Is Shadow the Hedgehog really a bad game? Or was a underrated gem?

[Mr Useful]

Funny how ShTH does an excellent job of going the wrong way while Sonic 06 does a horrible job at trying to go the right way...

 

...I wonder if that makes this a paradox?

At least 06 has better music, not-as-bland graphics, and better level design. What does shadow have going for it? Aliens? Charmy-bee? Kill all enemy stage goals?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah, no. The only thing 06 has over ShTH is better music. The graphics are bland in-game, and the level design is even more horrible which is only more infuriating when you have to deal with the glitches.

 

Heck, I could actually avoid a few levels that I didn't like by playing a different path in ShTH. Sonic 06 forces me to go through every level in order to beat it with all it's problems I mentioned.

Edited April 13, 2013 by ChaosSupremeSonîc

[Diogenes]

Playability.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Playability.

How do you even apply that when the replayablitly of both games is forced upon the player if he wants to reach the last story?

[WarioBone]

How do you even apply that when the replayablitly of both games is forced upon the player if he wants to reach the last story?

 

Shadow is, for the most part, a piss-easy game.  Sonic '06 is, in some part, nearly impossible due to the pure lack of fucks given by the dev team.  I'd say playability is a big factor in getting the game over with.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Kinda moot point when both games suck that you'd only play to finish it and hardly ever touch it again.

[Darth InVaders]

Shadow was a terribly planned out game - this contrasts with Sonic06 which was a terribly executed game. I actually could have supported the story and dark atmosphere if it was broken down into a comical parody of what it was.

[Gabz Girl]

You know, I actually regret selling ShtH now. Despite how bloody awful it was, I wish I could replay its awfulness again just to bring back the nostalgia of that fateful day in 2005. Ahhh...good times. =P

 

I actually didn't think the voice acting in ShtH was that bad, except for the swearing. It was much, much worse in Sonic 06 IMO ("ELIIIIIIISE!"). I have to say though that the music in this is utterly forgettable. Only the vocal tracks are great bar Almost Dead.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Gabz Girl

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

 

Well, I suppose it does give you a very different view of Shadow's story and past. You know, like how in SA2 game Maria was hunched over a console and sent Shadow's pod to Earth...

 

... and then in ShTH she was a lazy ass bitch who wouldn't get up off the floor.

Well he did have amnesia....

[₪►F3lhog◄₪]

Meh..this game. It's like everything went downhill once this game got released. Honestly, when I saw the trailer, I really didn't mind Shadow using vehicles and guns, but the way they tried to fit this on the game was so bad....I found myself never using any kind of vehicle or weapon while going through this game. The controls were a nightmare, gameplay was repetitive, the voice acting was annoying and the missions...ugh, THOSE missions... The only good thing I can bring out from the game is that you can finally know what happened to Shadow after SA2 (with a really bland story)...oh, and Chaos Control and Chaos Blast are both pretty cool.

 

I can't compare it to Sonic 06 since I haven't played that, so I can say this is the sonic game I liked the least. Once I beated the final story, I pretty much stopped playing it, unlike other old Sonic games I could play from time to time.

[HedgehogInTheD]

You know, when I first played the game in December of '05, I honestly didn't mind it at first (although this isn't to say that it is NOT a good game either), but as I heard everyone's comments just a few months later, it just made me seen the light if you will. It made me ask the question why is Shadow seen with a gun in his hand? Isn't he supposed to be the Ultimate Life Form? He doesn't need guns. Plus, it was terrible how he was portrayed as some gritty action hero who swears all the time as opposed to his great character portrayal in SA2.

 

However, I do like how they reminisce the events of SA2, and I enjoyed playing the ARK stages, and I thought the hero/dark/neutral system was okay. I don't seem to hate the game like I used to. The gameplay would be better if they take away the guns and vehicles and allow Shadow to only rely on his Chaos powers. 

[UltDevilDoom]

I wish there were more Chaos Powers in the game. Also, the gunplay was overused.

 

I still liked it, though.

[MegasonicZX]

I wish there were more Chaos Powers in the game. Also, the gunplay was overused.

 

I still liked it, though.

Yeah, and i think if they did another take on this game they probably would make the guns just be chaos powers instead since it would make the only sense for him to use those.

[Milo]

It would had been nice if Chaos Powers were Shadow's main abilities/attacks in the game rather than all of that GTA-knockoff guns and vehicles shit. I mean he's got Chaos Control (teleportation/"flying brick" mode), Chaos Spear (attacks), and Chaos Blast (explosions); as well as the "Hero/Dark" invincibility modes and abilities he had as a half-Black Arms hybrid, such as travelling through their Black Arms periods ooze-surely they could had expanded upon those powers rather than of giving him a pistol?

Edited April 22, 2013 by Gabe

[Nerfuffle]

Because of this game I like to think that Shadow is actually the Sonic-verse’s equivalent to Algernon and has memory loss that gets progressively worse over time.

 

This would lead him to misremember things five different ways even before the amnesia, repeat lines, feverishly stick to a simple goals while not really remembering specifically why, pick up strange habits from those around him like swearing and weapon use, and do or believe whatever the hell strangers that claim to know him tell him to; from thinking he’s a robot (even though if he was he should have noticed by now), to finding cheese for some reason, to changing plans of destroying the planet at the last second.

 

He’d try and hide the fact his brain is turning to mush while trying to outthink his condition. So when partnered up with an amigo character they would just talk to Shadow incessantly while he would remain silent and try to out run them so as not to blow his cover. 

 

By Sonic 06 he’d have completely forgotten of Maria’s existence.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chooch]

This isn't an underrated gem but I still think it's better than Heroes.

[Soniman]

This isn't an underrated gem but I still think it's better than Heroes.

 

Haha, well on the flipside I don't think it does a single thing better other than the rail grinding and wall jumping

[PSI Wind]

It's not a HORRIBLE game to me. Well, the GC game anyways. I don't encounter any glitches and I can control Shadow just fine really. And the gunplay actually did work considering that you run through the stages with enemies that have health bars.

Is it a good game? No, not really. But, it's not the worst game I've ever played and I have no problem playing it again every June during my Sonic marathon.

[JezMM]

These are the things that let me "enjoy" playing ShTH:

 

+ One consistent movement and level design style throughout the entire experience, something that literally hadn't happened in a main console Sonic game ever up to this point, and didn't happen again until Sonic Colours.

 

+ Branching paths allowing replayability, with a large number of levels.

 

+ Overall acceptable level design when just playing through to the goal ring.

 

+ Almost all the glitches and bugs and bad control from Heroes was fixed here - namely slipping off ledges and the horrendous grinding are no longer problems.  The game controls well for the most part.

 

+ Gunplay is no more offensive to me than it was for Gamma, Tails or Eggman, and actually makes health bar'd enemies make sense.

 

+ I like the soundtrack but that's just me.

 

+ Has great levels like Circus Park, Mad Matrix, Lava Shelter and Cosmic Fall.

 

HOWEVER this is dragged down by several things.

 

- Has awful levels like Central City, The Doom, Lost Impact and Black Comet.

 

- The missions themselves are, 9 times out of 10, less fun than just heading to the goal ring, when they should have been equally fun.  It would have been better if each stage just had three goal rings and whichever alignment you were currently on provided you with an arrow or something (or verbal advice from a teammate) on what to do to reach the route you need to take for that objective - or better yet, well designed envioronments that make it obvious (for example on Death Ruins, Rouge could say there's an alien encampment at the bottom of the rivers that needs to be taken out - so you know you should follow the routes where water is flowing to beat that mission).

 

- Awful bosses.

 

- Gunplay is not as optional as it could have been.

 

- While I like it, I can totally see why some folk dislike the soundtrack.

 

- Incessantly dreary envioronments.  Could have used another few levels as bright as Circus Park.  Even Shadow's levels in SA2 were brighter than this.

 

- The story itself isn't irredeemable but it is presented awfully and is really confusing, and the main mystery Heroes created is only answered in a tiny bit of final boss dialogue most players will never hear.

[LightDash]

I loved this game as a kid, but playing it now feels like a chore. If they had used a better engine maybe I would enjoy it now, I hate the way the characters move in Heroes.

[ClassicKnuckles]

I actually enjoyed it and thought that the game itself played well and the story was pretty cool. What's your people's opinion on the game? ~~ClassicKnuckles

[PC the Hedgehog]

I suppose it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I mean, Shadow swearing and mowing down aliens with guns and motorcycles? That's an insanely stupid idea that does nothing but cater to edgy teenagers.

As it was, though, the execution was surprisingly competent. It wasn't a great game by any stretch, but the story kept me interested, and the gameplay wasn't any worse than Heroes before it. It even had some really cool Sonic-cy levels like Digital Circuit and Circus Park.

[ClassicKnuckles]

I really enjoyed the game, and I thought it was ACTUALLY cool.

[Almar]

It wasn't a good game.

1. Incoherent plot thanks to the branch system. What's Shadow doing following Black Doom in Air Fleet's intro when the level right before had him stop the Black Arms from blowing up a city? How come Shadow suddenly discovers he's an Eggman robot when he never enountered him in-game? What's everybody else doing when Shadow's skating after Eggman?

2. The lack of an actual Eggman Empire path/ending. Helping Eggman in Iron Jungle or Cryptic Castle during the Dark Missions still gets you a boss fight against him. Helping him in Lava Shelter Dark still gets you the Egg Dealer fight with Shadow giving a weak case for doing that mission (something about not letting GUN touch him).

3. Shoehorning Gun Commaner/Diablon into what should be Shadow's duel with Sonic. Especially in Final Haunt Dark where as far I can tell it's supposed to be more of a rival ending than a "KILL ALL HUMANS MAWWHAHAHA" ending. Sonic shouldn't need or want help from a giant robot to face his rival. They should have seperated Diablon from Sonic and have you fight one or the other.

4. An overall vibe of laziness. They force you to face Eggman as the boss of Dark Missions where you help instead of inserting a more approriate boss (like Black Bull or Heavy Dog). Sloppy level transitions (see Shadow helping Eggman down the flying ruins only to just teleport to Iron Jungle where he hops aboard a spaceship with Team Sonic).

Nope.

[Sephy]

The only problem I have with the game was the story. No matter which branch you choose, it destroys everything set in Sonic Adventure 2, imo. The branch system was a very clever idea and it fits Shadow personality, but the plot was really bad. 

Everything else it's just fine by me. If anything, I felt the graphics very outdated by that time, especially comparing them to the CGI cutscenes.