I just wanna ask: Did Naka or Iizuka lose a bet or something? Did someone point a gun at them(hah), forcing them to convince everyone else at SEGA that this was a good idea? What happened here?

This game helped me in realizing just how much I fucking despise this setting for Sonic. The plastic-y models for Sonic & co. return from Heroes, but now we have the dumbass humans back in the story, which leads to some ridiculous whiplash every time there's cutscenes with Shadow and the President/GUN Commander back to back, shit's worse than the Pirates of the Caribbean world in KH2.
Some stages look nice, like Digital Circuit, but most of them are so drab and boring when compared to Heroes. I mean, I get why, they were trying to make this one gritty and all that other bullshit, but it just falls flat in its face.

It's almost adorable how much it fails at being cool, actually. They go SO FAR(but not far enough, more on that later) in trying to ramp up the edge that it loops around and turns into some lame ass shlock instead. Shadow, you don't need a fucking glock to be cool. You were already cool in Adventure 2. That first shot in the opening FMV where he cocks a gun is as imposing as a Disney World costume character holding a super soaker.

Not that using the guns is bad by itself, mind you. In fact, actually playing Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't the worst thing in the world. The controls are not as tight as Sonic Heroes; I guess they noticed Shadow had those Air Shoes and thought "Hey, he should like. float a bit, right?", meaning you slip and slide a lot easier now. But the homing attack works just fine, the spindash is back(even though you can't use it while running), and the guns' lock on works well enough. Mission structure is a bit repetitious though, even for someone who loved Mission mode/Trials in SA1 and Team Chaotix in Heroes. Sure, Chaotix had you looking for 60 candles in Mystic Mansion, but that's like 10 stages into the game. Shadow the Hedgehog asks that you kill 45 Aliens in the very first mission, and looking for them with slippery controls like these isn't as fun.

Speaking of missions: Branching paths. What kind of herb were they partaking of when they cooked this shit up.
Like, the idea of having hero/neutral/dark routes isn't bad, but what's the with overabundance of paths? Three hundred and twenty fucking six different paths are available for the ultimate gamer to make Shadow the perfectly balanced life form. Oh yeah, I love taking the hero path all the way to the end, only to heel-turn at the very last second just to screw Sonic over like some bipolar fuckhead. Why not just have 3 routes to follow determined by what objective you complete in Westopolis?
Kill all Aliens = You're on the hero route where you help Sonic and friends defeat the Black Arms. Head straight for the goal = Neutral route where you don't really give a shit about either faction and end up using the emeralds to find the truth by yourself. Kill all cops = You side with Black Doom to help him take over the world in exchange for your memories(kind of a disproportionate trade if you ask me). That's all they had to do.
Instead, you can choose to/accidentally complete a mission from a different alignment, but because you're so far in a specific route, the next cutscene will act as if you're still a good/bad guy.

I finished 3 runs for my playthrough: Full hero, full neutral, and full dark, meaning there were some stages and story bits I missed, but I looked them up.

This story fucking blows. You're telling me the Commander watched Maria getting a bullet through her back thanks to a GUN soldier, an event which traumatized him, only to join them years later? And apparently he hates Shadow too. If that's the case, why the fuck does the military go after Sonic in Adventure 2? If this mike pence looking piece of shit really had his asshole in a knot because of Shadow and was also a part of GUN, you'd think he'd let everyone else in the organization know. Also Gerald actually had good intentions and we should honor his legacy, I guess?
Not only that, but this is the same Shadow from Heroes(and by extension SA2 since he's the original), right? If so, he already made a bond with the rest of the cast back when fighting Metal Overlord. Why does he think that Black Doom is his only alternative to finding answers about his past when Sonic and the rest of the gang, including Rouge who spent enough time with Shadow and snooped around Eggman's PC/Shadow's containment room in Heroes, are right there? Sure, they don't have all the answers to his past, but what makes him think Black Doom does? Wasn't the moon fucking blown in half when Eggman pissed on it back in SA2? This IS the same continuity, right? "Blah blah, it's a game for kids and things are just supposed to look cool", well if you're gonna give me 326 possible routes and ask that I complete 10 endings to play the actual final stage, AT LEAST pretend to give a shit.

I already disliked the story in Adventure 2. I think it tries to do too much for a series that really has no excuse to fall into plot holes or inconsistencies given how simple Sonic is in concept. The story there was dogshit, this is even worse somehow.

A half-hearted, cowardly attempt at turning this series into something it isn't, and more than that, something it never wanted to be. Why can't I see Sonic's brain fucking oozing out from his bazooka-blasted hedgehole after I kill him? One of the endings implies Shadow kills himself. Why won't they show me the body? Where's the pool of blood next to Maria's cold ass corpse in that flashback? (Granted, all of these things would make this game even worse to me lmao)
The answer? They didn't actually want to take any of this seriously. They didn't want to commit. It's still Sonic, like you've always known, but now we have gunshot SFXs in the menus, the saturation is turned down on most stages(which hilariously clashes with the McDonalds ass character models for the main cast), and Shadow says damn here and there. This game has all the cool-factor of a kid grabbing a gun from his father's closet and waving it around to show how crazy and messed up he is, but he can't pull the trigger. It's not even loaded. It's not even a real gun. Fuck this game.

POST PUBLISH EDIT: Back in my Adventure 1 review, I mentioned that despite its many flaws, that game still managed to win me over thanks to it wearing its heart on its sleeve. Shadow the Hedgehog is the complete opposite of that, as I alluded to previously by calling the game "cowardly"; it feels like this game doesn't want to be here. It doesn't want to do what it's doing, but someone else is pulling the strings so it dances to the tune anyway. It's not honest or confident in itself the same way Adventure 1 was.

Not only that, but it feels like a lot of the people who do fuck with the presentation here kind of enjoy it "ironically"? Like "Haha look at how weird this shit is" or "well, it really is stupid, but try to enjoy the stupid!"(Nothing wrong with that, mind you)
Speaking for myself, I don't really like laughing at something, I'd much rather laugh with it, which is why RE4 is one of my favorite games ever. THAT game knows how bullshit bonkers everything is and it shows that off like a badge of honor. But because this game lacks any self awareness, and also seems embarrassed of itself at points, it really feels like the only approach you can take with it is the former: laughing at it.

(It has some great music though, I can't take that away from it. Shoutout to the GUN Fortress theme, which I had on loop when writing this. If the game went for this kind of energy instead of trying to be more like "All of Me", maybe it would've been better.)

Shadow the Hedgehog is a polarizing action-adventure game that throws everyone's favorite edgy hedgehog into a bizarre narrative involving aliens, amnesia, and surprisingly, guns. Players choose between hero, villain, or neutral paths, leading to multiple endings. While its fast-paced levels and vehicle segments offer moments of fun, Shadow the Hedgehog suffers from awkward controls, repetitive mission structure, and a tone that many find at odds with the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. It's a game that has its fans, but it's a far cry from the polished experiences this franchise is typically known for.

Okay this game is something very difficult for me to explain why this rating

Is a good game? No
Is it a bad game? Mmmm yes but not that much

The problem beyond the fact that you are forced to play this thing 10 times (I know there are different routes but that doesn't help) the levels have a fairly inconsistent design. Most levels are straight lines, pretty simple even for a sonic game. And when this is not the case, they are, humorously, by far the most annoying and tedious levels to complete their missions (Mad Matrix candidate for the worst levels of the entire franchise)
Their missions don't make a difference either, most of them are killing x number of enemies, although well, unlike the levels when a mission varies, it is decent like Lethal Highway or The Ark

The game, rather than being unplayable, is... inconsistently flat, it feels empty but when it varies it sucks most of the time. I don't consider it one of the worst Sonic games at all, because even with all its problems one can enjoy it (look at me, I prefer this to Sonic Heroes xd)
I would recommend it out of curiosity only, the game as such is mediocre, bordering on decent

Je vais vous faire une annonce : Shadow le hérisson est un enculé de fdp. Il a pissé sur ma putain de femme ! Eh ouais ! Il a sorti sa teube de hérisson toute pointu et il a pissé sur ma PUTAIN de femme ! et il a dit que sa teub était ENORME, alors j'lui ai répondu "c'est dégueulasse". Par conséquent je vais balancé les dossiers sur mon Twitter.com. Shadow le hérisson, t'as une toute petite teub. Elle est plus petite que cette noix, sauf qu'elle est BEAUCOUP plus petite. Et devine quoi ? Ma teub ressemble à ça. Eh ouais mon gars. Bien pointue, pas d'épines, pas d'oreillers, téma ça, on dirait deux boule et un bong. Il a baisé ma femme, alors devinez quoi, je vais baiser la terre. EH OUAIS, VOUS SAVEZ CE QUE VOUS MERITEZ ! Ma SUPER PISSE LASER ! Je ne vais pas pisser sur terre. Je vise bien plus haut. Je vais pisser sur la LUUUNE ! ça te plaît Obama ?! J'AI PISSÉ SUR LA LUNE, SALE COUILLON ! Vous avez vingt-trois heures avant que les GOUTTELETTES de pisse frappe votre planète de merde, maintenant bougez vos gros culs avant que je pisse dessus !

Esta review será corta, y es más que nada porque solamente terminé una ruta del juego y no quiero más.

La historia de este juego es bastante rara, si bien en heroes Shadow volvió en Heroes y nunca se nos confirmó bien el por qué (al menos para él ya que no vio lo que vio rouge en el final de la ruta Dark), este juego básicamente trata de Shadow intentando buscar quien es en verdad y por qué tiene recuerdos vagos de ciertos sucesos de Adventure 2, sumado a que existe una especie de Alien que intenta hacer que Shadow siga sus ordenes, además de tener que frenar los planes de eggman, no se este juego propone muchas cosas en su historia y aparte y lo mejor/peor, lo suma al gameplay.

Este juego funciona con una especie de "alignment", en donde dependiendo de tus decisiones en los distintos niveles desbloquearas una ruta u otra, con distintos finales, los cuales son 10 en total, que sinceramente esto en papel no es malo, pero la ejecución es cuestionable, tienes 2 barras, una roja y una azul, ve llenándolas y dependiendo puedes sacar una ruta neutral, dark o hero (no me se los nombres pero básicamente se entiende así), que básicamente se reduce en que tipo de enemigos matas, ya sean humanos o aliens, y además el hecho de completar misiones extras en los niveles, cada uno te presenta 3 misiones, dependiendo de cual completes desbloquearas distintos caminos que te lleven a otros niveles, y sinceramente, hacer cosas especificas para poder sacar cada uno de los finales no es algo que me motive especialmente.

En temas de gameplay por fin tenemos cosas que funcionan a diferencia de Heroes, el homing attack funciona, los rieles pese a ser pocos (por favor eliminen los niveles full rieles de la existencia) estos no tienen hitboxes raras y tienden a funcionar en un 90% de las veces. Como mecánica nueva en este juego tenemos las armas que se pueden ir recogiendo en el mapa con las cuales Shadow puede disparar o usar espadas para golpear, espera que?, miren, esto la verdad no es tan malo como lo pintan ya que suelen funcionar y mínimamente están bien programadas, pero en serio es bien random ver a Shadow usar armas de fuego o espadas. Otra cosa respecto al gameplay es que solo usamos a Shadow, si, el juego se llama "SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG" pero los juegos anteriores se llamaban Sonic y teníamos hasta 12 personajes jugables, aquí aparecen personajes ya conocidos en algunos niveles, te acompañan, pero no hacen absolutamente nada, solo existen, no aportan, solo hablan cosas sin sentido, hubiera sido genial que mínimo cada uno hiciera algo especial.

Ahora en tema de música, sinceramente este juego no me gusta, su soundtrack se siente vacío, son solo canciones edgys, no hay temas memorables más allá de "I am (All of Me)" y el tema que pondré abajo, es cierto que algunas canciones me recordaron a los primeros DMC, pero mil veces peor, en serio con lo buenos que fueron los ost de Adventure 1 y 2 y heroes no entiendo que pasó aquí.

En conclusión, siento que objetivamente no es un juego tan malo, pero no logró calar conmigo, lo sentí monótono, sin SOUL como dicen los tontitos, super plano, sin nada interesante fuera de reírse de que Shadow use armas, se que hay gente que le gusta y se desbloqueó todos los finales, pero para mi no es el caso, quizás me digan que me estoy perdiendo de lo mejor, pero EXISTE YOUTUBE LESGOOO.

Canción Favorita: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEFknRfCDQ8

Shadow the Fudidohog e simplismente uma merda cara, o jogo consegue ser pior que booger man de super nintendo e olha que booger man e horrendo mas enfim vamos falar das musicas, fases, chefes e especiais e vamo começar falando das musicas que puta que paril cara nenhuma musica e marcante alem da musica de abertura, e cada musica mais generica que a outra sem armonia nenhuma com o ambiente e jogo, parece muito que eles foram no google e pesquisaram "musicas ação gratis sem direitos autorais" e botaram no jogo sem pensar 2 vezes mas isso nem e a pior parte do jogo ja que ele tem muita coisa ruim como as missoes dentro das fases que de inicio parecia algo interessante e daora de se fazer mas depois fica uma merda ja que todas as fases são pra voce acelerar ao maximo igual qualquer jogo da franquia sonic mas nesse voce nao pode fazer isso porque tem que procurar os objetivos da missão para fazer a rota que deseja e falando de rota puta merda viu porque caralhos eles acharam que seria uma boa ideia colocar rotas para se seguir? tipo voce tem que zerar o jogo 10 vezes pra fazer o final verdadeiro e ai sim zerar definivamente mas isso fica tão repetitivo que cansa e deixa o jogo ainda mais merda do que ele ja e. Mas agora falando dos chefes do jogo que na sua grande maioria não tem desafio nenhum ja que literalmente voce pode farmar armas e chegar na luta e espamar o botão de tiro ate a barra de vida dele cair igual agua de copo derramado, e se voce tiver o poder do caos blash fica ainda mais facil, voce aperta triangulo 3 vezes e a vida dele foi pro caralho e isso e tudo e basicamente shadow the hedgehog, um jogo que tinha um potencial interessante mas infelizmente ele e uma merda por completo

Nota: 2