Name:
Shadow the Hedgehog - All three nations
Other Names (Nicknames): N/A
Release Dates:
November 15th, 2005 - USA
November 18th, 2005 - Europe
December 15th, 2005 - Japan
Quality: 128-Bit, 3D Platformer
Game System(s): Nintendo
GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox
Also released on: N/A
Developer(s): Sonic Team
Character Introductions: Black
Doom, the Black Arms and the GUN Commander.
Region Game Takes Place On: Unconfirmed.
Concept Introductions:
Whereas Sonic
Heroes tried to copy the look and feel of the Sonic games of yore, Shadow
the Hedgehog attempts to break away from it in nearly every way possible.
First of all,
there's a variety of weapons ready and waiting to be used by you…
should you choose to 'em. Let me repeat myself: YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE
THE WEAPONS. They range from standard pistols, SMGs (Semi-Machine Guns)
and alien blasters to swords, bazookas and even lock-on missle launchers.
By picking up more of the same weapon, its endurance or ammo cound is
raised by another weapon's worth of ammo. How well they are used really
depends on the user. It's not that hard to aim at the right target when
shooting. You basically just need to think ahead before planning your
assault. I know, I know: "You shouldn't have to shoot stuff OR
think to play a Sonic game!" Well, you're not playing as Sonic,
are you?
Secondly, you can ride stuff. Before you start whining about that (you
know who you are), Shadow's not the first Sonic character to ride a
vehicle. Got it? Good. Now then, the ones available are convertibles
(?), the Black Arms' Air Saucers (mainly used to hover above hazardous
ground and dealing minimal damage to enemies if need be), mini walkers
(with or without ammo; think Tails' Cyclone only smaller and optional),
Black Hawk/Volts (the Volts can shoot; not really vehicles, but can
be ridden, so they count), jeeps (debris and crap in the way? No problem!)
and the infamous motorcycles (poorly rendered, but still fun to ride).
Like the weapons, these aren't needed.
Additionally,
a gameplay element that hasn't been present since Sonic Blast (G Sonic)
finally makes its comeback in Shadow the Hedgehog, a rather unexpected
event if I do say so myself. Yeees, in Shadow, you don't lose all of
your rings when you get hit, but instead 10 at a time, boosting up your
vitality in this game. I'd consider it necessary with how often you're
relentlessly bombarded and shot at.
Last, but not least, I'm sure some of you are wondering about the red
and blue bars at the top of the screen. Well, they more or less represent
Shadow's psyche. The red one (on the left) is Shadow's Dark Gauge. When
it fills (by doing evil things like killing humans and causing property
damage), Dark Shadow is awakened and the destructive attack, Chaos Blast
can be used. The blue one (on the right) is his Hero Gauge. When that
fills (by doing good things like killing the Black Arms, putting out
fires and healing GUN soldiers), Hero Shadow is awakened, and Chaos
Control is available. As far as I know, getting both at the same time,
isn't possible.
Concept Deductions: Checkpoint markers (now
called Save Points) look more like green teleporters. Which makes sense,
since you're now allowed to teleport to any others you've touched. Powerups
return to their original, balloon-ish SA/SA2 form, yet a bit skinner
and lying on their sides. (The Fire Shield from Sonic 3 returns in the
form of the Heat Barrier. This baby does damage to anything it touches;
debris, enemies, etc. Sadly, like all barriers, this one is finito if
you're attacked. Moreover, it seems to have replaced the High Speed
Shoes, since they're absent.) Rouge has gone back to her old getup,
but has had a voice change. For that matter, so has everyone else. The
entire cast (even the supporting characters) is voiced by the VA team
at 4Kids Productions. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you.
It seems to have been quite the center of debate in Sonic fandom when
the news struck, but to be honest, here at Concept: "Mobius,"
we don't care since there really isn't much more damage to do with the
voices in Sonic games (both English & Japanese, believe it or not
— even the Japanese dubs over-emphasize emotion, which is the
central problem in Sonic game voice-acting).
Storyline:
Shadow
is still troubled about his lack of memories. He has gained one, though.
Unfortunately, it's breif glimpses of Maria's death,
though he doesn't know it's her. One
day, as Shadow was pondering all this, the sky darkened
with a red shade and out come an army of red and black ailens who quickly
begin to smash the living crap out of everything. The Black Arms has
landed on Earth, in retribution for Dr. Eggman's recent invasion of
their digs. Poetic justice, I suppose. Either way, Shadow could care
less, and walks off. Before he does, though, his name is called by a
sinister voice. He turns around to see an ugly looking eye projecting
the image of the aliens' apparent leader, Black Doom. The ruthless ET
wastes no time giving our (anti)hero a message:
"As you can see, the day of reckoning
will soon be here. Find the SEVEN Chaos Emeralds and bring them to me
as promised."
Naturally,
Shadow doesn't know what the heck this jerk's talking about or how he
knows who Shadow is. Black Doom doesn't explain, though. As he leaves,
Shadow is left with even more questions: Who was that guy? And how does
he know Shadow? He does, however, deduce one thing: the Chaos Emeralds
are the only way the Black Blur's getting any answers. That being the
case, Shadow he Hedgehog begins his most important journey ever.
Personal Criticism/Opinion:
Okay,
let's get a few things out of the way. Starting with the voices. For
the record, I'll be mentioning Sonic X a lot.
Shadow &
Sonic: Jason Anthony Griffith has greatly improved his performance of
Shadow. He sounded like crap at first but now he sounds ok. (Compare
this game to the Shadow saga of Sonic X for proof.) Sonic… not
so much. I've gotten used to it over time, but still… After hearing
Shadow, I was hoping that Sonic would sound a bit better as well. It
didn't happen. Ryan Drummond wasn't really your average Dustin Hoffman
either, but it's a lot easier to put up with him than this guy as Sonic.
He actually came off as a convincing Sonic, especially in Sonic Adventure.
Tails: Hm. Amy
Palant sucks as Tails in Sonic X, and she sucks now. She's getting better,
though, I'll definitely be the first to admit that. However, to Nuclear
Envoy, she sucks outloud.
Knuckles: …
decent. Dan Green does a good job making Knux sound the way he's supposed
to. Just pretend Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't exist and you'll be fine.
Rouge: I know
Kathleen Delaney is trying to make the deceptive and sexy bat sound
that way, but instead, Rouge winds up sounding like a bored 20 year
old. ESPECIALLY in the cutscenes in the last story. *Sigh.*
Amy: I have no
beef with this performance. Lisa Ortiz does a fine job as Amy.
Chaotix: I'll
make this quick: Carter Cathhart SUCKS as Vector, David Wills actually
makes Espio sound cooler, and as for Amy Birnbaum… why the heck
didn't she voice Charmy sooner??
Omega: Gamma sounded like a frickin' generic robot in Sonic X, so I
was REALLY hoping 4Kids didn't screw with Omega the same way. Luckily,
they managed to make E-123 sound like he's supposed to.
Dr. Robotnik:
Deem Bristow can't really be replaced, but Mike Pollock does a really
good Eggman. His performance as Prof. Gerald isn't too bad either.
Now that that's
out of the way, I can talk about the game. Shadow the Hedgehog is a
better game than the high profile gaming magazines and sites give it
credit. They were expecting another Sonic Heroes, I assume. Well, guess
what? IT AIN'T. So get over it and learn how to play, big shots. The
ironic part is, Sonic Heroes sucked to most Sonic fans, contrasting
to the high reviews video game mags gave it. It just goes to show how
wrong video game mags can be. Go give it a shot and then judge. Remember
the tried n' true lesson that our man on the floating land Knux never
seems to learn: never trust anybody.
I found the gameplay
in this game to be easy to work with, once you got the hang of it. The
wide variety of weapons (as well as the targets to use 'em on) keeps
the action flowing, plus there's a bit of strategy involved since each
weapon handles slightly differently. There's also plenty of the standard
Sonic fare: loops, ramps and a buttload of speed (provided you don't
run into anything). The level design is certainly darker than what we're
used to (except for Circus Park and some others), but, then again, so's
the rest of this game.
A big reason
the Sonic X cast is hated on so much is because of 4Kids crappy script
writing. Thankfully, Sonic Team's writers were in charge of this, so
the cast actually sounds believable (with no lame puns, one-liners or
bad jokes in sight). But even then, if they want to target an older
audience, they need to start getting a better and more practical script.
And that good ole' crappy acting is still standing strong. (There is
a difference between how well the voice is for the character, the script…
and then how the acting is.) As per usual, they over-emphasize emotion
and come off sounding corny. It wouldn't kill them to sound a trifle
more realistic or casual at some points. But maybe it's just because
the voice acting doesn't work well with the poorly-dubbed and low-poly
in-game graphics cutscenes? I mean, all of this voice-acting and script
crap isn't as bad with the cinematic FMVs. Hmm…
While we're on
the subject of writing, let's talk about the story. This is, hands down,
one of the best and most intricate tales Sonic Team has come up with.
The multiple endings may make you scream, "ONOES PLOTHOLES!!!",
but once you think another's opened up, a cutscene promptly fills it.
(I mean, once you sort everything out concerning the timeline of events
in SA2's story and this one, which is easy, the only plothole that's
even left is why the hell the moon isn't blown in half in this game
like it should be — I guess we'll just have to ignore it.) Good
stuff. Speaking of the FMVs, these are the BEST in ANY Sonic game. The
CG character models used have been extremely detailed, from Shadow's
chest fur and the wear on his shoes to the fading of Amy's dress and
the stiching on everyone's gloves. Heck, Espio actually looks like he
has scales. I dare, no triple dog dare Sonic Team to come up with better
models than these… in this console generation, anyway. (A pity
there aren't as many CG cutscenes as you'd think.)
Simply put, it'd
be wise keep an open mind and a high dose of paitence and persistence
when playing Shadow the Hedgehog. For those that do, you'll find the
second best Sonic game of 2005. I say second best because of the presence
of Sonic Rush, but that's a different game. Shadow the Hedgehog gets
more interesting towards the end. Most people we've seen that have played
it quit near the beginning.
Let's see some GAMER'S PERSPECTIVE:
Replay value? Heh. Well, there's unlockable weapons and music,
10 endings (with 326 ways to get to 'em), the return of the ranking
system, the Last Story, etc. I'd say you'll be playing this for a while.
Graphics? As I said earlier, the FMVs are the best they've
done. The in-game graphics… well, they pale in comparison, to
be honest, but they get the job done. (But they're most certainly not
SA2/SA:DX.) The darker atmosphere gives this particular game a more
down-to-earth feel (I use that term a tad loosely, so don't start).
A slight step up from Sonic Heroes, but not by much. And, *argh* there's
still clipping! It was acceptable in Sonic Adventure, a minor gripe
in Adventure 2 and embarrasing in Heroes. It's time to step up, Sonic
Team! Here's a plus, though (to me anyway): the human guns Shadow uses
spew out casings. A nice touch, I'd say.
Music & Sound Effects? Once again, Jun Senoue was in charge
of the levels' music while the game's 5 themes were done by different
bands. "Almost Dead," the song for the Pure Dark route, was
done by Powerman 5000. That being the case, it's the most sinister track
on here. Julien-K returns with "Waking Up", a song for Shadow's
Normal routes. It's not the best this time around, but it's solid. The
most depressing track (and, sadly, one I listen to often now) is "Chosen
One": a slow rock song done by A2 for the Normal Hero route. Play
through it and you'll see why. Unfortunately, for every group of great
songs in a Sonic game (or any album for that matter), there's one that
tries, but slightly misses the mark. SA2 had their versions of Sonic
and Tails' themes, and Heroes had "We Can." For Shadow, it's
"All Hail Shadow," the Pure Hero route theme performed by
Magna-Fi. The title alone should be enough of a hint. Mind you, it's
not "We Can" bad, but it's not really SA "It Doesn't
Matter," either. An up-and-coming band known as the Remix Factory
(3 guesses why they're called that) were called upon to redo Eggman's
SA2 theme. The head honcho, known as LB, is a hardcore Sonic fan like
the rest of us. It shows, because this remix blows the original away.
And, as per usual, Crush 40 had the honors of composing the game's main
themes, "I Am...All of Me" and "Never Turn Back"
(the former used for the Last Boss and the latter for the final credits).
Both sound awesome. Now, about the sound effects… hmm. Well, rings
sound like rings, explosions sound… explody and the guns and other
weapons all make the right sounds. There's only one major (or minor
depending on your tolerance level) gripe I have with the audio: Shadow
and the boys (not counting Tails, thank goodness) say damn WAY too much.
I know you're trying to make the game more mature, Sonic Team, but that's
just trying too hard. But, that's just me. The problem is, they use
it unecessarily and they emphasize the word slowly and loudly, as if
they want you to know, "HEY, WE'RE USING CURSEWORDS NOW, SEE? ISN'T
IT JUST SPIFFY?"
Storyline? A return to the Adventure scripting and storytelling
is always fine by me. Rules were broken, truths were revealed, sides
were taken, but… most importantly… plotholes were filled.
All we will reveal is, the truth about what the hell Shadow is and if
he is the true Shadow from 50 years back and if he did or did not die
IS revealed in this game. Here's our only hint to you:
try to stay alive for 10 minutes on the final boss
in the last story… you should get a pretty interesting piece of
information. That's one less thing (out of many) for Shadow haters to
whine about.
OVERALL RATING? I rate Shadow the Hedgehog as a 7.9/10.
