What did you think about Shadow The Hedgehog?

[Scar]

Well, maybe I can say more.

Technically the game was Mediocre. The visual design was fucking terrible, so was its artistic direction and its graphics. Textures were muddy and ugly as all hell. Even the stages you'd think would look more interesting (like Digital Circuit) had muddy textures and colours that made it look pretty damn aweful. Also, why the fuck were character models still shiny.....?

Gameplay was acceptable at best. The core engine design was an improved (but still not perfect) Heroes engine. The guns worked, but pissed me the fuck off because it meant that every enemy had a health bar - you couldn't kill a single thing with just one homing attack. Tougher enemies I can understand, but there wasn't one weak enemy which didn't need to soak up ammo like sponge before dying.

The game itself was pointless. The Black Doom backstory was completely unecessary - it would have been better to leave some aspects of Shadow's character in the dark. The details of his creations did nothing but ruin the character in the eyes of many fans and did nothing but give the haters more ammunition against Shadow as a character.

The guns and swearing was just juvenile. It was not mature, it was unecessary and childish. The whole goddamn plot was so woefully overbaked and juvenile in its approach to everything.

It was basically what a 13-15 year old boy would think is mature, but would honestly be repulsive to actual mature individuals.

Thus, I cannot understand how anyone outside said age range can take the plot seriously. Certainly, its hilarious if you look at it like a comedy, but the game takes itself so seriously, that it ends up painful to listen to and watch.

[Kuzu]

True, but it's something you can just skip almost entirely so I don't see how it is such a big deal for some people. Same with vehicles but without "almost".

Because it's a ludicrous idea for the series to even consider. If they were passionate about it then it might've been worthwhile, but Iizuka himself said they only did it to cater to the preteen boys who buy any game with a gun on it and didn't even consider if it would fit with the setting and tone of the franchise.

Opinions, opinions.. I like the game. It's not great, it's not outright bad.

The difference being that we can back up our opinions on why this game is shit; people say this game isn't that bad, yet have given no discernable evidence to why. What redeeming qualities does this game have to not warrant it's hate, please tell me.

[Scar]

I should also point out, that if Shadow is your favorite character, you should hate this game like no other, for it did nothing short of completely and utterly butchering what was once a respectable character.

[MamboCat]

"Death to all who oppose me!"

Woah, Shadow...

I find the game so over the top it's hilarious. Shadow with guns, Shadow on a motor cycle, Black Doom's ridiculous voice, the fact that all the Hero cast will still greet Shadow happily even though in the previous mission you may have opted to kill a bunch of people, Vector's bloody Computer Room, that damned fourth Chaos Emerald...

Was this game made with the intention of being the most ridiculous game in the franchise? Afterall, they can't have a character who is more popular than their mascot!

[Diogenes]

True, but it's something you can just skip almost entirely so I don't see how it is such a big deal for some people.

Oh geez seriously? How can you honestly be making this argument? Have you ever even tried playing the game without the guns?

Once you get more than a level or two in, it just is not reasonable to play without the guns. Can you, in a purely technical sense, beat most of the game without picking up a gun? Yeah. Does doing so make the game anything resembling fun? Not a fucking chance. All it does is make a shitty game play worse, since you have to waste time using Shadow's pathetically weak attacks to kill enemies with ridiculous amounts of health. Being "optional" does not do a damn thing to assuage how terrible the guns are.

[MamboCat]

Plus they look enormous when Shadow carries them.

Even worse when he runs with one...

[Soniman]

Plus they look enormous when Shadow carries them.

Even worse when he runs with one...

It's hilarious to see how much shit they clip through

[MamboCat]

On the subject of guns, in STC Amy's choice of attack was to use a crossbow, or the odd gun rather than a hammer;

For some reason I never found this odd or out of character, though... Hmm. Ah well, STC Amy kicked ass.

I have no idea why, when I see a picture of Shadow with guns and shit, it makes me think it's just too weird for a Sonic game. Maybe it's because Amy has no discernible powers... Shadow has powers and stuff, there's no reason for him to use guns and motorised transport!

Edited July 5, 2012 by MamboCat

[Semi-colon e]

Shadow might have interested me more if it wasn't so god damned bland. I mean okay Generations suffers from a lack of variety but at least each level has it's own feel and stuff, this is just grey grey and more grey, with the occasional green or purple (ark levels).

The guns were okay to use considering how dumb the idea was (good thing too, they were essentially required), but the vehicles were outright abysmal and broken.

There are some stinkers in the levels too. The Black Comet level where you're on the disks and you're on that purple shit is just horrendous. Or how about Central City where there's no goal ring to save yourself from the timed insanity of trying to find a shit ton of bombs, where every corner looks the same. Or The Doom and Lost Impact, which had nice atmosphere and actually felt like they were trying to hone in on something but then the level design was insanely bad and copypasta. Or The ARK, which is Final Rush but you spend all of it on some flying piss coloured thing (though the music is FANTASTIC). Or Cosmic Fall where the camera wacks out and the platforms are nigh impossible to jump to and from. It may have a lot of levels, but most of them were awful.

G.U.N Fortress and Circus Park were pretty cool though, had a unique atmosphere that set it apart - the former looked dull but the music was very different to the rest of the game and felt more sombre for it, Circus Park was more like an actual Sonic level. There were a few decentish levels, but few and far between.

I used to enjoy this more than Heroes, but not anymore.

[Tornado]

OK, first of all, the guns were alright as they were optional for the post part. Completely optional.

It just always seemed sueish to me that Gerald was able to create a immortal being who could easily tap into the power of the Chaos Emeralds all by himself.

This is the same series where the main villain has "an I.Q. of 300" to justify him building incredible feats of engineering and technology. It is several times almost outright stated that said character's grandfather was even smarter, so Shadow having what basically amounts to a super soldier backstory isn't really far-fetched in the slightest.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Gilda

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Not to mention how it is flat out IMPOSSIBLE to have an I.Q. of 300, since the IQ test only goes up to 140. By that logic, Eggman is sue because of that impossibility.

[Solkia]

Not to mention how it is flat out IMPOSSIBLE to have an I.Q. of 300, since the IQ test only goes up to 140. By that logic, Eggman is sue because of that impossibility.

Wait wait wait

the IQ test has an actual limit?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Wait wait wait

the IQ test has an actual limit?

Yeah. You honestly thought it was possible to go up to 300, dude? Because with that kind of IQ, all of the worlds problems could potentially be solved.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Yeah. You honestly thought it was possible to go up to 300, dude? Because with that kind of IQ, all of the worlds problems could potentially be solved.

[Solkia]

Yeah. You honestly thought it was possible to go up to 300, dude? Because with that kind of IQ, all of the worlds problems could potentially be solved.

Well no, I didn't think 300 I.Q. was possible, but I didn't know they actually put a limit on it.

[Tornado]

Wait wait wait

the IQ test has an actual limit?

IQ levels are measured on a bell curve, so it is usually given a "max" limit simply out of ease of graphing.

[Burnt Ash]

OK, first of all, the guns were alright as they were optional for the post part. Completely optional. However the game was by no means perfect and there are quite a lot of things that make me wish they didn't make them..

This is true, but in a sense, it isn't true in that you could almost say that it isn't optional at all considering the insane difficulty jump when you don't use weapons at all. See basic enemies: Either you spend 5-60 seconds to kill enemies with Shadow's normal moves, or you use the guns and defeat normal enemies in about 3-5 seconds. Not to mention that the homing attack in this game is completely unreliable...seriously, how do you go from SA1/SA2's HA which is already somewhat bad, to ShTH's HA which is actually worse?

[Solkia]

Why do swords have ammo?

[Komodin]

Why do swords have ammo?

Simple: because the developers were too lazy (or too uncaring) to program the swords any other way.

[Burnt Ash]

I dunno, cheap way of increasing difficulty?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Why do swords have ammo?

Gunblades?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Why do swords have ammo?

Wear and tear?

[Solkia]

Wear and tear?

What kind of sword dies in 6 hits and gets better with each sword you pick up?

[Burnt Ash]

As to answer the OP's question, I don't know. I liked it when I played it the first time, but I'd probably have to replay it again to get a better idea of what I think of it now. I freaking hate every single ARK level except Cosmic Fall and The ARK. One ARK level that I hate that particularly sticks out to me is that one where you have to kill 35 of those Artificial Chaos things. I really, really, should not be roaming around a level in circles for 30 minutes.

[Tornado]

What kind of sword dies in 6 hits and gets better with each sword you pick up?

Maybe the game is secretly a metallurgy sim?

Edited July 5, 2012 by Gilda