Final thoughts on Shadow the hedgehog (game)

[Esrever]

I guess I would pick up Shadow if I could get it for under 20 bucks. I really don't have any interest in Riders at all. I never bought Sonic Shuffle either... I just don't really have a problem skipping games that look terrible. I guess I'm not much of a completionist. :/

[Kishi]

Don't worry about it. The last Sonic game I bought was Adventure 2 back in 2001.

[Light Speed]

Yeah, I used to be a completionist, but after Heroes part of me died. I also realized it was an incredible waste of money. I bought a Neo Geo Pocket Color with Sonic Pocket Adventure for 100 bucks and then they discontinued it, same reason I bought the original GBA, SAdv 1 & 2. Same with owning SA2 and SA2B. I also used to just buy every game I intended to beat so my library is full of games that I played for 10 to 20 hours, beat, and then never touch again. I still kind of do that, but I've decided to start renting games now to, cause it is just stupid to drop 60 bucks on Tomb Raider when you beat the game in a freaking 7 hour sitting.

Basically it took several years, but I've finally sorta seen the light.

[Wooduck51]

RENT Shadow, or trade for it, but buying it new would be, unwise. Starting With SA2:battle I have not bought a Sonic game new, only used or maybe traded. Or not at all.

[Light Speed]

That stupid Ne o filter is still active?

[jenkins]

What, Neo Geo? Yeah, clearly.

Neo
Neo
Neo
Neo
Neo

I hope Tsui turns it off soon...if ever.

[Wooduck51]

What the hell?

[One Classy Bloke]

I bought the game new on release. I don't think i made a mistake besides probably being lumped with all the people whom blindly love the game so eroticly.

I actually enjoyed the game, until i got up to some of the shitty later levels (i'm looking at you, Cosmic Fall). The gunplay makes up for Shadow's poor self control (which i discovered was done on purpose, symbolic of his mental instabilty), and the game progression and level design hailed to better days. The stages set inside a computer network are pretty original for platformers.

My main hope is that aliens don't start forming a main part of every sonic game from here on. They just don't fit in.

[Wooduck51]

How many lives did you sacrifice to Cosmic Fall? my time offering to Naka and Iizuka was cashed in on that level.

[Stardust Speedman]

Cosmic Fall is the best stage in the whole game!

The problem with most of the gamers is that they hate dying and as soon as they die not later than 3 or 4 times they say that the level sucks. These kinds of people are simply too impatient, especially for hardcore games like most of the Sonic games (because of the Special Stages, A-ranks and such). To me, a game is most enjoyable when it really challenges you out, but is still beatable. And actually almost all Sonic games are designed this way. This is one reason why I love Sonic games so much (beside other reasons).

I really cant understand how people can prefere City Escape over Final Rush, Final Chase or Canon's Core. Ore prefere Seeside Hill over Power Plant, Bingo Highway or Rail Canyon. Or prefere Emerald Coast over Sky Deck. Or prefere Leaf Storm over Altitude Limite or Dead Line. Or prefere Neo Green Hill Zone over Egg Rocket Zone. Or prefere Sonic 2 for Mega Drive over Sonic 2 for Master System..........

[Brazillian Cara]

Well, it would be a damn boring world if everyone agreed on everything, right?

[Light Speed]

That depends on if they all agreed with me or not.

[DackAttac]

To me, a game is most enjoyable when it really challenges you out, but is still beatable.

Most people will agree with that sentiment, but the reasons for the challenge are important.

For instance, did I die because it was a frantic section that I slipped up on? Or did I die because the camera bungled out on me? Or because the controls were poorly conceived? Or because there was a spring leading me right into a bad guy? Or because my homing attack—despite my best aim for the fifth try in a row—didn't land?

City Escape was a better level than Final Rush. Wile the adrenaline was pumping on Rush where it wasn't on Escape, I didn't find myself yelling "I was AIMING at the rail, you stupid piece of shit!" at City Escape, since missing a rail landed me on.. a stairway. Nothing severe.

The line between 'challenge' and 'frustration' is a thin one, but one surefire way to make sure you're on the 'frustration' side is when your death count is the game's fault.

That said, I'm looking to crack Shadow back out to see if I can tolerate it now that I've come to grips with just how much the game was of a disappointment. Because at least Cosmic Fall (Heh, rhymes with Cosmic Wall) was original enough to keep me interested. That beginning stretch was actually one of the highlights, but as soon as the camera came down and I had to depend on it... Things took a turn.

[chriscaffee]

Final Rush was pretty easy, and there was a large area where you could "land" on a rail even though you technically missed and you should have fallen into oblivion. I wouldn't use that as an example of a "cheap" challenge.

[DackAttac]

The rail mountings themselves were not as bad as the difficulty to pinpoint a homing attack, since Sonic didn't actually home in on the rails themselves.

[CE]

Sonic Adventure 2's rails over bottomless pits was just not any fun. The cool part (trying to stay on the rail) is automated, and the annoying part (touching the rail the first time) is not. If they switched it around, it'd be much more fun.

[FlashTHD]

Why is it that so many people are so careless with the jump dash/homing attack? I honestly have no idea where all these complaints about the homing attack in the Shadow game constantly missing are coming from; the only time it's thrown me off a cliff was once. Once. I've had the game since it was out and beaten it 100%, and once. The only way I can see it missing all the time is if you just lazily let go of the control stick and think the attack will do all the work for you. I agree that the screwy physics in Heroes made it less accurate there, but that's it.

The rail mountings themselves were not as bad as the difficulty to pinpoint a homing attack, since Sonic didn't actually home in on the rails themselves.

In SA2, i've always found it easier to simply do a normal jump (no dash) and guide him towards the rail manually. Ever since I adopted that strategy, i've almost never missed a single rail.

While I can get used to the bottomless pits of a stage after playing it a few times, and that i'll live with the existance of them in Sonic Next, the fact remains that placing them haphazardly is a sign of inexperienced or incompetent level designers at work. So long as next-gen uses the pits in moderation and in more ways that make sense over instant death in inopportune places, that'll be one big step. (The second would be making it easier to get killed the normal way, and the third would be following through with their promise of fun, branching levels.)

[Zeta]

Now that I think about it, I've never died from lack of rings in any of the 3D Sonic games. Getting hit tends to send you off a cliff immediately.

[FlashTHD]

Getting hit tends to send you off a cliff immediately.

Alright, now that's a ridiculous exaggeration. It's not always a certain thing.

[SegaSonic]

It's not always a certain thing.

It is in SONIC HEROES, that thing was full of holes.

[Light Speed]

To me, a game is most enjoyable when it really challenges you out, but is still beatable.

Ninja Gaiden for Xbox is one of the few newer games that can actually pose a challenge without being terribly cheap. However the problem with that game is once you beat it, it is no longer challenging because you know how to beat every specific enemy.

Most games are either really easy or incredibly cheap in their difficulty. I think most people want the easy games.