Graphics 8/10

The graphics are great. The beautiful opening cutscene is a highlight, and with dark animations and a ton of action, is truly a sight to behold. Even the lesser cutscenes are detailed well enough to provide some entertainment. In-game, Shadow moves fluidly and can gain and excellent sense of speed. Varying environments and weapon effects keep the graphics looking sharp. The two Chaos effects, Control and Blast, both are very nice. Chaos Control makes Shadow rush through the level at insane speeds, even for a Sonic game. The dashing effects and blurs make Chaos Control a moment to remember in the graphical world of Shadow the Hedgehog. Chaos Blast, though not as astounding to look at as Control, is a wave of energy that is truly marvelous to watch. Sonic Team has done some work on camera control, making it easier to navigate and view the environment, even though it is a little touchy. Another problem is the lack of enemy types. It would’ve been better to see a few more varieties of minions to battle. Overall, Shadow the Hedgehog is a great-looking game.

Audio 8/10

Crush 40 returns to open the game with the excellent "I Am" theme, creating an urban rock theme to keep the action high. The rest of the theme music is also appropriate for each level, mixing urban techno and hard rock to create a slick atmosphere. Shadow’s voice acting is surprisingly well done, and I have no complaints with how he sounds. The rest of the voice acting, however, can get annoying. Charmy, Vector, and even Knuckles are voiced rather badly, but Sonic and the others remain voiced adequately. Ring sounds, weapon effects, and environmental noises are decently done. Audio-wise, Shadow the Hedgehog is an urban romp, providing some excellent music and okay voice acting.

Gameplay 8/10

Probably the most controversial topic of the game, Shadow the Hedgehog stirred up some debate when word got out that Shadow is armed this time around. Well, I can’t say that it hurts, although it doesn’t particularly help. The story picks up with Shadow being contacted by Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms alien army. Shadow is told that Black Doom knows of his past. Shadow, determined to unlock the secrets of who he is, has no choice but to enter the fray between the Earth forces and the Black Arms army.

Controls are tweaked a bit to Shadow’s armed character. Control Stick to move, A to jump. Now, though, B is used shoot a weapon, attack with a bludgeoning object, or jump some simple hand-to-hand combat. X is used to swap weapons, spin dash, and interact with the environment. The X button is a bit overequipped, having too many actions with too little room for error. Sometimes you’ll be a bit too far from a weapon, accidently spin dashing off a ledge. Troublesome, but soon this is adjusted to. Y is used for special Chaos techniques, either Chaos Control or Chaos Blast. The camera, controlled with the C-Stick, is much more flexible, making the game much easier to explore. Controls, although a bit touchy and overequipped in some areas, are good and don’t cause too much trouble.

Shadow’s adventure uses a good-evil pathway. Depending on the choice of missions, Shadow’s destiny can be realized and fulfilled. In most levels, you can take one of three paths: hero, dark, and neutral. Hero involves doing noble things, like destroying all the invading aliens or helping out the Earth forces of GUN. Dark involves siding with Black Doom and performing tasks like destroying GUN soldiers or activating shields to protect the Black Arms. Neutral involves mostly just finding the Chaos Emerald as quick as possible. Almost every level has a choice between these three different objective types, creating for a huge amount of choice on how you want Shadow’s journey to be mapped out. Different levels appear depending on your choices. This unique style of storyline progression is well done, making Shadow’s adventure all the more enjoyable.

Now, there’s the actual gameplay. Levels are pretty much what you’ve expected in 3-D Sonic: the running, loops, corkscrews, dashing, and all the rest. Shadow the Hedgehog takes after all that. However, Shadow isn’t gonna just bounce on enemies’ heads this time. Shadow has a plethora of weapons to use, and he’s not afraid to use them. Each projectile firing weapon has auto-aim when near an enemy, so hitting the foe isn’t too difficult. The shooting parts are actually pretty well done, allowing you too dash, fire, and keep moving simultaneously. The integration of the shooting and platforming is slick and fun. However, the camera is still a bit of an issue. Sometimes you won’t know where you’re shooting, and then you’ll get a cheap backshot from the enemy. As great as the overall action is, the camera still isn’t perfect. Also, shooting is great, but due to the objective-based nature of the game, the superb Chaos Control is pretty much useless, as you will miss crucial enemies or other items. Vehicles are present to help you out as well. Some, like the Black Hawk, are very fun to board and use. Others, like the Air Saucer, are just plain boring. Although, most of the time you’ll mostly just be moving on foot, dashing and shooting.

But all the shooting is only important for Hero and Dark missions. For neutral, it’s mostly like all other Sonic games: Point-A-to-Point-B running. This is where the high-speed action and Chaos effects are at their prime, bringing back some of the fast action of the past. Dashing along corkscrews and spinning through the levels is an absolute blast, and when using Chaos Control, Shadow rushes through the levels at incredible speeds. Sadly, though, not all levels are this fast or even use the neutral missions, but when they do, the game is unbelievable. Some minor changes do affect the gameplay a bit. No longer is there the classic 100-Ring free life rule. This means that you have to be a bit more careful avoiding those treacherous bottomless pits. Also, you no longer lose all of your rings after an attack. Personally, I like it. I hated losing all my rings after an attack. These small changes do change the game a bit, drifting away from Sonic tradition, but don’t hurt the game that much.

Bosses in Shadow the Hedgehog are standard fare in 3-D Sonic games; giant creatures and robots emerge to challenge our spiky hero. The boss fights brutally suffer from horrible cameras that keep an annoying lock on the boss, completely hiding the edges where Shadow could fall off, enemies that could be attacking, and item crates. As wonderfully-designed each boss is, this awful camera work makes boss battles a true ordeal and not nearly as fun as the rest of the game.

Replay Value 9/10

With over 300 different storyline combinations and over 10 different endings, Shadow’s adventure is the deepest and most complex yet. Exploring through each storyline is a real treat, making crucial decisions and taking sides. You can also gather keys in the levels to unlock some secrets. The ranking system returns, always adding even more replay value. Multiplayer? Meh. Sonic multiplayer is okay, but not very deep. Besides, the majority of the fun will come from the extensive and intriguing single-player. This is a game you will be coming back to for a good, long while.

Final Verdict 8/10

It’s pretty easy to tell that Sonic Team was aiming for a mature audience, but they’ve avoided the bandwagon pitfall by integrating the shooting into the fast-paced action dashfest that is the Sonic universe. Giving Shadow a gun and some mild language was definitely worrying the fans, but in the end, made a great game. The camera is still a bit touchy, but I must say that Sonic Team did not drop the ball on this game. Learning about Shadow’s past is enough of a reason, but the fast-paced shooting and over-the-top running is well done. Replay value is plentiful, thanks to the clever good-evil storylines to choose from. I can’t really call this a Sonic game, but Shadow the Hedgehog hopefully will convince Sega to explore Shadow’s character more, and even allow him to have his own spinoff franchise. Shadow may not be completely improving the Sonic series, but by adding such fast action, I really didn’t mind. With great graphics, excellent audio, and some of the fastest gunplay around, Shadow the Hedgehog is a winner.