'Hopeless fans' probably make up a minimal percentage of the buyers for the game, anyway. If they all stopped buying Sonic Team's less impressive efforts, I doubt it'd have much of an impact on sales, with all the little kids (so it's a bit darker. Kids will still want it and can still buy it) and "OMGSHADOW!!!!!" fanatics purchasing the game like hot cakes anyway. Sega knows that for every tired, disappointed long-time fan they lose, they'll gain a newbie or two. I doubt they'd care about losing the likes of me too much.
I'm sure this game isn't going to be one of my favourite Sonic titles. That said, I can always find something to like in every Sonic game (this doesn't make thir quality acceptable, mind) I am a hopeless fan myself, and thus I'll still get it. I'm interested in the story, regardless of whatever disappointments are assured alongside the rest of the storyline. So yeah, I'm part of the problem. But screw it, I'd rather have the game and get at least some enjoyment out of it rather than not having it at all, in the name of a fruitless effort at telling Sonic Team they suck. I'm not really a 'real' gamer anymore anyway, and about a whole 90% of the games I play (when I actually have time, which isn't often) are Sonic titles.
LAST STORY SPOILERS O_O Man that sounds more allovertheplace than SA2's last story. Craig's gonna pop. And it kicks Battle in the ass unless we consider it to take place after Battle.
I'm sorry for not being sophisticated enough and "part of the problem."
You liking the game is fine, but everyone has to realise that it is sub-standard for it's time. For SA2's time, even.
You're "part of the problem" because every time someone buys this game or Heroes, something really bad happens. God smiting a kitten? No, worse. You give them money.
Each time they recieve money for one of these piss-poor games, they will grow more and more confident that they will be able to toss fresh piles of s**t out of the office, each labelled "new sonic game", and the fans will lap it up. Thus the chances of future Sonic games being up to the classics' standard, or even so much as decent, get slimmer and slimmer until the thread isn't even visible. It's no good.
I really want to know what the ESRB's definition of "mild language" is. Maybe it's because I'm not very good at the game right now, but about every 5 to 10 seconds Shadow mutters "Damn!". I found it funny the first 10 minutes, but now with my little sister watching me, I'm kinda nervous....
And the Neutral endings...[censor]. I don't know how to use spoiler tags, so I won't say anything for fear of spoiling it. It's just...[censor].
Craig, I think that happened right after SH. Rouge's a spy and she's bound to have a camera somewhere in that jumpsuit of hers.
[spoilers]Insert spoilers here[/spoilers], where [ becomes and formatting mode is set to HTML.
I'm only telling you this 'cause the quickest way for me to find out about this game is to have other people spoil it for me. o.-
I can't play the game untill I get it for Christams *cries* Oh well. I think they are making Shadow quite the oposite of what he appeared to be to me at first... oh well The game looks cool.
~Kelsey
Rent it... please. You just might dodge a bullet.
Anyway, it's become apparent that the game came out and... Spoilers (Select To Read): ...we STILL don't know anything about Shadow's past. Last Story sure didn't say a whole lot, eh? Just Shadow ditching his past entirely, Gerald becoming less "THE ARK! REVENGE! BIG LIZARD! ARRGH!" and more "Sorry Shadow, but you're part-alien", yet more people trying to kabosh the planet (what's new these days?), yet another Super fight only there for the sake of having a Super fight, and apparently one that doesn't even LOOK good... can't Sonic Team get the freakin' thing RIGHT anymore? The least they could've done was told us whether Shadow died in SA2 or not. This just sucks.
Spoilers The thing that weirds me out about it is that they not only gave us more questions than answers, but didn't leave an opening for Shadow 2. At the end Shadow simply doesn't give one anymore. Even if he loses his memory again, he won't care...it just seems to defeat the purpose of answering little to make a sequal possible. I wonder what they'll do to Shadow to create an opening for Shadow 2... >_> If they decide to do it, that is.
Spoilers (Select To Read): I sincerely hope they DON'T. Tails needs a new game well before Shadow does - and hopefully a free-roaming one, this time.
Wait, how exactly is this a spoiler? Yeah, thought as much.
Mmmm Tails free roam *slurp*
I think Sh2 is likely, unfortunately...if it sells well. Which it could. ._.
or you know, the new next Generation Sonic game? (Was that official? o.o)
Spoilers (Select To Read): Well, I personally feel the super-hero ending is the 'official' ending. Seeing it's set up perfectly with Black Doom and Shadow together.
I kinda like the game personally, could be better, and the story could stop disregaring plot points like when Shadow saved the world he kinda died and wasn't around for a picture, and Rouge and Knuckles being completely out of character... (Since when does she work for the government again? I thought she was fired.)
P.S. No it's not a typo in my siginature.
I'm amazed that none of you have seemed to realise that Shadow's past is meant to be unknown and in fact totally unimportant, which appears to be reflected in the fact that this game has at least ten endings, each with a different spin on the tale.
At any rate, I'm still going to get this for my birthday on the grounds that reviews are mixed so I'll just have to see for myself. I liked Heroes, for example, even though I really shouldn't do.
As for 3D Sonic or any spinoff to come, in order for them to nail the delivery of the game, they'll have to go right back to the originals and modernise all the original zones before they'll ever realise what makes those games great. THEN they can go back to making new stuff. Bear in mind that they never have to release the remade zones, just get them re-done and re-polished so they have a 3D copy of them to reference internally for the future.
Good 3D Sonic is not impossible, but Sonic Team is just not talented enough to do a really good 3D game. Astro Boy for PS2, anyone?
(I sure hope they prove me wrong on that one.)
Dont remember ever seeing Rouge fired...
She was still working for the president in Battle, and.. In heroes she never mentions her job... Maybe she's having a brief holiday or off duty for a couple of weeks?
Wait... didn't her new profile on Shadow's site state she wansn't a spy anymore? Or is this contradicted in-game?
What worries me the most is if this game makes Battle un-canon. I don't have ShtH and I won't buy it, since I don't have any of the big consoles; so I can only rely on spoilers, but thus far I'm confused about what I read. (the last story spoilers on gameFAQs are a mess @_@)
Spoilers (Select To Read): Shadow did survive the fall from the ARK in SA2, and you are playing him in this game. During the final battle, Eggman admits to lying to Shadow about him being an android, and that in fact he rescued Shadow and used him as a template for the Shadow androids. So there, it's settled.
What Froggy just said.
You liking the game is fine, but everyone has to realise that it is sub-standard for it's time. For SA2's time, even.
Whose standards? Your standards? The "industry standards" that I can't begin to comprehend? Or mine?
Gonna have to go with the last one.
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Whose standards? Your standards? The "industry standards" that I can't begin to comprehend? Or mine?
The Public standards. Play another recently-released game for any current-gen console system, and compare the production values to Shadow.
I guarantee Shadow will not compare favorably. The only part of the game that even looks modern are the cutscenes, and they're got the exact same graphics that Heroes' cutscenes had over a year ago.
You know, I probably would've boughten this had any local store been participating in the free Shadow beanie giveway with the purchase of the game, but alas, no store was. At any rate, I was really dissapointed by Sonic Heroes, after being promised that it would be the answer to high speed adrenaline rush and classic Sonic level designs, I bought into it, but other than the first 2 tropical island stages and the rainforest stage, the game was basically another SA, minus the treasure hunting. Shadow the Hedgehog does look good, I'll admit, and I really dig the idea of a darker story, but I also thought Heroes looked good and I digged the idea of being able to play 3 characters at once in a 3D landscape transition of Sonic's 2D romps, but that wasn't the case. So, overall, I'm a bit skeptical over Shadow's new game and I think I can wait a year for the price to drop to 20 bucks before I invest in it. Heck, I'll probably just have to wait 8 months or so before the price drops.
Indeed. Oh it appears I'm not banned anymore...*abuses!*
Nah, kidding.
As Craig Bayfield pointed, I'm reviewing the game for Gamestyle (NOT Gamespot as he wrongly stated, I bloody wish!) and frankly, I'm really dissapointed with it.
So let's go through all the main things kiddies!
The story is complete and utter toss, and completly buggers up any credibility the character had. Yes lets ignore that in one of them Shadow wants to blow up the bloody planet. Now he wants to save it, yeesh. And the dialogue, oh bloody hell. Featuring such memorable lines as "Where is that DAMN 4th emerald" and "YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!" Somebody take Sega to writing lesson please!
When you all get to the final story, I bet you all go "oh he's not going to say THAT is he" at a certain point. Hint, it involves Return of the Jedi.
All the music aside from the opening theme is just pl;ain dull, and in other cases just crap. Say what you want about the other Sonic games, but the music was damn good. Now we have dull techno-and overly-angsty rock. And idiotic lyrics like "No more GHods, no more graves" being burped by people who have drunk too much Dr. Pepper.
The gameplay is somewhat of an improvement over previous 3D Sonic's, as it's all one character in speed based levels...or in theory anyway. The game is far slower the Sonic Heroes, because of it's emphasis on really simple puzzles that would insult the intelligence of my neigbours six month old puppy. Oh look, coloured panels on the floor that cange colour when I step on them, I wonder what I have to do here? At first I thought they all had to be green, NOPE! As long as they're the same colour it'll work! What the hell is the point of this? Still some enjoyment can be had from balsting through levels.
The biggest drawback is the good and evil levels, which range from downright dull to "dear fricking God why did I bother?" The one where you must chase an enemy tank is one example. You run after it, shoot it with your gun. That's it, all the way through. That's the good mission. The evil one? DON'T destroy the tank! HOW FIENDISH, NOT DOING ANYTHING IS THE MOST EVIL ACT IMAGINABLE!
The fact that ALL enemies attack you no matter what you're doing is just plain daft as well. Especially when the idiot back-up cast protest the fact you're just defending yourself.
Tails: Shadow no!
Me: Look you git, the second those idotic gun robots stop shooting at ME, I'll leave them alone.
Tails: What did you do?!
Me: *Urge to throw Xbox out of window*
Graphically the game just looks stupid. Gun barrels disappear into the ground, the GUN commander has HUGE clown feet, Shadow's body stretches and warps like he's Mr. Fantastic. Meanwhile eenmies look horribly blocky due to the fact they seem to lack polygons. They look worse than Sonic Aventure 2 and thats 4 years bloody old now!
The camera is simply atrocious, often it'll get stuck ion the enviroment and refuse to move, and it won't show you anything. One such example comes from one of the Ark's levels where everything is falling apart (worst level in the entire game btw), you have to jump on platforms as they fall, and at one point you get command of a gun mech that jumps high, so obviously you jump onto the high platforms in front of you right? Well until one appears thats too high up, but you can't see anywhere else to go. Where was this other platform you had to use, 3FT TO THE LEFT BUT YOU COULDN'T SEE IT BECAUSE THE CAMERA REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT SEEING THIS WOULD BE USEFUL!
It will also lead to many deaths as you miss-guess the dsitance needed for jumps and go sailing over them or run into a pit you never saw.
The controls are far too twitchy, but get the job done. But the worst part has to be the lack of control of where you gun fires, there's no manual target locking so you have to just point it in the general direction and hop a bullet heads towards the target,. Most of the time it does, but some sort of crosshair would have helped tremendously. But with weapons like the Cannons, which have no auto-locking, the overly sensitive controls make the things a pig to aim at something 4ft away from you.
Bosses are just dull, from the very first to the final big boss. Many can be defeated in under 30 seconds by getting a gun and shooting it repeatedly. No gaming skills? No worries!
And I am sick to death of the game taking over from me so much, going through loops, travelling through beams of light and along rails where the hardest thing you have to do is press a direction or B respectively. Yes Sega, we get it, going through loops is nice and iconic of Sonic, but when you take control out of the players hand. Here's a wacky though! KEEP THE CAMERA BEHIND THE PLAYER WHEN GOING THROUGH LOOPS! As long as they're going fast enough they'll be able to make it go through! But no! You just have to go "HEY LOOK! LOOPS!" I don't want to have to see these bloody quasi-cutscenes every 5 minutes.
What I don't get is the big deal fans are making of Shadow and co swearing. No they bloody don't! "Damn" and "hell" are not swear words by any stretch of the imagination anymore, and they're the only ones that are ever said.
The game is short, really short. I managed to get through 6 levels to get an "ending" down to about an hour and twenty minutes. Forcing players to do this ten times is idiotic. You could have just put these 22 levels back to back and people would have loved it. Sonic games are linear, we LIKE that about them. Save your branching storylines and other @#%$ for games that actually NEED them. Sonic is supposed to be about fast gameplay, not forcing people to play the same half-dozen levels over and over again. It wasn't any fun in Heroes and it certainly isn't fun in Shadow. It just show you idiots are too damn lazy to to create a lot of wonderfully designed levels. No, you just take a generic background, "CITY! FOREST! JUNGLE! THE SKY!", and copy and paste horrible looking buildings, trees and so forth into the background. And then you throw in another one of those bloody Halloween levels.
Still, simply blasting through the levels is fun, when you can go fast enough, and the cutscenes are wonderful. I've seen a lot of worse games (Blinx for example, and all the post-PSX Crash Bandicoot games, Vexx, and of course Spyro) but I've also seen a lot of better ones (Jak and Daxter 1 and 2, all the Ratchet and Clanks, and Psychonauts).
Shadow is just an average game from a developer who has simply forgoptten what the Sonic games are supposed to be about. And that's just sad,
The Public standards. Play another recently-released game for any current-gen console system, and compare the production values to Shadow.
I guarantee Shadow will not compare favorably. The only part of the game that even looks modern are the cutscenes, and they're got the exact same graphics that Heroes' cutscenes had over a year ago.
So what are you insinuating? That I never play other games?
I never see any meaningful difference that affects my enjoyment. So, on that, I leave the debate.
Yes because leaving debate by no means shows you can't defend a point at all, and certainly doesn't mean you're giving up because you can't come up with a well thought out arguement.
Damn the man!
Somebody just pointed this out to me on the EN forums.
Sonic blew the Eclipse Cannon up in Sonic Adventurwe 2 yes? So how the HELL is this damn thing in good working order for the game?
Did GUN fix it because having a giant weapon capable of wiping out a city is always good to have around? Jesus!
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Did GUN fix it because having a giant weapon capable of wiping out a city is always good to have around? Jesus!
Apparently it's not entirely fixed. It used to be able to blow up the planet.
The Eclipse Cannon has been severely pussified in Shadow.
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Shadow's past is meant to be unknown and in fact totally unimportant
Actually, I've always seen Shadow as a way to explain Sonic more. In my mind, Shadow is like Sonic Team's way of saying, "This is why we don't tell you anything about Sonic's past. He'd have to start reminiscing, and to show you how annoying that is we've created a character who does it constantly."
But anyway. I'm gonna play this for myself before making any decisions about it (and yeah, it's mostly because I want to see if they ripped off "Alien" as well as [spoiler'd]). *imagines a GUN soldier spawning mini-Black Arms and laughs*
Yes because leaving debate by no means shows you can't defend a point at all, and certainly doesn't mean you're giving up because you can't come up with a well thought out arguement.
Damn the man!
EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS TRYING TO STUPID ME TO DEATH!
You're right. I don't have to defend a point.
Or maybe I don't like dragging myself down when I've already said my peace and don't want to keep repeating myself.
NitroExplosion likes the game, and that's all that matters. To say he should care about something he has said he doesn't is lame, especially when the thing you want him to care about is nonsense.
"Industry standards" is quite possibly the worst argument I have ever seen. You base whether you like something on how much money or effort a company uses on it? Or by comparing production values to everybody else? Standards have nothing to do with how fun a game is. Would you dislike S3&K if it came out today? They only support opinions about the company. Now, if it looks bad to you, and you complain about specific bugs that screw up the game, that's different, but that's not because of what other companies are doing.
Also, boycotting, even if it made a dent, will tell them nothing, except that Shadow isn't as popular as Sonic. That doesn't really communicate anything about specific problems like gameplay elements that are basically watching cutscenes, level design built on pits, and a design and camera philosophy about the game controlling you rather than the other way around. It also doesn't tell them what aspects of a game are good.
Some things have become apparent after playing Shadow.
1) There are a lot worse platformers out there (Crash, Blinx and so forth) but there are also a lot better ones too (Jak 1 & 2. Sly Cooper, Oddworld etc.)
2) Sega can't write a coherant story at all. Even if someone was threatening to eat their children I bet they'd somehow force an extra 5 character that were not needed into it and multiple endiongs.
3) Playing the levels when there is no incentive in the way of endings is pointless. I attempted to play with the level select feature, I got bored after ten minutes and played Burnout: Revenge instead. Even Sonic Heroes had me play through more than once.
Anyway, I wanted to see what the fan reaction to Shadow was before I started my review, now I've seen it, you probably won't be hearing from me again, so you should probably go and ban me for a third time (like I was scantly 5 minutes ago) for traditions sake 
.
So soon? I didn't even get to propose to you yet. Get back here, we haven't had a good foul mouthed troublemaker since Geo went all emo.
~Rico
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Get back here, we haven't had a good foul mouthed troublemaker since Geo went all emo.
I'm sorry I've been shirking my duties recently. I just haven't had the time to be a properly snarky douchebag to people lately.
Is it completely wrong that reading Lothar rip the game to pieces actually makes me want it more?
I need help
In the last level at the bottom-right corner, the mission is find black doom, how do i open the shield at the end.
Is there a longer version of All of Me?
Or is the desperately shot Mp3 that was released a month ago all there is to it?
"And Dirk, ONLY if you import it in December or otherwise get a version that ISN'T on the GameCube. GameCube gets "co-op", though."
What do you mean by co-op? A friend can pick up controller 2 and take command of whoever's following Shadow around? And this isn't in the Xbox version, or something? Please tell me, quite desperate to know ^^
"What I don't get is the big deal fans are making of Shadow and co swearing. No they bloody don't! "Damn" and "hell" are not swear words by any stretch of the imagination anymore, and they're the only ones that are ever said."
At the other Sonic forum I frequent, we're not allowed to say 'damn' and 'hell' - they get auto-edited to 'darn' and 'heck'. Whilst I try to respect others sensitivities, this irks me to no end. How does someone that's offended by these two words survive in the real world?
Anyway, yeah, they're not swearing at all, IMO. It's 'cussing', I guess. Whilst it's obvious use of this kind of language does not make a game good, it certainly can do a lot to improve the feel of it. More realistic, to me. Though from what I'm hearing, it sounds like the use of this language is being treated like every other thing that was previously taboo for Sonic games - being exploited, shoved in your face and overemphasised, completely ruining the inclusion of it in the first place. I wish Sonic Team knew the impact subtlety can have.
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What do you mean by co-op? A friend can pick up controller 2 and take command of whoever's following Shadow around? And this isn't in the Xbox version, or something? Please tell me, quite desperate to know ^^
What I mean is:
Thanks heaps, Shadow Hog. Can I ask, do you think the co-op is reason enough to warrant me buying the GCN version and missing out on the Xbox version's japanese language track? Or is it about as useful and fun as controlling tagging-along Tails in SA1 was?
Is there a longer version of All of Me? Or is the desperately shot Mp3 that was released a month ago all there is to it?
In the GFAQs thread linked a page or two back they said there was a full version that played through the final battle. However, I've not seen it online yet...or at least, not on SoaH.
I don't know, I've not played Shadow. Refuse to spend $50 on something I probably will end up not liking that much.
I know I'm changing the subject, but has anyone else noticed the voice acting is actually pretty GOOD? I mean, everyone was really upset earlier about how the Sonic X voice actors were going to ruin it and whatnot (I'm guilty of this too...), but they actually do a better job in the game than they do in the show. (Probably because the dialouge in the game is slightly less corny...) Especially the guy who does Shadow's voice. Sure, it's emotionless, but then again so is he.
Anyway, just thought I'd mention that...
-Aki 
This is actually the worst 3D platformer I have ever played. I only pirated this out of sheer morbid curiosity.
It... what the hell am I looking at here? A car, some kind of sea anenomie, a dragon, and a... a giant jack-o-lantern? I think the art design for this game must have been done by just grabbing all the 3D model files Sega had lying around from previous games and just throwing them together in a big folder.
The fact that it came out right next to Sonic Rush, which has been referred to by IGN as "the finest Sonic game yet", seems to make some kind of point, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
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Is there a longer version of All of Me? Or is the desperately shot Mp3 that was released a month ago all there is to it?
There's a longer version with one small bit of extra lyrics. There seem to be six vocal songs in total... personally, I find the Powerman 5000 track painful.
More painful than MAGNA-FI's "All Hail Shadow"? Dear GOD. o.o
So is the game bad to the last, Cyc, or are we even bothering to get that far? I mean, the reviews sure indicate that it is, but the only reaction's I've seen otherwise are... well, mixed. That and all the people who really like the game seem to swear up and down that it gets better once you've beaten it all (I doubt it, but still).
So far I got 50% of game beat. The game is not as good as SA but at least is better than Heroes. There are few things that annoy me:
1)The "helper" character doesnt help with any of the battles. All they do is blah, blah, blah and that it. At least in Heroes in power formation they did something.
2)The Egg Dealer. Of all the bosses in the game he is most annoying. I hate him with a passion
:"> .
3)The graphics and story. Like most everyone has mention the in game graphics arent as good as the CG cinemas and that was dissapoiting. If you compared the in game GUN Commander with his CG, the CG look superior. And speaking of the GUN Commander his back story is crap. I expected something more dark,you know something more like Bishop from the new TMNT. But nooo they had to give him a stupid reason to hate Shadow which doesnt make any sense when you know the same organization he works for is the one that did it to him not to mention he was there when it happened. And what up with him having a red eye and blue eye anyway?
I really had I hope for this game I really did. It makes me sad to see so much potencial within game main character go down the toilet like that
. I just hope that Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 is better than this.
Jweez, you are all harsh. I love this game, crap aside! And the music. The only song I don't like is Chosen One Anyway, I wrote a more- in-depth review for it. Here it is.
Okay, for those of you who have not gotten Shadow the Hedgehog yet, and may not for a while, and would like some input from one who has played it, Ive made a little review. Please note that these are my opinions, and as such, may not match yours.
Okay, first off, Ill assuage everyones worst fears. Firstly, the controls arent very sucky with the guns. Secondly, the guns arent really needed most of the time. Thirdly, the Mild Language rating is for when Shadow, Knux, Rouge, Vector, and a few others say Damn!. Amy, Cream, Tails, Sonic, whatnot, they dont cuss. At all. That and when Shadow shouts Ill blow you straight to Hell! is the only language not in any other Sonic game. And this was a fear for me, as I am a rabid Crush 40 whore: Will the music live up to past hits, such as Open Your Heart and What Im Made Of? Im proud to say it met my expectations, and I would recommend this game just for the music.
Okay, detailed review now.
GAMEPLAY [7/10]
Similarity to past Sonic games controls [8/10] There are a few key differences, but play SA2 and Heroes a bit and you will have no problem. I adapted to the control style in about two minutes, its very easy. Of course, this being relative to Heroes. NOTE; This is on the GC edition.
Camera [6/10] Better than Heroes and SA1. Nuff said.
Glitch spots, wall humping areas, and engine bugs [4/10] There are very many places to get caught humping the wall, so to speak.
Endless pits [3/10] Its a Sonic Team Game. Now granted, some arent that bad, like level One. But SOME LEVELS, such as Cosmic Fall, are just a few platforms that may or may not hold you up
Vehicle use [8/10] Now at first cars seem pointless, as Shadow can run faster. But look at it this way: Its a great way to get rings if you have none, as the vehicles take the damage, not you, and some are equipped with weapons. Also, running over little alien blob things is incredibly fun.
Linear levels [7/10] Its pretty good, the first few levels are pretty narrow, but they branch out. Only problem is, they branch too far. The ARK for example, is just one giant maze. But there are usually several ways to get somewhere. Use guns to blow open new paths, too.
Annoying voice hints [9/10] Good news! Dont wanna listen to Charmy or Amy or Tails give you useless hints? Just choose the solo mission from the D-pad or pause menu, and continue with the hero or dark mission. Finally, no more Charmy
GRAPHICS [6/10]
In-game rendered [4/10] Its kinda blocky in game, but if played correctly, and fast, its not noticeable. But having Shadows assault rifle sticking through the floor is kind of annoying. And most of the cutscenes are made with the in-game graphics engine. So theyre OKAY, but just that. OKAY.
Cutscene renderer [9/10] Heroes cutscene graphics on a game that doesnt suck! Too bad its only in like four cutscenes in the actual game.
PLOTS [7/10]
Endings [Varied. From crappy to mind-blowing.] Some are just plain ripoffs of speculations by Sonic fans. Indeed, I think Mr. Naka has been poking around our MoFo a bit too much. The one I really didnt expect was USE HTML FOR SPOILERS!!! Yessh. -SH
Mid-game [7/10] At the beginning, a bunch of the cutscenes are recycled, but after that theyre pretty good.
MUSIC/SFX [9/10!]
Voice Acting - [8/10] - I didn't notice a very large difference. Seriously. Although I miss Eggman's VA >< He was a good eggman!
Theme music - [9/10] First of, Crush 40 has more than the two-minute All Of Me. Theres a second, called Never Turn Back. A few other familiar artists, and a few I havent heard of, such as Powerman 5000, A2, and Magna-Fi. Im not sure if they were in any past Sonic games. Julien-K, from This Machine. Also, some remixes from SA2. Fight Heavy Dog and listen to the music. Theres also a remix of Eggmans SA2 theme by Some arent that great, such as Chosen One, but the rest, I fell in love with. As soon as I heard them. Also, as soon as possible, Im gonna download them and burn them to CD.
The full list of theme music is this:
"I Am (All of Me)" by Crush 40
"Almost Dead" by Powerman 5000
"Waking Up" by Julien-K
"Chosen One" by A2
"All Hail Shadow" by MAGNA-FI
Level music [8/10] No Sonic CD JPN here, but I like the music. Dunno why, Im just drawn to it.
Okay, I may edit this later. Hope you find this a pice of good news among all of these PESSIMISTS. >> << Not that I am not one.
Also, to whoever said this: "Though from what I'm hearing, it sounds like the use of this language is being treated like every other thing that was previously taboo for Sonic games - being exploited, shoved in your face and overemphasised, completely ruining the inclusion of it in the first place. I wish Sonic Team knew the impact subtlety can have."
It's not pronounced at all. It felt completely natural and I didn't even notice it was new the first time Shadow cussed.It just sounded....right. same with the guns and stuff. It's just there. Not in-your-face as mch.
All those who expected Cyc to actually like it, please raise your hands and feel silly.
6 vocal songs? wow... Okay... I'll just have to wait for Mp3s... .And with LUCK, the game will arrive tommorow... ...
...
...
...
Urghh, I want to play it. Despite the criticism, andthe bad points I've a strong feeling this game will have just what I want. I like the graphics, so what if their not Half Life standards, their fun and easy to look at...
And, that link you pointed at Shadow Hog, I wouldnt give those graphics 10/10, did you see how UGLY that man was half way down the page, I mean...Ughh, those eyebrows...
I like Shadows stroyline, I dont care how weird it gets, and I like free roaming. I want to just roam around and enjoy the game, Heroes prevented me from doing it by making me switch between characters every 20 seconds but this looks like it could be it...
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Oh, and whats the betting the reason the gamestop review is late is because the reviewer was going to say; "Worst Sonic game Ever" but then ot surprised when it became number 1 game for the gamecube and Gamstop members were rating it from 7.9 right up to 10 out of ten, so s/he's reconsidering and checking his wording... 
So is the game bad to the last, Cyc, or are we even bothering to get that far?
It only took me about three hours to finish it the first time, but there's no way in hell you'll make me play it again. Like, there's a few moments in Heroes where it at least looks salvageable, but they're gone now.
All those who expected Cyc to actually like it, please raise your hands and feel silly.
I wouldn't have played it at all were it not for my recent acquisition of a modchipped PS2.
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In the last level at the bottom-right corner, the mission is find black doom, how do i open the shield at the end.
There was a switch a little earlier in the level (about one or two teleports back) that you'd need to flip again to get past that last barrier.
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1)The "helper" character doesnt help with any of the battles. All they do is blah, blah, blah and that it. At least in Heroes in power formation they did something.
Incorrect. They do fight, just not very frequently and oftentimes behind your back.
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Like most everyone has mention the in game graphics arent as good as the CG cinemas and that was dissapoiting. If you compared the in game GUN Commander with his CG, the CG look superior.
Um, you're stating the obvious here. Pre-rendered graphics will almost always be superior to those rendered on the fly.
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And speaking of the GUN Commander his back story is crap. I expected something more dark,you know something more like Bishop from the new TMNT. But nooo they had to give him a stupid reason to hate Shadow which doesnt make any sense when you know the same organization he works for is the one that did it to him not to mention he was there when it happened. And what up with him having a red eye and blue eye anyway?
Yeah, that was lame. I can only assume that he was lied to all these years about what happened when GUN boarded the ARK. But I find it hard to believe that he didn't find out the "Truth About 50 Years Ago" when he made Commander.
What is it about human eyes in this game?
"It's not pronounced at all. It felt completely natural and I didn't even notice it was new the first time Shadow cussed.It just sounded....right. same with the guns and stuff. It's just there. Not in-your-face as much."
Excellent, that's definitely good news. Thanks for informing me 
Though for the guns being shoved in your face, I was referring more to the promotional videos rather than in the context of the game itself. It's a moot point now though anyway.
As for the GUN Commander having one blue eye and one red eye, wow, just like me. My eyes are blue, but I woke up this morning with one incredibly bloodshot eye 
After spending some time on the first level and first boss fight at the (fairly) recent Digital Life convention, I found myself saying, hey this isn't that bad of a game.
My brother picked up the GC version of Shadow for me yesterday as a belated birthday present. Halfway through my first play of the story, I can say this game has gone from "pretty ok" to "I can see why the reviewers hate the game so much."
I'm a huge Sonic fan. Heck, I'm even a pretty big Shadow fan, but this is game... oooh boy... it's taking a lot for me to find reasons to like it.
The more I play beyond the first level of Westopolis, the more I find myself trying to force myself to like the game, which is what I have a feeling that a lot of other fans are doing as well.
I'm still giving this game a shot, I'm up to the Mad Matrix Level, trying to complete the Hero story first, and and am quite annoyed at Sonic Team for not learning from past mistakes. Sucky camera, bottomless pits, loose controls. They continue to make the same mistakes time and time again, and will probably make those same mistakes for Sonic 360, or whatever it's called.
So far it IS an improvement from Heroes, but finishing the levels seems like a chore, especially when trying to complete a Dark or Hero mission.
Presentation-wise... it's not bad. Menu look nice. the music seems to fit so far. But the voices are um... what's a polite way of putting this...? The voices are just a heap of doo doo (to avoid the use of a four letter word.) Anyone thinking otherwise need to get their ears checked. that or listen to other (hopefully better)voice acting.
Due to the noisiness of the convention where I first played this game, I was unable to hear the voices clearly. Which wasn't neccessarily a bad thing. Shadow sounds just plain lifeless and uninterested. Are these seriously the actors 4Kids hired for their dub? (I've seen amerian Sonic X maybe like once) They need to take a class or something. Charmy's voice is annoying (if not more annoying) as ever. Vector sounds like Bob Goldthwait on a hangover. Espio sounds ok to me, and Sonic... my poor old blue buddy... IMO Ryan Drummond was the best Sonic ever. Hands down. Whoever this guy is... not bad. Not good either. He's just you know... there.
But yeah... I'm definitely gonna at least finish this game, if i can find the time. After that i can give a more... educated, i guess, opinion on it. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised (not likely from what i'm hearing) Until then (this is completely off topic so feel free to ignore if you like, or just quickly answer it and move on)anyone have any suggestions on games to buy for my recently acquired Gamecube? (I currently have Mario sunshine , Zelda the windwaker, Metriod prime, and of course Shadow the hedgehog)
Here, some guy on the Crush 40 website just posted the I am... All of Me, the full version: media.putfile.com/iamalliamfull
Also there is the Crush 40 song, Never Turn Back: media.putfile.com/neverturnback
