Nostalgia: Shadow the Hedgehog

Nowhere to Go But Up

        I've made a couple of references to this game in my reviews of the most recent Sonic games, and in those reviews, I pretty much state that Shadow the Hedgehog is the absolute worst in the series. Sonic Team hasn't really been making great games like they used to until recently, but they at least had been fairly average. That all changed with Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm going to tell you exactly what went wrong with this game. 

        First, some history. Back in 2001, a new character was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2 named Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow was a darker, edgier version of Sonic that was created by Sonic Team in order to create more appeal to western audiences. In the game, he was created by Dr. Robotnik's grandfather as a prototype for the ultimate life form and some kind of super-weapon. In this game, Shadow, Rouge the Bat, and Dr. Eggman/Robotnik are basically the bad guys.

        In the next game, Sonic Heroes, Shadow is more of an anti-hero instead of a villain. His role and story isn't in the spotlight as much, because there are more stories that share it. In this game, he has amnesia, and is trying to figure out why and where he came from. This game ends without explaining everything which is where Shadow the Hedgehog comes in. 

        By the time Shadow the Hedgehog had started development, Halo and Grand Theft Auto were the most popular games around and it seemed as if these titles were taken into consideration during development. Shadow the Hedgehog was planned to be a game that focused more on adult audiences, which led to the inclusion of swearing and the ability to use guns and drive vehicles. This is where things started to fall apart. 

        Shadow the Hedgehog stars Shadow, who still doesn't know who he is, or where he came from, or how he was created. As soon as he finishes his monologue in the opening cutscene, an evil alien, stupidly named Black Doom, materializes and tells Shadow he can find answers if the angsty hedgehog does his bidding. The story progresses differently depending on how levels are completed. There are three different endings to each level: Hero, Dark, and Neutral. The ending of the game differs on how each level is completed. That seems like a neat way to keep playing this game if only it was any fun to begin with. 

        The biggest problems with the three-dimensional Sonic games were the crazy camera and crappy controls. You would think that six years of these problems being around that they would eventually be fixed, at least by the fourth game of its kind. Nope. Not only are problems from the past not fixed, but because of this, the new additions to the game make it even worse to play. The guns are pointless and frustrating to use, and the vehicles control like absolute crap. It's clear that Shadow the Hedgehog was made to mimic Halo because the development team tried to cram so many elements from that game into this one. They even try to use fist-person shooter controls!

        Now, when I saw this game was being made, I was excited. I figured it would have played like a super fast shoot-'em-up with some platforming. Also, I was generally interested in seeing the remaining questions of Shadow's past answered. Instead, I got a Sonic game that wanted to be Halo and a story that didn't make much of any sense. 

        Since then, Sonic Team has been slowly re-building their reputation. Directly after Shadow the Hedgehog, they released some more average games that finally improved on the problems seen in the past, but added strange gimmicks that didn't sit right with everyone. It wasn't until recently that Sonic Team has gotten their act together and have been releasing some noteworthy games. Hopefully, in the years to come, Sonic fans will get to see games that are just as great as the Genesis games, and be able to forget about the atrocity that is Shadow the Hedgehog.