@TooWalrus said:

I'm pretty sure... Shadow the Hedgehog was just really fucking dumb.

No, no.

Shadow the Hedgehog was really, really,really, really

REALLY FUCKING DUMB.

At the time, games were starting to lean toward the "darkier and edgier" thing and Sega or Sonic Team or whoever the hell made it thought it would be a good idea to try and capitalize on that, which is a laughable notion to an insane degree. So out came Shadow the Hedgehog, a game about an anti-hero, dark and mysterious... hedgehog. Who tries to fight off a weird alien invasion with a gun, heavy metal, and saying tame curse words over and over again.

EDIT: You know what I just realized? Some of the plot points in Sonic Adventure 2, a far better game in every respect, come across as darker than anything in Shadow. That girl's death, for instance, I remember that being more impactful than anything in Shadow.