Even with lacking controls, and an overall mediocre idea, Shadow the Hedgehog somehow comes out to be a likable game.
The story starts off in an unnamed city as Shadow tries to reflect on his (somewhat cliché) dark past that he cannot seem to remember. When the Black Arms invade the planet earth however, their leader Black Doom requests to Shadow that he collects all seven Chaos Emeralds and bring them to him. Shadow then proceeds to go on his own little mission to collect the Chaos Emeralds where the usage of them in the end is completely up to the player.
The worlds that the game has to offer are for the most part pretty bland besides some of the later levels. Most of them just seem very uninspired, empty and dull in comparison to other Sonic games we have seen in the past 2D and 3D alike. While some of the worlds have their moments, in the end they just fail to satisfy.
Throughout the multiple stages Shadow is persuaded by multiple players to complete certain objectives that upon their completion will impact the storyline. Doing a dark mission will make you progress up on the grid, neutral will make you go straight, and hero missions will make you go down. I enjoy this aspect, personally, as it makes the game make you want to replay the game multiple times to see all of the endings, and see the final story.
Throughout the game you can pick up weapons from the Black Arms, the GUN Military, and the Eggman Army, but most of them just feel so awkward to use. Perhaps the worst offender are the sword-like weapons (which seem to be missing from the GUN arsenal) which just seem as overall redundant altogether when you compare it to just homing attacking the enemies to death.
Throughout the game you encounter multiple vehicles that Shadow can use for various reasons. While this is an interesting idea in the series, it's executed so bad because of how Shadow runs about four to ten times faster than them that you're better off just leaving them alone. There are some useful ones though like the GUN Walker and the Black Arms birds (which are both mandatory in some stages). Speaking of Shadow's running, his physics just feel so off in comparison to other games. He just accelerates so fast that controlling him can be quite a chore.
One of the more interesting features is the inclusion of two gauges that rise depending on the enemies you defeat. Defeating evil enemies will fill the dark gauge, which will give you Chaos Blast when full, which will take out any enemy that comes into its vicinity. Chaos Control can be obtained by filling up the opposite gauge, which causes you to zoom throughout the stage or get out of tight spots while doing some damage to enemies. Sometimes I feel that these fill up too fast but it isn't that often for it to do so.
The graphics for the game are altogether, "meh." While they aren't too bad and show what the world is, Shadow the Hedgehog looks a lot like Sonic Heroes did with hardly any bit of visual improvement. It reuses the same character models for Shadow and his friends (for the most part), and its somewhat stereotypical next-gen look of lacking of color in comparison to other games doesn't help either.
On a technical standpoint though, it's not that bad. Sure the game seems to use models from older games; the frame rate is steady and nothing really looks like it doesn't belong. To be fair Shadow the Hedgehog doesn't look like a bad game, it's just nothing that builds off of its predecessors.
The music is one of my favorite things about this game. It fits the game very well and is one of my personal favorite soundtracks in the series. For me, there's little to complain about in the terms of the music for the stages and the songs that are in the credits.
Everyone seems to be in a mixed bag when it comes to voice-acting though. Due to the unfortunate death of the actor of Dr. Eggman, the team decided to switch the original cast with the 4Kids cast which were doing the English dub of Sonic X at the time of the games' release. While some characters aren't harmed too horribly, Tails and Rouge probably get the worst out of the treatment. Some of the lines don't help either.
Replay value seems to be where the game shows to be in its somewhat strongest category next to music. With multiple endings to be seen, you're encouraged multiple times to play through most if not all of the stages to see them all. The multiplayer feature though isn't anything to stick around for however, since all it is, is a battle royal with a bunch of Shadow androids/clone. Overall the chances of you replaying the game ultimately depend on whether you like the game or not.
Like I said in the introduction, I'm not entirely sure if I like Shadow the Hedgehog or not. While its gameplay and overall presentation are fair at best, the alternating plots and turns might make you want to play more and more. While loyal and forgiving fans of the series should give the game a running chance before grilling it for what it is, it's really nothing much worth recommending to anyone else who just wants a fun Sonic platformer.
Presentation – 5/10
Gameplay – 5.5/10
Graphics – 6.5/10
Sound – 7.5/10
Replay Value – 6/10
Overall – 6.1/10 (6.0/10 rounded)