30%Emulated

Shadow the Hedgehog is one of the most 2000's games of all time but most of the game feels like it was designed before any other video game was made. The only good things about this game is it's soundtrack and (for lack of a better word) it's vibes everything else is horrendously designed especially the gameplay. Movement is so janky it makes even the most basic of platforming a chore and the aiming system for the guns only works half the time, something that really becomes frustrating during the final boss fight. Guns contribute so much the game's style but any time you are challenged with them it's a messy test of patience, especially the turret sections the game loves making you go through. The morality based mission system is a unique idea but the missions themselves are really annoying and super easy to mess up, I had to restart several stages because the objectives were unobtainable through no fault of my own, this usually happens with the "kill enemies" objectives. It also doesn't help that the game basically offers no help for your objective, something that can lead you to waste so much time as wonder around you looking for the objective like a dumbass, this is again, assuming that you can even complete the objective at all. The story also isn't built around the morality system which leads to an underbaked story unless you want to replay the game multiple times, which you have to do if you want the last story segment, which makes the multiple endings feel completely redundant. Even having seen all of the story segments, it's still a boring story that harms the overall story of the series as it muddles the events of Sonic Adventure 2 and Heroes, which is weirdly punishing for people who try to follow the Sonic the Hedgehog Story. Shadow himself is all over the place with him always being a little evil which can lead to some hilarious dialogue as the game tries to keep him a little evil even on a full Hero plaything with some of the most stupidly entertaining dialogue imaginable. The soundtrack is fantastic though, each song is great when you can actually hear it through the game's cavalcade of sound effects, with each stage having a fitting song that gives it a unique identity. Same thing can be said about the graphics, each level's visual design is wholly unique and distinct from one another (except one or two) and UI design feels so rough and edgy, it adds so much to the games vibe. The boss fights are horrible though, they either end in five seconds or twenty minutes, the GUN bosses being the worst of the bunch as they take forever to beat and every fight is hampered by the games weird homing attack system. If you chose to play this game don't be afraid to use cheats as extra lives are weirdly stingy and don't feel bad straight up bypassing the horrible game design as the games checkpoints do not save progress in certain missions and there are none in boss fights. I cheated because I only did three (full alignment) playthoughs and then downloaded a complete save file so I could play the last story segment so if you want to discredit this review go ahead but if you chose to play this game without some dubious help, then I hope your controller survives the experience.

30%Nintendo GameCube

Where's the DAMN point to this game?!

35%Nintendo GameCube

Ohh boy was this game something. First off let me say this game is really bad for a lot of reasons. First the missions you get are so annoying and feel like a treasure hunt and gets worse. you will go through the level looking for the one thing you are missing. They do however give you these check points where yeah you can go back to look what you are missing but still you will take forever just to look for that item. There are some levels where yeah just get to the end and finish the level but to get the true ending, you have to go on these ridiculous goose chase just to find what you are missing. Feels more like a chore than anything else and it just gets more annoying just as time goes on. This game had me feeling such a different way but I had to complete it for my challenge to be a success. Some levels were okay but some levels are like... yeah what is this and why am I doing this. How is all this going to fit in the story. It made no sense what so ever. The story is bad and the gameplay is bad. However, the game at least tried to be decent. Some weapons are better than other and they seemed to be very responsive for the most part. It's not bad when you look at it that way but why did the game have to be so tedious. The idea was there... the execution needed to be better. For example, good luck trying to do the Maria missions... This is a game I would never recommend trying to beat it fully. Playing the first few levels not bad... playing for the true ending yeah no! I gave this game a 3.5/10 because at least the idea was somewhat there but the gameplay was not it. It's hard to recommend this game to anyone so it's a very hard pass for me.

50%Nintendo GameCube

Shadow The Hedgehog on Nintendo Gamecube, Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox, And PC is one of the video games I have ever played, Not the worst, but just pure mediocrity. I played this with the reloaded mod that heavily improves it but I don't think that it really made it much better, I feel like I would have gone crazy doing more than 3 endings, The story is pretty shit and Kinda retcony (I hope Sonic x Shadow gens redeems it a little bit). I feel in another world this game could have been made into a cool hack-and-slash or third-person shooter platformer, Ala Ratchet, But oh well. Also, the final boss is shit.

30%Xbox 360

Dåligt.

40%Nintendo GameCube

Has some fun levels, but having to replay the same levels again and again to get true ending gets old quickly

40%PlayStation 2

I tried to go in with an open mind but this is so unpleasant to experience. The mission structure makes everything so confusing and few of the missions are even any fun. It's not as repetitive as i thought it would be, as i knew there was 10 different endings you needed to reach but every square on the route map is a unique stage. But you still have to do the first one 10 times. I was so tired by ending 5/10.

The events of this story may or may not have even happened who knows really

Makes sonic wierdly pro cop?????

The opening cinematic is a masterpiece tho i stand by this

80%Nintendo GameCube

I did Mad Matrix (Hero) and Lost Impact (Hero) on my first playthrough and both levels made me consider giving up on this game. However, I just love the story and characters so I persevered and ended up having a lot of fun with it. I really liked a lot of the cutscenes and enjoyed the way there was ten different endings to each playthrough. It was fun to think about the different paths that can be taken to lead into each of the endings.

I know people hate on the game for having guns, but when I got the hang of it I actually really enjoy what the guns bring to the fast paced gameplay. I had a blast running fast and shooting enemies and obstacles out of my way. I liked the edginess of the game in many cases and I prefer the comically edgy lines like "This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me" over boring dialog. There are many examples of great scenes as well, like the confrontation between Shadow and the GUN Commander. I enjoyed the final story a lot and felt the ending was a great way of resolving lots of plot points from this game and Sonic Adventure 2.

I found it much easier to get A ranks in this game compared to Sonic Adventure 2, so it was kind of nice only needing to play most missions 2-3 times to clear it. There were only three levels (Central City, Lost Impact, The Doom) where you're basically forced to use an online guide to complete them, so outside of those I really enjoyed most of the levels. However, those three levels were pretty bad and emphasized one of the biggest flaws in the game, which is the lack of margin for error in a lot of the missions. Expecting the player to defeat 35 enemies when there's exactly 35 enemies in the level felt very unfair and contradicts the fantasy of running fast through a level blasting enemies, since if you go fast you'll definitely miss one or two. The amount of times I made it to the end of Westopolis and was missing one enemy was pretty frustrating. Despite all the frustrations, I was motivated to get every single A rank and I'm glad I did.

50%PlayStation 2

Just play it once you'll know. Gets points for being so bad that it's funny

20%Emulated

don‘t play it 2/10

60%Nintendo GameCube

LIGHT 6

70%Xbox

Gameplay: 4
Story: 3
Graphics: 4
Sound: 5
Replayability: 5

60%Emulated

Look it's not THAT bad. Yeah, it's overly edgy and the writing is pretty awful but like, isn't that part of its charm? The gameplay itself I think is actually pretty fun including the guns. It also wraps up the overarching story from Adventure 2 and Heroes so that's nice. Seriously though as long as you really only consider going for one or two endings here you'll have a good time. If you want to 100% it though? maybe a lower rating is appropriate.

70%PlayStation 2

This game is objectively pretty bad but it's really funny

50%PlayStation 2

el mejor juego de sonic

40%Nintendo GameCube

its basically if you took sonic heroes and ratchet and clank and threw them together but removed all the good parts from each of them. plot made no sense, and playing the game 10 times in a row feels like you are playing the video game version of the endless eight. The writing is really funny due to how hard it tries to be edgy, but you probably already knew that. This game is definitely worth watching the cutscenes for, or maybe even doing one of the routes in, but going for that final boss or if you are really a masochist going for 100% completion just ain't worth it fam

70%Nintendo GameCube

BEST FEATURES
-3D Sonic Gameplay and Run 'n' Gun Shooting go surprisingly hand-in-hand
-Mission Route System is unique, fascinating, and deeply detailed (albeit unintuitive)
-Great Soundtrack as always, including a variety of Official Band Songs for each type of Ending Credits
-Jason Griffith is the best Shadow

WORST FEATURES
-Awful and confusing story that pretty much ruins Shadow's Character forever
-Grimy and muddy visuals that make every stage look hideous
-New Characters, including The Commander and The Black Arms, are either generic, boring and/or stupid
-Lack of a Map is especially unhelpful in Large Stages such as Mad Matrix or Lost Impact
-Really Bad Camera, and the Controls are pretty slippery

OVERALL
-Definitely a product of its time, but I still enjoy it a lot for some of the good ideas it does have. This is definitely one of my Guilty Pleasures.
(I wanna give this game a 6.5/10, but this site doesn't believe in .5 Decimal Ratings :( )

FAVOURITE PART
-The GUN Fortress and being able to create a lot of carnage at breakneck speed

MOST HATED PART
-Mad Matrix & Lost Impact, and pretty much the whole of Last Story also for that AWFUL twist

100%Emulated

Completed 1 route (Ending 164). The game bleeds soul and edge that stands the test of time. I have not played this game ever since I was a kid. The controls hurt me. We may need to come back and do all 325 other possible routes. For now, I will rest my body.

20%Emulated

Nahhh....

50%Nintendo GameCube

Absolute edgy 2000s mess. Story is dumb, but holy moly is the stupidity making this game funny. Only play this if you want to play a comedy with ok gameplay. The guns are fun

30%Nintendo GameCube

I dunno about this one guys. This ain't it

60%Nintendo GameCube

I never played this game as a kid and I've heard nothing but bad things about it over the years. Despite this, I picked it up just to see what I was missing, and I have to say, it is definitely NOT as bad as people have made it out to be.

Yes, the story and dialogue is laughable beyond belief, but the gameplay itself is perfectly fine; it plays akin to Sonic Heroes (minus the team mechanic) and while it controls a bit slippery at times, once you get used to it, it's not a huge problem, and the level design is forgiving enough to not make it a game-breaking issue. Even the oft-maligned guns Shadow wields are competently implemented gameplay-wise, functioning as intended and actually making certain sections easier.

What really helps the game hold up in my opinion is its branching story system. In each level you can either complete a "Hero" mission or a "Dark" mission (which generally boil down to collecting a certain number of things/killing all of a specific enemy), or you can just ignore this and focus on reaching the end of the stage (though not every stage allows for this). Depending on which mission you complete, the story goes in a different direction, which makes it great for repeated playthroughs to see all the different levels and endings. This choice system also factors into the gameplay slightly; doing "good" or "bad" actions will fill up two respective meters that let you perform Chaos abilities when they're full.

Of course, there's still a reason why this game has received so much criticism. The most damning (no pun intended) being that certain stages and missions just drag on for far too long. Several of them are designed like mazes, making it very easy to get lost and trying to complete missions that require you to collect/kill things throughout the stage a massive headache. There is a checkpoint system that allows you to warp to different areas of the level, but it does little to soften the blow. The mission in Mad Matrix where you have to detonate several bombs is also a very frustrating example, since they're all placed on a grid that you roll through automatically, which is finicky to control and never gives you a good chance to memorize the layout, making the mission an exercise in tedium.

The Chaos abilities also aren't implemented as well as they could; filling your "hero" meter lets you use Chaos Control, which will propel you forward through the stage, but this means you'll end up missing any collectibles you need to find for certain missions, making it useless outside of neutral missions where your only concern is reaching the end of the stage. Filling the "dark" meter lets you use Chaos Blast, which is considerably more useful as it kills all enemies within a certain range, but there are very rarely enough enemies around to utilize it to its full power. And while repetition is to be expected in a game with multiple endings, you will end up playing through certain levels multiple times if you're trying to unlock them all and get the true ending, and many of them will end up outstaying their welcome. You're also railroaded into any decision you make; changed your mind and want to replay a stage to get a different outcome? Then you're gonna have to start a new playthrough. And perhaps most annoying of all, no matter what mission you're doing, all the enemies will still attack you, including the ones ON YOUR SIDE.

While this game does have a lot of glaring flaws, I would not go as far as to say it's one of the worst games ever, or even one of the worst Sonic games ever. It has a number of good ideas going for it and a lot of fun and even decent moments, and the different endings give it a great replay value. If you're in the mood to laugh at early-2000's edge and just want to do some Sonic Adventure-esque platforming while shooting everything in sight, it can be a fun game to zone out to. Just be aware of what you're getting into and take the game for what it is.

30%Wii U

Y'know they say that life is too short to be playing bad games but if that's true then why did I do "Along with the Ark", "Maria's redemption" and "Punishment, my name is ruin" routes in Shadow the Hedgehog?

80%Xbox 360

Honestly a very underated game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series that I didn't expect to have so much fun with. Is it a bit too edgy at times, sure but that doesn't really impact the experience. Neither does the missions, however a few of them can be slightly annoying to complete the first time around. Playing through the game multiple times while knowing which endings you were aiming for was way more fun and interesting than I initially thought it would be, and I barely scratched the surface with the many many paths you can take.
The only negative thing I experienced (played on a Xbox 360) was constant freezing, I don't know if that's my disc, the emulation or what.
This is WHO I AM.

20%PlayStation 2

borderline unplayable but boy is it charming :)

80%Emulated

I found Shadow the Hedgehog to be pretty fun. Wasn't a fan of the vehicles though, but overall it was fun, but it's way too short.

40%Emulated

Shadow the Hedgehog is definitely the weirdest of all Sonic games.

The game's overall tone of extreme edginess doesn't do it any favors in terms of gameplay or story. The mission structure is very unnecessary and isn't executed well, especially considering that it requires you to beat the game 10 "DAMN" times. A large majority of the levels are way too long and drawn out, although there were some with interesting concepts at the very least. However, the levels themselves are even recycled numerous times, which makes replaying different routes all the more painful. The music isn't too good either, which is a sin in certain Sonic games.

This game takes way too long to beat and isn't very fun. It's better if you spend your time doing something else than play this game.

60%Nintendo GameCube

Repetitive but ambiance was cool

70%Nintendo GameCube

Fun game with great visuals, but it suffers from slippery movement and cheap deaths.

10%PlayStation 2

The gamecube control is a much better way to play

30%PlayStation 2

Terrible game.

40%Wii

There are no words for this game except how god awful it is. I really attempted to play it, but it was so bad I couldn't get through it. Thumbs down for a potentially good game.

70%Nintendo GameCube

Shadow the Hedgehog was sort of a surprise. Sandwiched in between Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006, you'd expect nothing short of a disaster. The game gets a lot of crap for trying to be dark and edgy, not starring Sonic in the lead role, and including guns as a central mechanic. After playing this game extensively, I can say that it's actually a pretty decent game. Not the best in the series, but I'd consider it average or better.rnrnThe plot draws much from Sonic Adventure 2, being about Maria and ARK and Shadow's backstory. The gameplay draws much from the Chaotix levels in Sonic Heroes, being mission-based and allowing you to return to earlier parts of levels to find things that you missed. This isn't such a bad thing, as the Chaotix levels were the only part of Heroes really worth playing, but only about 50% of the time. Some were rather fun, but some had you running around, trying to find every well-hidden piece of junk strewn across the heart-stopping precarious stages.rnrnThe good news is, it's not as bad in Shadow's game. The bad news is, it still happens. The levels in Shadow the Hedgehog offer two or three missions a piece, and you are free to choose which one to complete. Most (if not all) levels have a mission for just getting to the goal ring like a more traditional 3D Sonic game. Then you have things like getting someplace quickly, activating all of a thing, killing all of the GUN soldiers/robots or alien creatures, blowing up a craft before it can get away, finding all of something, and what-have-you. Most of the time, it's no big deal. But there are those missions that will have you consulting the Internet to find that last stupid alien that you need to murder. And as with SA2, it all kind of falls apart when you get to the ARK. Interior ARK levels are large and mazelike, and always seem to feature missions centered around finding every last one of a large number of things that are hidden all throughout. Not an altogether fun time.rnrnMuch has been improved. Little things that just make this so much nicer to play than the preceding couple games. When you run up on the edge of a cliff at mach 8, Shadow stops himself and teeters on the edge a moment. This alone would have made Heroes a far more tolerable experience. And the game just feels... more solid. Heroes felt like a series of tiny platforms over an endless abyss. Shadow has its fair share of abyss, but it's not a panic-fueled ride through an ever-impending heart attack. Probably because the game is built better, small tweaks in the mechanics make it safer to move around, and I didn't manage to hit unfair glitches all the time.rnrnThe gunplay is fine, aside from rocket launchers, which aren't the best things to try and aim. The story... well, it does what it sets out to, anyways. They could have tried to connect the branching levels together a little better than "barely at all", and the Chaos Emeralds are once again in play because I guess it's just impossible to write a Sonic story that doesn't revolve around them in some fashion. The Dragon Balls in Dragon Ball didn't get collected this much. A cool feature, though, is that every time you finish the game, your route's cutscenes are added to your library as a viewable film (326 in total; good luck completionists).rnrnShadow the Hedgehog isn't perfect. It has its fair share of faults. But it's an odd thing. The more you play it, the better it gets. As you get used to the controls and the way the game works, and understand the layouts of some of the levels a little better, the gem at the center really starts to shine through. There's a good foundation here with some wobbly bits on top. I would suggest keeping a guide handy if you're dead set on playing certain routes, but if you're willing to give it a playthrough or two (a typical playthrough for myself is usual only about an hour and a half, give or take), I think you'll find it worth it. At the very least, it's a great way to waste some time.

50%Nintendo GameCube

Some of the features don't work as intended, and homing attack is literally death at times, but I suppose I had a decent amount of fun with it. There's no consistency in the plot because of the "choose your path" style for advancing to new stages, but the cutscenes were amusing at the very least?

45%No Platform Specified

Shadow the Hedgehog is proof that Sonic Team needs to get with the
program if it plans to compete with legitimate current and next-
generation software. This is Sonic Adventure with guns and less polish,
and players today are far more discerning than they were six years ago.
Diehard Sonic fans will cling to the fact that the title still conjures up
corkscrews and loop-de-loops, as well as an impressive sense of
speed when Shadow really gets moving, and this is all true. But this
doesn't make up for the game's long list of shortcomings, from stupid
level design, unrefined controls and useless gunplay to disappointingly
outdated graphics.

Note to PS2 owners: Shadow loses extra points on Sony's system for its
exta technical issues.