| Shadow the Hedgehog | |
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| Developer(s) | Sonic Team USA |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Takashi Iizuka |
| Released | NA November 15, 2005 JP December 15, 2005 |
| Genre | Action-adventure, platformer, Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player/two player |
| Ratings | ESRB: Everyone 10+ (E10+) PEGI: 12+ OFLC: PG |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2 |
| Input methods | Controller |
Shadow the Hedgehog (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ Shadō Za Hejjihoggu?) is a video game starring an anti-hero of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Shadow the Hedgehog. It was revealed at Sonic's inauguration into the Walk of Game. It is the third game developed by Sonic Team USA, and was released in the United States on November 15, 2005. The game's most well-known tagline is; "Hero or villain? You decide." Others include "Who do you fight when you don't know what you're fighting for?"; "Will he be good? Or evil? No one knows but you"; and "This time... Evil will face Evil!". Shadow the Hedgehog was the first Sonic game to have an E10+ rating (In this it's rated E10+ for violence, mild use of language, and use of weapons.) by the ESRB. It is also the first post-Sonic Adventure Sonic game to not feature Sonic's name in the title.
Contents |
Story
50 years ago, deep in a Military Research Space Station, Prof. Gerald Robotnik forged an experiment known as "Project Shadow" while trying to unlock the secrets of eternal life at the request of the Government. The experiment culminated in "The Ultimate Life-Form"; Shadow the Hedgehog, a creature with the ability to harness the mysterious power of the Chaos Emeralds in ways not thought possible. After being thought dead in Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow returned in Sonic Heroes with amnesia, a condition which still exists in this game. In the beginning of the game, Shadow is still without any clue about his past, his only memory is of his attempt to escape the ARK with Maria. He does not understand who he is or where he's from, but he's determined to find out, be it from Black Doom, the leader of an alien race who claims he and Shadow made a pact involving the Chaos Emeralds; G.U.N., the militaries that murdered Maria; or Dr. Eggman, the evil scientist.
Characters
Main Characters
- Shadow the Hedgehog - A rival of Sonic and the protagonist of the game. He is presented as the only playable character (although many allies can be playable with the second player controller in the Gamecube and PS2 versions). Shadow must go on a quest to find out who he is and why he was created. He is the best way better than sonic. Sonic loses his powers.
- Black Doom and Doom's Eye - The leader of the Black Arms and the game's main antagonist. He commands Shadow to bring the seven Chaos Emeralds to him and he will unlock the hidden story about Shadows past, also witness of the creation of Shadow. Dooms Eye is an extension of Black Doom, allowing him to view whats going on when he's not there.
- Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega's famous mascot and Shadow's rival, can ally with him during the Westopolis, Lethal Highway, and Final Haunt levels, and races against him in the Space Gadget level. Sonic is also a boss if the player plays through the Dark Mission. Sonic is playable with controller 2 when allied with Shadow. Weakest character.
- G.U.N. Commander - The highest ranking officer of the Guardian Unit of Nations. He is one of the few who knows the secrets of Shadow's past and loathes Shadow for reasons unknown, at least until a certain level and is one of the bosses if go the dark path.
- Dr. Eggman/Dr Robotnik - Sonics arch-nemesis, but this time appears as either an ally or an enemy, depending on the player's choices. He plans to create a utopia called Eggmanland, but needs to get rid of G.U.N., the Black Arms, Sonic and company to do so. He tracks Shadow and follows him through means of a floating camera-monitor.
- Professor Gerald Robotnik - A brilliant scientist as well as Shadow's creator and grandfather of Maria and Dr. Eggman, and the top researcher on board Space Colony ARK.
- Maria Robotnik - Prof. Gerald Robotonik's Granddaughter; she was Shadow's best friend who gave her life to save him from G.U.N.
Allies / Supporting Characters
Note: In the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions, all partner characters (except the flying ones, namely Charmy, Doom's Eye, and Dr. Eggman) can be controlled with the second controller.
- Rouge the Bat - A jewel-loving thief and government spy. She Appears in the Digital Circuit, GUN Fortress, and Death Ruins levels as an ally.
- E-123 Omega - The 23rd model of Eggman's E-100 robots who, due to being deactivated, now wants revenge on Doctor Eggman. Omega appears in the Iron Jungle and Lava Shelter levels as an ally.
- Vector the Crocodile - The leader of the Chaotix (and boss of Espio and Charmy). He appears in the Cosmic Fall level as an ally.
- Espio the Chameleon - A ninja and Chaotix member. He appears in the Mad Matrix level as an ally.
- Charmy Bee - A member of the Chaotix. Like Doom's Eye and Dr. Eggman; however, he hovers just out of reach and does not fight. He is not playable using controller 2. He appears in the Prison Island level as an ally.
- Miles "Tails" Prower - Sonic's sidekick and best friend. He appears in the Circus Park and Air Fleet levels as an ally.
- Knuckles the Echidna - The guardian of the Master Emerald and friendly rival of Sonic. He appears in the Glyphic Canyon, Central City, and Black Comet levels as an ally.
- Amy Rose - The self proclaimed girlfriend of Sonic. She appears in the Cryptic Castle level as an ally.
- Dr. Eggman - The arch villain of Sonic. He appears in the Sky Troops, Iron Jungle, Lava Shelter, Circus Park, and the Cryptic Castle levels as an ally.
- Maria Robotnik - A young female human who befriends Shadow before her death. She appears in Shadow's memories in the Doom and Lost Impact levels as an ally.
- Cream the Rabbit - A friendly 6-year old rabbit. She is part of the hero mission of Cryptic Castle where Amy needs Shadow to help rescue Cream, as well as her Chao, Cheese. She never tags along with Shadow as an ally.
- Doom's Eye - Doom's Eye is a character in the story who mainly just watches Shadow. Black Doom is also one of the bosses. He appears in the Westopolis, Glyphic Canyon, Prison Island, Sky Troops, Lethal Highway, Death Ruins, Final Haunt, Space Gadget, Cosmic Fall, Digital Circuit, Mad Matrix, The Doom, Central City, Air Fleet, Black Comet, The Ark, and GUN Fortress levels as an ally.
Gameplay
Shadow is a platform game that plays similarly to previous Sonic 3-D titles (Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes) requiring you to get from the start of the level to the end, as has traditionally been the case for the regular Sonic titles. The 'end' of a level, however, is not necessarily the 'Goal Ring'. Levels can also be finished by completing a given task known as Missions, either 'Hero' and 'Dark'. The way in which levels are completed affects how the game progresses, what levels you play, and, ultimately, which of the 10 possible endings you will see. As each level features cutscenes and boss battles, there are a total of 326 different paths in which to complete the game, and each one has a name. Upon the completion of each path, all the cutscenes from that path are played in order. The game uses a Gunplay/weapon element, which has become synonymous with the title. Shadow The Hedgehog can wield a number of weapons (not all guns), as well as parts of the scenery. Shadow can still use all his moves from the previous games, like the Homing Attack. A new feature in Shadow the Hedgehog is the ability to use weapons left behind by defeated foes. They can be swapped for other weapons, but only one weapon can be carried at a time. Shadow can use 5 powerful special weapons. If a player finishes the whole story, a special weapon will be unlocked, depending on what ending was taken. The weapons can be found inside a black crate with Shadow's spines on the sides. Shadow can also use debris, or broken parts as weapons, like fallen street signs. Weapons vary from 6 different type of weapons. They are close combat, gun, lock-on, cannon, laser and vacuum. Close combat weapons are melee weapons. Gun weapons are ranged weapons that give more damage than (most) close combat weapons. Gun weapons can come in semi- or fully-automatic variants. Lock-on weapons usually take the form of missile launchers in which several targets would be locked onto before firing. The missiles would automatically home in on these targets. Laser weapons are similar to gun weapons except that they cause greater damage. Vacuum weapons are weapons that involve a gun "inhaling" enemies and firing them back at other enemies. Shadow has three missions in almost every level (these being Hero, Dark, and Neutral), and he can choose one to accomplish at any point in the level. These missions allow players to 'choose Shadow's future.' However, none of the endings except the final ending are canon. The level Shadow goes to changes depending on which mission was played on the previous level. Also, Shadow now has at least two abilities, Chaos Control (blue) and Chaos Blast (red), and gains these by killing certain targets: killing aliens and the evil red fruit increases the Blue Gauge, and killing humans and destroying nature or architecture (trees, plants, etc.) increases the Red Gauge. Besides wielding weapons, Shadow can use vehicles; 4x4's, motorbikes, G.U.N. mechs, alien crafts, etc. As with the weapons, which have spawned complaints from fans, who point out that Shadow is similar to Sonic, and thus would be able to run faster than most vehicles; additionally, most of the vehicles are optional. Although Shadow can run faster than the game's vehicles, the vehicles have some capabilities that Shadow does not have (e.g. the trailer from a pre-rendered movie from the game which shows Shadow use a motorcycle as a rolling missile. Shadow can also use vehicles to run over enemies or hit them) or go through an inpassable area surrounded with acid. As in most Sonic games, the Chaos Emeralds play a big part in this game, as Shadow needs them to regain his memory and to use his ultimate Powers. The two Chaos Powers in the game are the heroic "Chaos Control" (lets Shadow manipulate time and space. In stages it lets him teleport through the stage, but in boss battles it lets him slow down time), and the evil "Chaos Blast" (creates an explosive 20 yd radius blast of energy damaging enemies), "Chaos Spear", a move previously used in Sonic Adventure 2' is only available with Super Shadow. Instead of having a linear storyline, you have the ability to choose your path, which is touted as the game's major selling point. You can even change sides when you please. There are a total of 23 levels including the last story stage, and each time, the player only plays six levels. The ranking system is the same as Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, with rankings from E (lowest) to A (highest), and each level ranks you for all the available missions of that level.
Enemies
The enemies change depending on which side the player chooses, though all non-partner characters will indiscriminantly attack Shadow regardless of the chosen mission. If Shadow chooses to commit acts of heroism, then the Black Arms will be the main enemies. If Shadow chooses to commit acts of evil, then the GUN Troops will be the enemy. If Shadow decides to be neutral, then everyone is an enemy. Whether Eggman's robots are a Hero enemy or a Dark enemy depends if Eggman is a Hero mission character or a Dark mission character. One exception is Cryptic Castle; if the player is doing the Dark mission, Eggman's robots are the enemies (although Eggman is the partner). Shadow is free to attack any free-roaming enemy/ally present (exempting Shadow's 'partner character'), regardless of which faction Shadow chooses to ally himself with. Attacking an ally provokes a scold from Shadow's partner and a score penalty at the end of the level.
Bosses
Boss enemies are fought at the end of certain levels, with the Hero allies from the level tagging along to assist the player, with the exception of Heavy Dog, Blue Falcon and Sonic and Diablon. GUN
- Heavy Dog
A large, tank-like vehicle with eight mounted 4-shot RPGs. Instead of missiles, floating mines are produced from the RPGs. Its only other attack is to release a particle beam that spreads out in a wave across the ground (or whatever position in the air Shadow is). Fought at the end of the The Doom level.
- Blue Falcon
A tank crossed with a plane. Similar to Heavy Dog. Fought at the end of the The Ark level.
- Sonic and Diablon
Diablon is a huge robot controlled by the Commander, asissited by Sonic. Diablon's attacks are a laser fired from the head ("take this!"), a swipe with the right arm ("hold still, you devil!") and a particle beam cannon attack, which releases like that of a nuclear bomb ("Anti matter cannon. FIRE!"). Sonic's only attack is the standard Homing Attack. Fought at the end of GUN Fortress, Black Comet, and Final Haunt if the player takes the Dark mission route. Eggman Empire
- Egg Breaker
A humanoid-like robot with a mace for a right arm. Fought at the end of Cryptic Castle, Mad Matrix and Iron Jungle. Iron Jungle is most basic, with only one attack; a crushing blow from above ("lights out!"). Cryptic Castle adds another, launching the mace in Shadow's direction. The one in Mad Matrix can shoot out damaging digital orbs (since it is fought in the digital realm; "you know what they say; the more the merrier!"). It bears a slight resemblance to the Egg Emperor in Sonic Heroes.
- Egg Dealer
A four legged robot. This is a unique boss; the attack is chosen via three slot reels. If Shadow hits three buttons on the robot's body, the attack will be reversed on Eggman. Fought at the end of Lava Shelter, the Hero mission in Black Comet and the Dark mission in Cosmic Fall.
- Missile Fever
A number of missiles will launch, directed at Shadow ("Get ready for a real blast! It's time for Missile Fever!"). When reversed, two missiles will hit Eggman instead ("What? W-wait! Abort launch!").
- Bomb Fever
Many bombs will drop from above ("Now it's time for Bomb Fever! Get ready to be blasted into oblivion!"). When reversed, a large bomb will drop on Eggman ("Gah! No! Don't drop them here!").
- Pawn Fever
Many Egg Pawns spawn wielding lances ("Pawn Fever! Prepare to be skewered!"). This attack cannot be reversed.
- Shadow Fever
Shadow's Dark gauge automatically fills ("N-no! Not Shadow Fever!"). This attack is accessible to Shadow only.
- Ring Fever
Rings will spawn in the centre of the battlefield ("No! My beautiful Rings!"). This attack is accessible to Shadow only. Black Arms
- Black Bull
A giant flying slug-like creature. Fought at the end of Lethal Highway and Death Ruins. Its main attack is spitting fire. In Lethal Highway, it spawns small Black Bats.
- Black Doom
The game's primary atagonist. Attacks include launching five meteors ("Be gone!"), two red slashes ("Take this!"), and one purple slash ("On guard... swift strike!") across the ground. He can teleport across the battlefield. Fought at the end of GUN Fortress, Cosmic Fall and Final Haunt, if the player takes the Hero mission.
- Devil Doom
Black Doom's transformation in order the escape being killed by Shadow. Resembles a two headed gargoyle. Can manipulate floating objects as well as spitting fire. Fought in the Last Story.
Reception
Reviews
Reviews from professionals were mixed, though noticeably more negative than positive.[1] On Game Rankings, the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions have an average ratio of 53%, 49%, and 52%, respectively, [1] with similar results at Metacritic with 45 (PS2), 49 (Xbox), and 51 (GC) [2]. G4's X-Play, saying that "this Shadow leaves us completely in the dark," gave the game its lowest possible score, a 1 out of 5. Arguably the harshest criticism came from EGM, who included it on its list of the "Worst Games of 2005", claiming it was the year's biggest sellout. However, Game Trailers gave the game an 8.3, favoring the game's sense of speed and replay value. Nintendo Power gave it praise as well, calling the weapon usage "just plain fun". On the other hand, the special effects and replay value were praised. Many reviewers noted that, because the player only goes through six of the 23 levels on any given run, replay value was high. The concept and usage of Shadow's guns and vehicles was criticized. Grege Mueller from GameSpot complained that the guns were nearly useless because of a lack of an aiming function (despite the presence of auto-aim) [3]. Matt Casamassina also noted the guns, writing that process was overly cumbersome and complex and that killing an enemy was a game of chance. [4] Shadow's overuse of the word "damn" and occasional use of "hell" was also criticized, especially by religious gamers and reviewers, which was made worse by the fact that four other characters: Sonic, Knuckles, Espio, and the GUN Commander also swore, hence "Mild Language" being put in the content list on the back cover. There was a considerable cutdown on the swearing and violence before the game was released however. The PlayStation 2 version was further criticized by GameSpot for having a huge amount of slowdown (framerate drops). The Xbox version had similar problems, messier controls, and lack of co-op multi-player.[2] Despite these criticisms, the game was popular enough to be released as a Greatest Hit for the PS2 and a Player's Choice for the GameCube, making the game a moderate success (the Xbox version was the least well-received version due to problems and didn't receive the Platinum Hits treatment). However, it fared much better with the public, receiving a 7.7 on Gamespot and a 7.4 on IGN in terms of user scores. Also, in the 2005 Nintendo Power Awards, it was voted the Best Platformer Game by the readers, beating its DS counterpart Sonic Rush which was better reviewed.
Cast
English voice dubbing changes
After the voice actor for Doctor Eggman, Deem Bristow, succumbed to a heart attack in January of 2005, Sega was faced with the problem of having to re-cast the English voice actor for this character. According to Mike Pollock, the current voice of Dr. Eggman, the problem was solved when Sega decided to hire the 4Kids Entertainment cast from the Sonic X anime, in an attempt to provide more continuity between the video games and the anime's voice cast.[5] The news eventually trickled down to the community, announced by the previous voice actor for Sonic the Hedgehog, Ryan Drummond. Drummond claims that these changes were made without notifying the previous voice cast beforehand as does the previous voice for Cream the Rabbit, Sarah Wulfeck. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions contain the original Japanese voiceovers, though the method of enabling them is different for each version. Simon Jeffery, the president of Sega of America, responded to fans' complaints regarding the new voice actors, saying that Sega of America has no control whatsoever over the English voice acting in the Sonic series. [3]
Censorship issues
Due to the more violent nature of the game (compared to previous Sonic titles), the ESRB rating was, for a time, in question. The official ESRB website originally had the game rated as T, but the official site listed E10+. Sega's request for only people 13 years and older to play the game at trade shows seemed to further back the T rating. Eventually, it was decided on the E10+ rating, though some reviews by individual parents have complained about how the violence, language, and dark tone of the game have influenced their younger children. The dialogue is also edited. One of Shadow's lines is changed from "What the hell was that all about?" to "just what was that all about?" Also, "hell" is changed to "heck". An example is "What the hell is HQ doing?" to "What the heck is HQ doing?" The word "piss" was originally to be used as well in two of Sonic's lines but was changed to "tick". An example: "Hate to piss off GUN," had been changed to "Hate to tick off GUN". Also, every second time Shadow died, he said the word "damn", especially whenever he falls into a bottomless pit. Despite the changes, some cursing words remained, including in a sentence spoken by Shadow, "Where's that damn fourth Chaos Emerald!" For the final version of the game, Sega changed the color of the alien blood from reddish-pink to green. A scene in which Maria is shot was also shortened.
Staff Credits
- Producer: Yuji Naka
- Executive Producer: Hisao Oguchi
- Director / Lead Game Designer / Level Designer / Scenario Writer: Takashi Iizuka
- Level Designers: Eitaro Toyoda, Hirono Sato, Asahiko Kikuchi
- Enemy Game Designer: Yu Ohmura
- Story Director / CGI Movie Director: Shun Miyanaga
- Art Director: Kazuyuki Hoshino
- Character Design / Weapon Artist: Nobuhiko Honda
- Character Design / Field Artist: Takahiro Kudo
- Enemy Design / Story Artist: Ai Ikeda
- Motion Design / Story Artist: Atsushi Saito
- Field Object Artist / Weapon Artist: Brad Wagner
- Field Object Artists: Daizo Kinoshita, Soosa Kim
- Menu Screen Artist / Weapon Artist: Elena Macomber
- Field Artist Director: Hiroshi Nishiyama
- Field Artists: Michikazu Tamamura, Hiroshi Kanazawa
- Lead Programmer: Takeshi Sakakibara
- Multi Platform Programmer: Outa Sano
- Action Stage Programmer / Sound Effects: Masato Nakazawa
- Action Stage Programmer / Camera: Kazuyuki Okada
- Action Stage Programmer / Boss AI: Tomoyuki Naito
- Enemy AI / Boss AI: Motoyoshi Sato
- Boss AI / Player Character Programmer / Weapon Effects: Mitsuru Takahashi
- Boss AI / Menu Screen Programmer / Visual Effects: Satoru Takeshima
- CGI Movie Producer: Keith Palmer
- CGI Movie Production: Blur Studio Inc.
- In-game Movie Encode: CRI Middleware Company, ltd
- Lead Music Composer / Sound Effects / Recording Coordinator: Jun Senoue
- Recording Coordinator / Engineers: Stan Katayama ( Attic Arcade Inc.), Masahiro Fukuhara, Amir Derakh
- Music Composers: Yutaka Minobe ( Delfisound inc. ), Tomoyo Ohtani, Mariko Nanba, Lee Brotherton ( Remix Factory ), Takeshi Taneda, Toru Kawamura, Keiichi Sugiyama
- Sound Effects: Takashi Endoh ( Delfisound inc. ), Tatsuya Kouzaki, Teruhiko Nakagawa
- Development Support: Shiro Maekawa, Makoto Hirata, Akinori Nishiyama
Music
In February 2006, an album was released entitled Lost and Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax. Several music tracks from the game are featured in this album, while some mixes were made to others. There is also a promotional song in Japan : a remix of m-flo's "TRIPOD BABY" track off of BEAT SPACE NINE, their latest album.
Vocal tracks
- "I AM" by Crush 40 (Trailer, Main Theme, and Final Boss theme).
- "Almost Dead" by Powerman 5000 (Dark and Pure Dark ending theme)
- "Waking Up" by Julien-K (Neutral ending theme)
- "E.G.G.M.A.N. Doc Robeatnix Mix" by REMIX Factory ft. Paul Shortino (Dr. Eggman's Theme)
- "Chosen One" by A2 (Hero ending theme)
- "All Hail Shadow" by Magna-Fi (Pure Hero ending theme)
- "Never Turn Back" by Crush 40 (True Ending Theme)
Lost tracks
In this game, two tracks were removed due to copyright and licensing reasons. The first song was "Who I Am" by Magna-Fi, who also performed "All Hail Shadow". The song later on appeared on the band's new album, VerseChorusKillMe. Another called "Broken" by Sins of a Divine Mother was removed due to licensing reasons. [4] Instead A2 (which features members from the latter band) tracked the song "Chosen One" in its place.
Trivia
- A "Nights into Dreams..." billboard appears at the beginning of the Lethal Highway stage.
- When you battle Black Bull after the Lethal Highway stage, Sega Studio USA makes a cameo appearance as the center building within the battle arena.
- In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, Issue #171 includes Shadow's origins which was based on the Shadow the Hedgehog video game.
- The Oscar nominated CG studio, Blur Studio Inc., was hired by Sonic Team to produce the CGI movie production in the game, leading to follow-up production for the CGI movie production in Sonic the Hedgehog.
- The song "All hail Shadow", was remixed and put in the next Sonic game, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
- You can clearly watch the SEGA logo in Shadow's motorcycle during the CGI cinematics, but not in-game.
References
- ^ Shadow the Hedgehog Reviews (GameCube). Retrieved August 25, 2006.
- ^ Metacritic.com.
- ^ Mueller, Greg. Shadow the Hedgehog for GameCube review. GameSpot. November 21, 2005.
- ^ Casamassina, Matt. IGN: Shadow the Hedgehog Review. November 17, 2005. IGN.
- ^ Interview with Mike Pollock
External links
- Sega's Shadow the Hedgehog official site
- Official U.S Site
- Shadow The Hedgehog Official Site (in Japanese)
- GameSpot about Shadow
- IGN about Shadow
