I have so much trouble rating Shadow the Hedgehog. As a prime specimen of an awkward, nerdy, wannabe edgy preteen in the mid 2000s who wore those silk button shirts with flaming dragons and shit on them, who watched entirely too much anime and liked to play with swords with my friends; This was the game I was waiting for my whole life up until that point. *I was the exact target audience for this game.
There's an amusing irony in the fact that my mom let me play things like GTA and Mortal Kombat regularly at this point already, but I didn't just want to play violent edgy video games... Bringing the violent edge to a beloved childhood franchise was undeniably a pronounced subconscious desire.
I wasn't as* in to Sonic as some of my friends were, but I played most of the Genesis games growing up, because of friends I kept up with the Adventure games in to Heroes in my elementary years, and there were aspects of them I liked at the time. Just not to a crazy degree and it wasn't a top favorite franchise. Of course my edge infused self did like Shadow though... So when this was coming out some like minded friends and I were hyped. It was a first week purchase for me after convincing my mom to give it to me before Christmas so I could play it sooner, and boy did I have a blast with it at the time. It wasn't my favorite game ever even back then but it was my obsession for weeks, killing humans in a kids game, Sonic characters cursing, crazy aliens dominating the world, all the different weapons, the music, the edgy ass story centered on Shadow coming to terms with the duality of his identity, the branching story paths that mirror that. I explored this game for all it was worth and had a blast with it.
Now obviously even just a few years later than that looking back at my time and passion for the game was enough to always make me cringe and I tried to put memories of it behind me. Now in my mid 20s I'm generally much more forgiving to my former misgivings on my ludicrously cringe youth, and taking both my appreciation for Shadow The Hedgehog, and the facets of the game itself in to account with my current mindset I'm much less harsh on both as a result.
My main reaction to this game nowadays is purely how fucking funny it is. Everything from my feelings to it as a child and the fact this game even exists is genuinely amusing to me. And I don't even really mean that in a purely condescending way, there's something charming to be appreciated about this game in the exact over the top edge it's ultimately going for. It is exactly what a game done in that middle Sonic era Adventure/Heroes style centered on Shadow should have been. However this era of Sonic in general is a controversial one of course and Shadow is no exception to that controversy, but I do think it manages to stand out among them as something different that does fit well in to the framework this 3D era of Sonic had set up despite its obviously different tone. Does that mean it's actually good a good game though? Not really lol.
I've revisited Shadow just for the hell of it a few times over the years and I've never really made it far in it each time I've tried. I'd barely say it is remotely a good game for its time. The music is actually pretty solid to me still but not nearly the bombastic soundtrack of my life I perceived as in my youth. It has decent ideas in the level design here and there and while the story is hilarious, the branching story paths are actually well integrated and give an interesting pace that, when I loved the game as a kid, made exploring all it had to offer feel very rewarding. In this way I think it accomplishes a lot of what it must have set out to do and while it isn't great I do respect it.
Because of the cringe I felt for it through my teens I really have absolutely no nostalgia for Shadow the Hedgehog the game itself, and I'm also normally not a very nostalgic person at all in general. I have great memories of the time I did love this game immensely however and as a result I look back on the game and myself with a type of charmed hilarity. That brings me back to why I find it so difficult to rate, it is a bad game, closer to being so bad it's good than anywhere near being genuinely good and even the ironic enjoyment of is much more conceptual in its very existence than in practice actually playing it. With that said I do hold a type of nostalgia for it, at least for the time I experienced it more than the game itself. Its impact on my youth and the memories I have of the game are undeniable, and I honestly have come full circle in to appreciating the value in that time of my life, and, in turn, this ridiculous fucking game. The fact that it happened to come out, and I happened to be able to experience it at that absolutely perfect time for me is something pretty amazing that I think about sometimes.
5.5/10 for a very neutral score, not a good game, its existence is hilarious, but I admire my time enjoying it in my youth quite a lot.
There's an amusing irony in the fact that my mom let me play things like GTA and Mortal Kombat regularly at this point already, but I didn't just want to play violent edgy video games... Bringing the violent edge to a beloved childhood franchise was undeniably a pronounced subconscious desire.
I wasn't as* in to Sonic as some of my friends were, but I played most of the Genesis games growing up, because of friends I kept up with the Adventure games in to Heroes in my elementary years, and there were aspects of them I liked at the time. Just not to a crazy degree and it wasn't a top favorite franchise. Of course my edge infused self did like Shadow though... So when this was coming out some like minded friends and I were hyped. It was a first week purchase for me after convincing my mom to give it to me before Christmas so I could play it sooner, and boy did I have a blast with it at the time. It wasn't my favorite game ever even back then but it was my obsession for weeks, killing humans in a kids game, Sonic characters cursing, crazy aliens dominating the world, all the different weapons, the music, the edgy ass story centered on Shadow coming to terms with the duality of his identity, the branching story paths that mirror that. I explored this game for all it was worth and had a blast with it.
Now obviously even just a few years later than that looking back at my time and passion for the game was enough to always make me cringe and I tried to put memories of it behind me. Now in my mid 20s I'm generally much more forgiving to my former misgivings on my ludicrously cringe youth, and taking both my appreciation for Shadow The Hedgehog, and the facets of the game itself in to account with my current mindset I'm much less harsh on both as a result.
My main reaction to this game nowadays is purely how fucking funny it is. Everything from my feelings to it as a child and the fact this game even exists is genuinely amusing to me. And I don't even really mean that in a purely condescending way, there's something charming to be appreciated about this game in the exact over the top edge it's ultimately going for. It is exactly what a game done in that middle Sonic era Adventure/Heroes style centered on Shadow should have been. However this era of Sonic in general is a controversial one of course and Shadow is no exception to that controversy, but I do think it manages to stand out among them as something different that does fit well in to the framework this 3D era of Sonic had set up despite its obviously different tone. Does that mean it's actually good a good game though? Not really lol.
I've revisited Shadow just for the hell of it a few times over the years and I've never really made it far in it each time I've tried. I'd barely say it is remotely a good game for its time. The music is actually pretty solid to me still but not nearly the bombastic soundtrack of my life I perceived as in my youth. It has decent ideas in the level design here and there and while the story is hilarious, the branching story paths are actually well integrated and give an interesting pace that, when I loved the game as a kid, made exploring all it had to offer feel very rewarding. In this way I think it accomplishes a lot of what it must have set out to do and while it isn't great I do respect it.
Because of the cringe I felt for it through my teens I really have absolutely no nostalgia for Shadow the Hedgehog the game itself, and I'm also normally not a very nostalgic person at all in general. I have great memories of the time I did love this game immensely however and as a result I look back on the game and myself with a type of charmed hilarity. That brings me back to why I find it so difficult to rate, it is a bad game, closer to being so bad it's good than anywhere near being genuinely good and even the ironic enjoyment of is much more conceptual in its very existence than in practice actually playing it. With that said I do hold a type of nostalgia for it, at least for the time I experienced it more than the game itself. Its impact on my youth and the memories I have of the game are undeniable, and I honestly have come full circle in to appreciating the value in that time of my life, and, in turn, this ridiculous fucking game. The fact that it happened to come out, and I happened to be able to experience it at that absolutely perfect time for me is something pretty amazing that I think about sometimes.
5.5/10 for a very neutral score, not a good game, its existence is hilarious, but I admire my time enjoying it in my youth quite a lot.
Mur96
2 years ago