Shadow the Hedgehog. The game that definitely split the Sonic fanbase down the middle. This game was AWFUL to some and pretty good to others. This game was also Sonic creator Yuji Naka's last game before he left Sonic Team, and it kinda shows. The game was released in 2005 for the big 3 major home consoles at the time, like Sonic Heroes. Also, this is the first Sonic game that you CANNOT play as Sonic in the main story, you can only play as Emo the Hedgeh- I mean Shadow, The Hedgehog. Now, normally I do reviews in an IGN style where I make a paragraph about specific parts and aspects of the game, but for this game it's different. For this game, I'll talk about my memories of my first time playing Shadow. Here we go!

Shadow the hedgehog in my opinion was a good game. I saw nothing war--okay, shadow saying "d*min" after every 3 minutes of getting hit ( or 10 seconds if your horrible at the game---no offense) kind surprised me. Also, shadow the hedgehog, a being who is almost as fast as sonic the hedgehog, needs vehicles to get around. I don't get why shadow needs a hummer or a  mustang to get to the goal as fast as possible if he can run/skate as fast as a flying jet already. It made no sense to me.  . . .
still, the game did have its good points. The CGI animation was high quality. I have not seen such a good opening since Sonic V's. Metal sonic ( CD.)  and in the end of the opening, seeing sonic with a broken leg and just falling down with shadow standing behind him holding a pistol just gave me the biggest smile on my face.... ever. The storyline. Which isn't a one way path, is pretty awesome. You can be the good guy like sonic and save the world from aliens, be a villain and join the leader of the guy sending the aliens to attack the planet ( who also claims to be your father!? And Maria is his mom? Girlfriend? Err...) or just follow your own path and kill/defeat who you want to. I liked all the ways that it was going, so I don't have any complaints about the plot(s). Seeing shadow hold a gun in his hands really raised some questions  in my head. Is it a good thing that a hedgehog that is a sonic character, or his rival to be more specific, has a gun? I mean, big does have a fishing rod, Amy does have a hammer, cream has cheese the ciao, espy has shrieking, and sonic has....Notheng? ( well, not until the black knight, he gets a sword. And yeah, he used  a hammer in sonic advance 3, but still.) maybe this is bad. This is technically still a sonic game.... right? Well, I don't really know. But the guns affected the game heavily. It made me wonder if shadow would use guns in future games like 06, which kept the driving bits but left out him using a gun..
but there's one thing that I liked more than using weaponry. The power to use the chaos blast. It wiped out everything in shadow's path, utterly destroy.....but flying around using chaos control is kind cool too, especially when you end up hitting other people while flying. As for the game play overall, not too bad. The grinding is still the same as it was in sonic heroes, the gun play was okay, but I really wished it had a lock on button. The homing attack was once again a big factor of the game, using it to bounce off of foes heads in order to get to the other side and everything. I must say that I'm disappointed in the spin dash ability, though. I hold the button for a good minute and a half and the spin dash only lasts for a good 3-5 seconds. They might as well have replaced it with chaos spear, which could drain Both positive and negative chaos bars at once. But other than that, I  kind like the game play.
As for the sound & music, it was totally cool! Crush 40 never fails to disappoint me. "never turn back," and "I Am" Were pretty epic soundtracks in the game. I even made lyrics to one of the final levels in the game "lava shelter!" But my favorite songs in the game are " Waking up" by Julian-K and " chosen one" by A2. Don't get me wrong though. All the other songs in the game are cool too. I was surprised at the Final Boss entrance. A remix of Live and learn? I was seriously psyched! When it comes to sound, it was kind  a combination of sonic heroes and sonic adventure 1 & 2. The modern day spin dash affect, the homing attack noise, and the traditional ring sound was  good to hear again.
the powers and items in the game were satisfyingly great.. The shields, the invincibility, the speed shoes, all the same thing. Still, it does feel good to grab a red shield, an invincible flower, and rocket shoes so you can crash into everyone like a wild monster truck.  the Dash panel's, which have been featured a lot since sonic adventure,  give shadow the hedgehog a boost of speed through loops, paths, and sometimes even rails. The usual springs in the game are nostalgic and very useful to get around and are hidden in secret areas to give players something to search for while on certain missions. And the hidden keys to unlock certain doors were quite complex to find, especially in the later levels. So the pick ups in this game are pretty awesome.

So shadow the hedgehog is a sonic/spin off-sonic game that brings the franchise to a certain level of "darkness" and "maturity." Sort like devil may cry. The profanity in the game can be toned down a bit, and the spin dash could serve a little more use than to be activated for a couple seconds when launched. The music, like with every sonic game, is awesome. So awesome that it was even featured in generations. 
so yeah, on this game, I will never turn back.

I myself find that the modern Spin-Dash noise is actually kinda annoying (especially in 06 for some Godawful reason). I myself, never really liked any of the other vocal tracks for some reason, I jus don't really like that kinda music XD But all to their own I guess...