What’s next? Mario gets to finish characters off in the upcoming installment of “Smash Bros”?

“Shadow the Hedgehog”
PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube
$49.95

Sure, the latest Sonic-themed game is no more than a footnote, but hey, since when did Sonic not need to be a little more badass? Hence the creation of “Shadow the Hedgehog.” Now we are onto something.

I know that we already got a badass hedgehog out of Knuckles, but for those of you who don’t read the manuals — these sheets of paper stapled in packet form that come with each game — you would have read in the “Sonic and Knuckles” game that Knuckles is an Echidna, not a hedgehog.

Well, a few games ago, Sega introduced Shadow, a dark, scary hedgehog with jet shoes — yes, I said jet shoes. What makes a creature faster than having jet shoes? You tell me, because I couldn’t think of anything.

In the game, a player controls Shadow and teams up with a random sidekick to either save the world or bring about its demise. Yep, you guessed it. Sonic is the latest victim to fall for the choose-your-own adventure style that is sweeping the gaming culture.

This game was created to reveal the secret of Shadow’s creation, and which path a character follows determines how much of Shadow’s past will be revealed.

The game plays much like other 3-D Sonic games of the past. The controls are relatively fussy at times and unlike Sonic games of the 2-D realm. It is hard to race through the levels dashing all the way without crashing into every other baddy and dangerous hazard. The Sonic creatures’ patented spin dash isn’t the wonder attack that it used to be.

Jumping on opponents’ heads often leads to you dive-bombing off a platform immediately after you’ve killed them.

So this game is all about — what else — guns. Yes, guns in a “Sonic” game. What’s next? Mario gets to finish characters off in the upcoming installment of “Smash Bros”? Dying in this game no longer just sucks because you lose a life, but sucks more because you lose the choice weapon whose ammo you have been furiously hording for the whole level. Keeping guns that give one-hit kills is the most important thing.

Then, after the guns, you get some fantastic vehicles that really serve no purpose beyond making one wonder what the hell compelled them to enter it in the first place. The controls for the vehicles are craptastic. They serve no purpose beyond extreme annoyance. Enough on them. I’m getting angry just thinking about Shadow’s stupid motorcycle.

Let’s move on to the musical score. It’s good that levels and themes have survived from the original “Sonic” games. I was so please to hear the casino world theme again, I almost started crying (hence why I am single).

But every classic theme had more of an edge to it. And the score in general needed it since Shadow is such a badass and he needed more edge to his game’s music.

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