel as though he was skating. Controlling Shadow is like trying to control the loosest car in a racing game: it's unresponsive, has no grip on the ground, and constantly goes in directions that you didn't intend on. Even when reaching top speeds, any sudden movement sends Shadow careening off-screen and into his death. Compared to past Sonic titles, I'd say these controls are, at the very least, unpolished.
But Shadow doesn't just run. He also has enemies in his way, in the form of either military personnel, or Black Doom's legion of aliens. His basic attack is a homing attack, where he balls up and charges towards the enemy in order to hit them. The problem here is that the auto-aiming is inaccurate. Either Shadow will circle around the enemy and hit him in an awkward fashion, or he won't hit the enemy at all, which sometimes results in him falling off a cliff to a cheap death or to the bottom of the platforming segment, making you repeat the process over again. I can't tell you how many times I've fought against this simple attack, trying desperately to make it work and not die trying. I got it right at least two out of fifteen times, and that should speak volumes. The camera doesn't even help, as it doesn't always follow Shadow as fast as it should.
But his homing attack not his only form of attack. Shadow can also wield guns in the game, from pipes to pistols to AK-47s. Answer me something: why is this here? First off, there's no aiming system that allows you to accurately fire at your enemies, even with certain rocket launchers that you pick up. Even with the supposed auto-aim feature, bullets fly off at random and never hit the enemy unless you're facing directly at him or it. Enemies use bullets too, which take off more rings than you can carry (you can only pick ten up at a time after being hit). So in other words, the gunplay in Shadow the Hedgehog is pointless and doesn't need to be in the game.
The level design in Shadow the Hedgehog can be classified in one word: frustrating. The intro level is the prime example of what you can expect for most of the game. Straight running sections are loaded with unnecessary enemies, jumping sections are placed in the most awkward spots (I've spring boarded into nothingness several times without even touching the control stick), and aerial sections are annoying due to the inaccuracy of the homing attack. In previous Sonic games, levels were pretty straightforward about how you progressed. The levels in Shadow the Hedgehog are not. There are paths that are needed be taken in order to do certain side missions, and these are both difficult to find and difficult to reach. Enemy placement is such that you'll often find yourself overwhelmed by grunts that would otherwise be simple to pick off. The numerous lives I've lost were mostly due to these design choices that did nothing to ease the pain of the awful controls.
Even the graphics are less than perfect. They're nothing to sneeze at, sure, but they're far from good. However, one of the better things of the game is the art design. From Tron-like levels, to ancient ruins, even to intricate space levels, the developers took their time to make sure each level was memorable, and to an extent they are. If only this kind of time and effort were applied to the actual level design.
The music is by far the best thing about the game. Sonic games have always had incredible rock-based soundtracks, and this game is absolutely no exception. Every level is jam-packed with catchy techno beats, blazing electric guitar riffs, and even the occasional piano melodies for the jungles and later areas in the game. Even original tracks from Crush40, a band well known among the Sonic community, make their way into the game, especially the memorable introduction animation.
A morality system is also implemented into the game as side missions that allow the story to branch into a variety of different levels. Depending on how many "good" or "evil" actions you take, a blue or red meter will fill up accordingly. Once these fill up, you can use two different powers. The good has Chaos Control, which allows you to either have a burst of speed that gets you through the level faster, or slow down time in the case of a boss fight. The evil has Chaos Blast, which sends a massive shockwave out that instantly kills minor enemies and heavily damages bosses. These are used well, but are inconsequential to the actual gameplay, which again makes them feel like pointless add-ons.
The side missions I mentioned earlier can branch the story along in the good, the neutral, or the evil side of events. These are unlocked throughout the level by staple characters of the series, such as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and even Black Doom and Dr. Eggman. Depending on which character you go with will depend on whether or not you get a good or evil mission, with neutral missions simply being to pass the level and get the Chaos emerald at the end. These missions fall into a few categories: tedious fetch quests, killing a certain number of enemies, and difficult time attacks. Each branch gets a completely new mission, and some repeats if you've completed the story already.
There are several different endings throughout the game, depending on whether or not you choose to go the good, neutral, or evil paths along the way. This allows for some replay value and lets you see the outcome of Shadow's decisions as he figures out his purpose in the story. However, if you manage to get all the endings in the game, you unlock a bonus ending that serves as the true final act of the story. I won't spoil what happens, but it's what makes the morality system and the multiple ending ideas pointless. The final mission doesn't give you good, neutral, or evil choices. There's only one predetermined path in this final act, and it comes as a major disappointment for those who wanted to create their own story. I was very much let down by this, and it made me never want to retry and play the game.
Even the competitive multiplayer, which pits Shadow and a few Shadow robot clones in heated battle (not racing sections, by the way) with you and three other friends, can't save this game, along with the optional score attack. It controls horribly, the morality system is pointless, the gunplay is ineffective, and the graphics are only decent. The great music and art design can only go so far. Sega tried going for a darker and more mature game with Shadow the Hedgehog, but only proved that adding guns, profanity, and dark creatures only goes so far. Fans of the Sonic series will inevitably play this game as I have, and some will be blinded by their fanboy goggles to the sheer frustration this game subjects the player to. I was lucky enough to not be this way. Don't play this game by any means. I mean it. It's so close to being broken, I could snap the disc in half myself.
Rating: 3 out of 10 (Pros: awesome music, great art design, decent graphics. Cons: awful controls, ineffective gunplay, frustrating level design, pointless morality system)