Shadow Ranks Part 1
(2.0 Revisions Only)

Westopolis

Dark Mission
Mostly Painless Filler Content

Regardless if you pick Dark or Hero, the entire game kicks off with a checklist of 35+ enemies to cull, in turn adding its pacing to the kill list. With the visually dull set pieces also factored in, Westopolis is an omen of what to expect for the majority of Shadow game.

Hero Mission
Moderate Nuisance Filler Content

Digital Circuit

Hero Mission
Insultingly Easy Filler Content

Being that it’s an early-game level, Digital Circuit doesn’t push the player with its obstacles. There are a few death pits here and there, or waiting for cubes to line up over more pits. Horizontal glowing bars safely lift Shadow up to the next chunks of the stage. He can be guided to forks in the red circuits, but none significantly change exploration.

As much as I enjoy the level’s aesthetics (and it does the heavy lifting for the fun factor here), it’s disappointing how both the Hero and Dark missions follow the exact same roller coaster until the last minute. I’d love it if each mission had an exclusive section to spice up the experience.'

Then again, this is a flaw with modern Sonic games in general. I might be asking for too much. The extra content would guarantee loading screens, and we all know how that went down in Sonic ‘06.

Dark Mission
Insultingly Easy Boring

The “goal ring” is about a minute away from the Hero one (and you have to shoot it! Such variety!). Nothing particularly interesting happens during this section; there’s only a minor platforming challenge with more cubes.

Glyphic Canyon

Dark Mission
Insultingly Easy Boring

Touch the bulbous vivid green gems sitting in plain sight. They could provide the perfect opportunity to challenge the player to reach them, but alas, they’re as mindless as clearing out Westopolis (at least quota is way smaller here).

Hero Mission
Mostly Painless Filler Content

Secret Door

Something to keep in mind: this is the only special gimmick in the entire level. Without the secret door, Glyphic Canyon is only shooting at enemies and/or touching gems.

Lethal Highway

Hero Mission
Mostly Painless Entertaining

Dark Mission
Insultingly Easy Mindless Fun

It’s another goal ring cop-out; I’m not even bothering to snap a photo. That being said, the level is still fun to dash through as I detailed earlier.

Cryptic Castle

Aesthetic

Aside from one enemy [Grievous Spider], Cryptic Castle is pitiful as a Halloween-themed Sonic stage. Something as simple as ghosts are merely tiny damaging props in a couple areas; I forgot they even existed until my second playthrough. They aren’t anything like the ones seeking hugs in SA2’s Pumpkin Hill.

You’ll occasionally run into a Jack-o-lantern puppet as a “jump scare,” but it doesn’t do anything.

The checkerboard-floored rooms are basically empty, save for some generic worn furniture and vases sitting in the corners.

This is the least engaging haunted house ever.

Dark Mission
Insultingly Easy AWFUL

The only major “puzzles” while running between pits involve igniting a couple smaller torches (in plain sight) to open doors or spawn bouncy Jack Skellington heads. Even if you don’t want to do the Dark mission, you’re forced to use the stupid things.

Hero Mission
Insultingly Easy AWFUL

Amy can't find Cream and Cheese in the castle. They’re always found in the same static place, so the only challenge is learning where they are. It’s an uninspired quest that gives me flashbacks to Team Chaotix in Sonic Heroes.

An improved Hero mission would grab from a list of locations they could appear in, akin to hunting for Emerald shards with Knuckles or Rouge in previous games.

Fun fact: this idea is present in Humongous Entertainment games (Freddy Fish, etc), which are intended for children younger than this game’s E10+ rating. Actual 5-year olds get a better-quality experience.

Prison Island

Dark Mission
Mostly Painless Boring

Once you get your bearings driving a ceramic dinner plate, the target G.U.N. units are easy to scout out. A lot of them are hulking mechs with overpowered guns to scavenge. Everything around the mission is what makes it annoying (but hey, at least the unintended difficulty makes it more engaging than Cryptic Castle).

Hero Mission
Mostly Painless Boring

The hardest part of this mission is enduring Charmy’s excited screams in your ear. But you can mitigate the problem by setting the mission to Neutral and completing the other’s goal anyways.

Unfortunately, since this mission shares many of the copy-pasted toxic rivers, it has the same amount of tedium with the level’s overall design.

Circus Park

Dark Mission
Insultingly Easy Filler Content

The main gimmick in Circus Park is several shooting galleries to gather rings. However, they’re not important to the Dark mission. It’s a bunch of dead-on-arrival content that you can skip.

Hero Mission
Moderate Nuisance Boring

Honestly, I kind of wish Shadow had the classic ring health system (at least for this stage). Most modern Sonic games have a “collect 100 rings” mission, so Circus Park would have drastically higher stakes.

Would it make the level tedious? Absolutely, but it’d make it far more engaging.

Central City

Dark Mission
Mostly Painless Filler Content

Hero Mission
HELL AWFUL