Well this week is something new, a bite size comic, this is for several reasons, I have been very busy with work/ playing Shadow the hedgehog, and the work load is only going to get bigger in the coming weeks till the end of term so the plan is to continue with these bite size comics for the next two to three weeks, dont complain after what I did last week. Now onto the important stuff my review of Shadow the hedgehog.

Ive read a couple of reviews so far, mostly from official game review people, and they have taken more cheap shots at this game than there are enemies to kill in it. Now these reviews annoyed me being a Sonic fan, but I can see where there coming from to a point, this game does have flaws, for one the camera angling sucks half the time so you cant see that you just about to fall of a cliff. This however is something I can tolerate 9to a point and believe me when I say it can get damn close to that point), most reviewers make out that you cant walk two steps before your falling into the abyss. Well, I think I should organise this into sections from here on in.

Graphics
These are excellent, an improvement on sonic Heros, the cut scenes are beautiful, I was half expecting carton cut scenes with what there going with sonic x, thank god they didnt.

Voice acting
Now theres some controversy here with the old sonic adventure/heros actors being fired to make way for the sonic X actors. Now I was like a lot of people, unhappy at this term of events, however , playing the game now, I would say these voices are a hell of a lot better than the old ones, they know what there doing. The only bones I can pick is Tails voice is still too young but its not as bad as sonic heros, and Vectors voice just isnt right at all. Otherwise I cant complain, even Charmys voice which normally puts me in the mood for getting some bug zapper out was pleasantly un-annoying.

Story
Well this is where it gets strange, theres more than one story line, ten in fact where Shadow comes to the decision on what hes going to do, conquer the planet, defend the ark, kill Eggman (thats actually three of the endings). The thing is with this I can see the big boys at Sega trying to decide how Shadows future is going to play out, no one can decide what to do, then someone comes up with the idea of doing all of them, yes that works, certainly keeps your continuity straight asshole. Accessed the final ending last night (the effort I went to just to get this review done on time!) I wont give the plot away for those of you who arent committed enough to have completed it already, all Ill say is it takes one of the ten endings and ignores the other nine and takes it a bit further with some sweet cut scenes that you have come to expect during the game.

Game-play
Good or evil, you decide? Well thats an understatement, with ten different endings and about 300 different combinations in order to get there I have to say the best way to approach this is to have chosen your route ahead of schedule, it makes a lot more sense. Going through a level your bombarded with be good, be evil, no hes on our side, or what are you doing you traitor! The theres the fact that once youve chosen a side for a level, and then your allies shoot at you, Im on your fucking side!
Ok game play, well once you get the hang of the controls (I have the game cube version so it might take longer or shorter on other consoles), its not hard to control, and the falling of cliffs problem can generally be avoided. It can be tedious going through and doing the tasks assigned to you for the good and evil missions sometimes you miss something and have to go back, fortunately thats what the save points are for they allow you to warp to any previous save points to go over and find something you missed. I think the game would have been a lot more tedious without this.

Overall this is a good game that lives up to the sonic adventure franchise, and lets put it simply could beat the pants off sonic heros blindfolded, tied up hanging upside down, about to drop into a vat of piranha infested acid! Although if your just someone casually interested in the game you need a lot of patience to endure the camera angle problems in places, and the falling off cliff problems.