Shadow the Hedgehog. The sonic series first venture into the dark and gritty side of things...somewhat. They decided to turn the series emo-amnesiac into an emo-amnesiac with a gun. Of course by this point I was getting tired of Shadow being so whiny and wished they would make a different character element for him.

the game itself is by no means bad. It's not quite as good as Sonic Heroes, but its still a solid game for the most parts. Adding the gun seemed to be a grasp for the more mature audience, but it didn't go over so well, and in most cases, you would be better off just hitting them with shadows homing attack, mainly cos it almost never misses and never runs out of ammo.

Things to improve.

#1: The guns. There should have been fewer weapons, and more emphasis put on them. As it was, they were kind of phoned in. It would have been better if Shadow went an entire level with just one gun to use for various purposes, and switched guns depending on the levels setting.

#2: Aiming. The guns were tough to use in some cases. and it would have made them much better if the aiming was smoother.

#3: Moral choice. We've all heard it before (You know who said it) but moral choice is rather flawed in most games. shadow the Hedgehog often adds in a third option to liven up the story, and to an extent it works. But my real problem was the enemies. If you want to kill the aliens, they attack you, And if you want to help the aliens...they still attack you. And this isn't just a change on the fly mechanic, you actually go to the start menu and chose who you want to help. It would be nice if the game at least recognised it.

#4: Assisting characters. If Vector reminds me about the computer room one more time, I'm making him into a pair of shoes.

#5: Vehicles. Simply put, they were just as phoned in as the weapons, and much less frequent or fun to use.

#6: The big one here. The story. Key points were just fine, like how shadow was created from Alien D.N.A. Apparently throwing the cyborg theory out the back door. But my problem was the whole thing with Shadows personality. The characters traits give him much potential, but when he's acting like he just got back from a Lincoln Park concert, it makes him rather unlikeable.

Final word, needed polish, but could rely work with some minor tweaks.