Platform: GameCube

Date: 11/15/05

Rating: E 10+ (For Mild Language)

Review

   -Replay: Unknown

     -I’ll be honest, I am still working on the rest of the games and just tried

       this one so I could write a brief review, I’ll probably redo this

       once I actually go into the game.

   -Fun: 7/10

     -It’s not as intense as some of the other sonic games, this one is actually a

       bit slower and just more blow everything up type of deal. It’s not

       horrible, but it’s no Sonic 2 Battle.

   -Intensity: 7/10

     -Like I said, it’s not a fast game, it’s more of a shoot em up game. Lack of

       fast speed and overkill of enemies makes this a “stand still and

       blast everything” which doesn’t require fast reactions nor quick

       thinking. It is a bit intense though from all that’s going on.

   -Mind Challenging: 6/10

     -There are puzzles in this, more find this or accomplish these tasks, but it’s

       mostly no brainer shoot everything. Don’t have to have an IQ of

       130 to blast apart objects.

   -User Friendly: 7/10

     -Not that hard to play it, but the reason why it gets a 7/10 is because it

       doesn’t appeal to everyone, and can be inappropriate for younger

       audiences do to the swearing when you die, and the fact you are

       forced to either do evil things or good things and no matter which

       you end up hacking and shooting everything.

   -Overall: 7/10

     -Seems to deviate from the “be the hero” side that I’m used to in Sonic

       Games. Even Sonic 2 Battle’s Dark side was still fighting robots

       and still ended up for the good of the people. This one you either

       kill monsters or you kill people. Plus I love intense speed action.

Playable Characters:

Shadow the Hedgehog

Other Characters:

Black Arms

Sonic and his friends

Eggman

The General

More

Back Cover Description: Hero or Villain? Uncover the truth about Sonic’s arch-rival, Shadow the hedgehog. To destroy or protect? Shadow the hedgehog carries a dark past that is shrouded in mystery. Embark on a journey to unveil his true identity. The way you play the game will determine the outcome of shadow’s future.

Game Highlights:

Tons of Unique levels

3 mission goals for each level

Different paths can be taken.

Multiple endings for more gameplay

Unique shoot-em-up style

Lots of video

Game Length: unknown at the time.

Comments: I’m kind of iffy iffy about this game. Maybe I just need to play it more, but it seems to questionable about what the Sonic Games were all about. Shadow is a darker character yes, but even in Sonic X, when chaos attacked or the base was destroyed, every always got out, there were no human casualties, or rarely. The whole point of Sonic is to promote heroism, friendship, teamwork, etc etc, and this game seems to go off of that. Just seems a bit disappointing on the morals side. Gameplay wise it is kind of fun, but a bit to confusing if you ask me because you have one side wanting you to do one thing, and the other doing the apposite, so you really have to decide what you want to do before hand. The basic layout of the game is that Black arms, these creatures from a different world come to kill and destroy all human life. The leader tells shadow to get the chaos emeralds to help, and shadow must decide to go with them because they know about the past he can’t remember, or to fight against them.

Missions: Each level you have an option. To do good, to do bad, or to do neither and just finish the level. Where you go from there is based on what you do, so to get all the levels unlocked you would have to do some pretty bad stuff, but the same can be said for the good side. There are 12 different endings to be unlocked too. To gain points on bad missions you would kill good guys, like the GUN soldiers and to gain points on good missions you would kill the black arms creatures.

Should I buy it? If you are really into the shooting and killing games, then yah. If you are younger though, this may not be a good buy or one your parents would approve of. Being a Christian I can’t really recommend the game for it’s content, but I will still eventually beat it 100% as part of my goal to beat every sonic game. It’s part of the collection, but I consider it a darker one.