So, because Rouge, or anybody else for that matter, seemed to not really care about explaining Shadow's past to him in Sonic Heroes, we have an entire game focusing on that instead. This is Shadow The Hedgehog. I kinda saw this coming, especially with his return in Sonic Heroes. I was assuming that he was becoming really popular at the time.

I remember seeing this trailer back in 2005. I honestly thought this game would be fun. Especially, when you can decide whether Shadow is really a hero or a renegade. I ended up getting the game for Christmas, and I still own it to this day. A lot of people didn't care about this game being a spin-off, and thought that it was overall absurd. Is the game still fun, even after ten years? Or is everyone right and I was just being too optimistic? Well, let's see.

Also, like Sonic Heroes, I prefer the Nintendo GameCube version of this game!

1) Story

The story begins with Shadow the Hedgehog staring into the horizon. While staring, he begins to question about his past and who this "Maria" character is. But before you could potentially get the idea to ask Rouge or anybody else for that matter...aliens come out of nowhere. *Sighs*

As the aliens run amok through the city, the leader of the group, Black Doom, confronts Shadow and tells him to deliver the Chaos Emeralds as promised. Realistically, Shadow has no idea what he's talking about, but instead of Black Doom answering to his suspicions, he just disappears while causing some random explosions around Shadow. Then, with no idea what to do or who to rely on... I MEAN EXCEPT FOR ROUGE AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE SONIC UNIVERSE!!! *Coughs*

Shadow makes it his goal to collect the Chaos Emeralds so he can find the answers to his past. That's it in terms of what they give you for story, and the rest is up to you.

2) Gameplay

At this point, this is where you come in as the decision maker. Each stage contains multiple missions that correspond to a different allegiance. You have Dark missions, Neutral missions, and Hero missions. Depending on your choice, your path will branch into a different direction. When that happens not only you'll be going to a different stage, but also you'll be in a different ending when your pathway is complete. So again, it's your choice. Will you ally yourself with Black Doom and take over the world? Will you go solo / remain Neutral throughout the game? Or will you team up with the heroes and put an end to Black Doom's scheme?

In terms of what Shadow can do in this game, he can pretty much do everything he could do in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes...except for the Somersault and Rocket Accel. He can use the Homing Attack, Light Speed Dash, Spin Dash, etc. Along with his normal moves, plus punching and kicking, he can also use guns / swords. YOU CAN USE THEM IN A SONIC GAME, PEOPLE!!! Anyways, by defeating a certain enemy, Shadow can equip himself with a weapon to help take out enemies. Now, I think the gunplay in this game is great, especially with most enemies having health bars.

Shadow also has two special abilities, Chaos Control and Chaos Blast. By destroying enemies of a certain allegiance, you slowly build up a corresponding meter. When the meter is maxed up, you can use the special ability given to you by pressing the Y button. If you destroy anything that's good you'll fill up your evil energy, and if you destroy anything evil you'll fill up your good energy. The evil energy lets you use Chaos Blast to destroy anything that will be caught in the huge explosion. The good energy lets you use Chaos Control and skip a major chunk of the level.

Besides using Chaos Blast / Chaos Control in bosses, I don't use these powers a lot. However, you do get infinite ammo until the meter runs out of energy, which is actually a really cool thing.

3) Problems

So, Shadow is pretty handy in terms of combat. In terms of control, however, it's worse than Sonic Heroes. Shadow always moves like he's on ice, especially at high speeds. That's why basic platforming is really hard to do at times. Oh, and in speaking of high speeds, you won't get any in this game... Well, unless if there's automatic loops, a straight path with no obstacles, or rail grinding.

The way you progress through the game, however, is just plain crap. Let's just be serious about this now. Shadow The Hedgehog has a total of twenty-two levels, but a single playthrough of Story Mode will only let you travel through six of them depending on your allegiance. Your journey will always begin at the first level of the game, Westopolis. In Westopolis, you can head to the goal ring, help Sonic take out all the aliens in the area to be good, or help Black Doom destroy all the gun troops to be evil.

If you want to reach a particular stage, you need to complete the correct mission in the previous stage to reach it. If you want to go higher on the grid, you need to complete Dark missions, and you can be lower on the gird when you complete Hero missions. When you complete 6 stages, you'll get one of ten endings depending on your pathway and what mission you completed in the last stage. You know what that means? It can be the difference between Shadow saving the world from Black Doom or switching to his side at the very last minute just to be mean to Sonic. Seriously, why?!

Anyways, in order to complete Shadow The Hedgehog, you need to obtain ten different endings to unlock the Last Story. In order to do that, you need to complete sixty missions in Story mode, which means you have to travel through six different stages and complete six different missions for each ending. How to obtain those endings is all up to you, but regardless of such this means that you have to play Westopolis TEN F**KING TIMES because you have to being your journey anew when you want to go for another ending. THAT IS BULLS**T!!!

Why does this game have a Last Story segment in the first place?! Can I just be fine with going through the Neutral pathway once (which only requires me to just simply get to the goal ring) and be happy with the ending I get? No, I can't because the pathway isn't legit, and that's because there are nine more endings to obtain, and even those endings don't mean s**t anyways because again...THERE'S A LAST STORY SEGMENT!!! Why can't I just go through all the levels in one single playthrough with a cohesive story?!?! This game doesn't give me that!!!

Ugh, completing this is just an enormous chore. You just can't win!! Also, do I really need to share my thoughts about the level design? Well, here they are in a nutshell.

4) Overall

Now, as I'm getting close to being an adult, I find Shadow The Hedgehog to be a straight-up mess. I actually get bored and tired from this game the more I play it, and I play video games to have fun (no matter if it's by myself or with friends & family) and escape my problems / frustrations in the real world. This game offers nothing to me whatsoever. When it's not pissing me off with its pointless structure, it's putting me to sleep with its forgettable level design, bad music, lame-a** story, bleak graphics and the fact that I have to repay levels over and over again to avoid most of the missions it tries to throw at me.

When I play a game that I think is boring and / or terrible, there's only so much that I can talk about, guys. I ate every four hours, took care of my dog, took care of my brother, talked to my girlfriend and I listened to music...all of that stuff for the past few days just to keep my mind active while playing this game so I can make this review. Shadow The Hedgehog doesn't even meet the low expectations that fans could get. It's a void where nothing happens and nothing matters. I didn't even mention the multiplayer mode, which is also trash.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

* Fun Fact: Oh, I almost forgot something! ... Shadow isn't actually an android. If you spend exactly nine minutes in the final boss fight, Dr. Eggman will contact Shadow letting him know that he's the exact same hedgehog from Sonic Adventure 2. THERE YA GO!!! Seriously, why would they make us wait that long to tie up a loose end from Sonic Heroes?!