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Good: Multiple paths

Bad: Control, camera, framerate, voice acting, multiplayer, generic music, aiming

Looks worse than: 1999's Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)

Remember those old Sega commercials from the early 90s that tried to make Mario look stale and boring, while Sonic whizzed through action-packed stages? Fast forward to 2005, and Mario titles are as strong as ever (both in terms of sales and gameplay), and the Sonic games have quickly become a joke. While Sonic Adventure was a decent launch title for the Dreamcast, later 3D incarnations of the series have been extremely flawed. Shadow the Hedgehog goes beyond "flawed" and comes close to reaching the realm of "unplayable".

Right off the bat, it becomes clear that Sonic Team does not intend to impress the gamer. The very first level is the epitome of drab, uninspired level design. Later levels tend to deviate from this mission's boring urban design, yet they still manage to be entirely disappointing and unimpressive. Basic gameplay somewhat resembles Sonic Adventure, but with some key differences. Shadow tends to "skate" rather than run, which makes controlling him a chore. This may have worked if it was all balls-to-the-wall loops and spirals, but there are instances where you actually have to control the character. It's in these moments that Shadow really fails. Imagine playing through all of Ocarina of Time with the Hover Boots equipped, and you'll get an idea of how frustrating this can get.

The other key difference from the Sonic games is that Shadow can equip and utilize weapons. Aiming is nearly impossible with most weapons, and it feels odd playing through the cartoonish Sonic universe with machine guns and bazookas. Shadow can also enter various armed vehicles, but these are similarly underwhelming and control awkwardly.

Depending on how you play through each level, the story can take multiple paths. At any point during a level, you can change your allegiance between the evil Black Doom army, Dr. Eggman and Sonic & Co. While it adds a bit of replayability, the actual objectives are straightforward and unoriginal. It's usually "Destroy all these guys!" or "Touch these crystals!". Most levels will feature some representative following you from the group you're allied with. For instance, when you're on Sonic's side, you might be working through an entire level alongside Knuckles.

Working on Sonic's side will feature you working with one of the most annoyingly voice-acted characters of all time Charmy the Bee. While Charmy is only in one level, she's a great example of how awful the voice acting is. Shadow himself sounds like a parody, delivering horribly written dialogue in the most stereotypically "angst-y" voice ever. While I've never been a big fan of the music in the 3D Sonic games, this one is certainly the worst. I've used the word generic a lot in this review, but it's really the best way to describe almost every aspect of this game, including the music.

Graphically, this wouldn't be impressive even if it were a Dreamcast game. On the PS2, the framerate dips to completely unacceptable levels all the time. Remember playing four-player Perfect Dark on the N64 with rocket launchers? Shadow's framerate problems make that look like it's 60fps by comparison. Slowdown isn't the only graphical problem, as this game truly looks worse than 1999's Sonic Adventure. When a Dreamcast game from over six years ago looks better than a late-generation PS2 game, that's certainly a problem. Likewise, the camera is completely atrocious.

Shadow the Hedgehog includes a two-player option, but it's probably the most lazily developed multiplayer mode I've seen in a long time. It's basic deathmatch style and the problems seen in the single-player mode are made even more apparent with the split screen. You could say Shadow has some replay value because of the branching levels, but that's assuming it's worth playing through even once (which it isn't). Even if you're a hardcore Sonic fan that has tolerated the last few releases, you'll probably want to stay away from this one.

Graphics: D-

Sound: F

First Play: D-

Last Play: F

Gameplay: F

Overall: 51% F