(i only did the neutral-hero because 1) wreck farming enemies 2) it is easier 3) i was playing it with very low fps and if i continued, i would implode till i respawn in another universe. so, if you just don't consider my opinion since i've not played the entirety of the game, you can. but you could also just consider the neutral-hero route as the only one and we will be fine!)
people are very mean to this game. i can see why but honestly? is not as bad as they make it seems. first, i have to say that i really don't care about the "edginess" of this game -- to be honest, i really like it. the dark colors, the rock music, the guns! the opening is at square enix level of quality and is basically devil may cry meets sonic adventure meets linkin park. shadow, by itself, is a very curious character: he wants to know his own purpose - what is him? why is he alive? is he even "him"? is he good? is he bad? the one who decides this is the player and while i completely despise the objectives to go to another route, the idea of having multiples endings and three main routes is the way that sonic team found to translate the existential crisis of shadow the hedgehog as well the answer to who he really is.
and despising aspects of this game despite loving the whole concept is pretty much what this game is about, lol. shadow the hedgehog is a beautiful broken vase that instead of fixing it with glue or tape, sonic team just rearranged the pieces and prayed for no one dare to even look at it --- or it will broken. of course is not buggy at sonic 06 level, is very playable, but there's janky in there. it utilizes the butter-shoes gameplay from sonic heroes as the base, so shadow is very slippy. you can pretty much fall in a hole because of this + the weird level geometry. however, it is pretty interesting nonetheless: the guns are a very fun gimmick, since you are shooting while running, cleaning up your way to the end of the level. if you don't have enough ammo you will not use the gun again and it's arguably useless since you have homing attack -- but i disagree, is more of another option: homing attack is good but using guns is more safe and since this game have some weird geometry sometimes, the best way is using them.
the levels itself are very interesting, at least the ones i played in neutral-hero route: while they are very long, they change your fast-running-pace in very creative and funny ways, like the one that you pass through an acid river with a beyblade or the one that you use a mini-mecha to jump over tall platformers and this, together with the combat with guns, turns the experience to be very refreshing and not just "run". shadow can wall-jump, so you can skip some parts with that and while the levels are big i never felt REALLY tired? like, in sonic rush i felt that the levels could be 2x smaller but this one utilizes its size in a good way, imo: you run > have a new gimmick > run > battle with enemies > run > utilizes the gimmick in a more difficult way > run > battle > end of the level. its great because it seems that they knew how the gameplay would be so they just did bigger levels that Repeat Themselves But Harder in order to get players used to it. and since you probably will do another route in future playthroughs, conceptually, you “never” get tired.
it is . . . not really that good, but not really that bad. i liked, probably will not play again and if i do i will try to use some cheat to unlock levels and just appreciate this weird level design. its basically sonic - the kusoge starring shadow the hedgehog. you all like this kind of game, right? why not try it. at least its very funny, shadow just tells eggman to go to hell and he says the F-word in a cutscene. it is worth!
people are very mean to this game. i can see why but honestly? is not as bad as they make it seems. first, i have to say that i really don't care about the "edginess" of this game -- to be honest, i really like it. the dark colors, the rock music, the guns! the opening is at square enix level of quality and is basically devil may cry meets sonic adventure meets linkin park. shadow, by itself, is a very curious character: he wants to know his own purpose - what is him? why is he alive? is he even "him"? is he good? is he bad? the one who decides this is the player and while i completely despise the objectives to go to another route, the idea of having multiples endings and three main routes is the way that sonic team found to translate the existential crisis of shadow the hedgehog as well the answer to who he really is.
and despising aspects of this game despite loving the whole concept is pretty much what this game is about, lol. shadow the hedgehog is a beautiful broken vase that instead of fixing it with glue or tape, sonic team just rearranged the pieces and prayed for no one dare to even look at it --- or it will broken. of course is not buggy at sonic 06 level, is very playable, but there's janky in there. it utilizes the butter-shoes gameplay from sonic heroes as the base, so shadow is very slippy. you can pretty much fall in a hole because of this + the weird level geometry. however, it is pretty interesting nonetheless: the guns are a very fun gimmick, since you are shooting while running, cleaning up your way to the end of the level. if you don't have enough ammo you will not use the gun again and it's arguably useless since you have homing attack -- but i disagree, is more of another option: homing attack is good but using guns is more safe and since this game have some weird geometry sometimes, the best way is using them.
the levels itself are very interesting, at least the ones i played in neutral-hero route: while they are very long, they change your fast-running-pace in very creative and funny ways, like the one that you pass through an acid river with a beyblade or the one that you use a mini-mecha to jump over tall platformers and this, together with the combat with guns, turns the experience to be very refreshing and not just "run". shadow can wall-jump, so you can skip some parts with that and while the levels are big i never felt REALLY tired? like, in sonic rush i felt that the levels could be 2x smaller but this one utilizes its size in a good way, imo: you run > have a new gimmick > run > battle with enemies > run > utilizes the gimmick in a more difficult way > run > battle > end of the level. its great because it seems that they knew how the gameplay would be so they just did bigger levels that Repeat Themselves But Harder in order to get players used to it. and since you probably will do another route in future playthroughs, conceptually, you “never” get tired.
it is . . . not really that good, but not really that bad. i liked, probably will not play again and if i do i will try to use some cheat to unlock levels and just appreciate this weird level design. its basically sonic - the kusoge starring shadow the hedgehog. you all like this kind of game, right? why not try it. at least its very funny, shadow just tells eggman to go to hell and he says the F-word in a cutscene. it is worth!