It's definitely better then "SA: DX".
The real reason I bought this at all is for Shadow and the boasted Chao hype. Shadow, being my favorite Sonic character, is the real meat of the game in my opinion. He’s a new mystery for us to solve. I really hate how he only get’s four, maybe five levels in the game and a few, uninteresting boss fights. Mostly, he’s put against Sonic, but he gets to fight Hot Shot, the Biolizard (the real big boos he gets to fight), and the Final Hazard. Rouge was a much less emphasized character, and she got many more levels then Shadow did. Don’t get me wrong, I like Rouge (she’s extremely hot), but, still… there’s a lot of hints about her mysterious identity as there is Shadow’s, but Sonic Team never really expanded on it, so we comfortably settled with: “She’s a part-time government spy who steals jewels and never really gets in trouble for it”. I think, personally, she should be Shadow’s girlfriend, but she has an obvious crush on Knuckles, which sucks eggs dry.
The Chao system is much cooler in this then in "SA: DX". You get a whole kindergarten this time. You got a classroom, the principal’s office, the doctor’s room, the fortune-telling house, and the locker (which holds the Black Market). The only real problems I have with this system are the naming system and the action button. The fortune-teller presents names your Chao, randomly, which is a neat little feature, but to be able to name your Chao yourself, you have to say no to the first name, no to the second option she offers, and then she’ll ask you if you wanna name the Chao yourself. They should present a mini-screen, asking you how you’d like to name your Chao between naming it yourself and having the fortune-teller name it for you. Then there’s the action button. They lay everything down to the B button. As a general rule, you can’t just walk up and pick your Chao up. You have to press the Y button till it says “Pick” in the action window. They should’ve had it the same as in "SA: DX". Since Y changes the action window, have X be the configured button to pet the Chao (if you’re standing within petting range) and B be the picking up/putting down/and throwing (if you’re that cruel). Of course, you could do other things with B, but that’d be an easier configuration. You can also enter your Chao in karate spars and races between other Chao. This is a cute feature, but since you don’t actually control your Chao and the computer basically decides who wins, these modes suck. There are many ways I can think of to make these modes better, but if I listen them all, I’d be here forever. Other then that, raising Chao is good for replay value. Once you’ve completed the game to its fullest, you’ll still have Chao and the 2P Battle mode to satisfy you for a good long while.
Speaking of 2P, the 2P mode is so cool in this game. You have six different options. Action Race, Treasure Hunt Race, Shooting Battle, Kart Race, Chao Race, and Chao Karate. These modes feature several other characters you can’t play with (and loads of them you never even see) in story mode. The story characters are always the best in their category of 2P battles (not to mention they’re almost exactly identical), but there are two additional characters in each category that each have strengths and weaknesses that you have to work with. For example, Amy is slower, but she needs a lot less rings to perform her special moves. The special moves are great. For speed, you get a speed up move, an attack, and a time-freezing move. Metal Sonic, however, only gets one special move, which is a shield. The treasure hunters get two attacks [one to trip enemies and one that actually damages them and costs them their rings (or life if they have zero rings)]. Shooting characters all get heavily enhanced attacks that can chase and kill enemies effectively, and they’re most powerful attack is something to be feared when you’re on a small arena. The Chao battling is the same as in one player mode, except you don’t VS. a computer, you VS. a human. Since those humans know a thing or two about Chao battling, this is a little more interesting, but not much. Up to four players can have a Chao race at a time, though, so it’s definitely the most exciting Chao battle. The kart races just don’t fly well. Most of the karts are hard to control, and if you make a single mistake, you’re screwed for the entire race. I so hate that mode, I can’t even describe it. But, since the first three battle modes are so much fun and give such a wide selection, I think the 2P battle mode is a very fun thing to do
There’s a much more interesting story behind this game then "SA: DX" as well. It starts with Shadow being released and Sonic being blamed for it. Then it becomes a race for the Chaos Emeralds. It all winds up on the Space Colony ARK, Shadow’s place of birth (though it is revealed in some small hints that he was created an artificial hedgehog) where we discover that what happened fifty years ago was that when Shadow as created, he was called the “Ultimate Life form”. But, the prototype “Ultimate Life form”, the Biolizard, was reprogrammed by Shadow’s creator, Eggman’s grandfather to avenge Maria’s death. Maria was not only loved dearly by her grandfather (kind of weird to imagine Eggman having a cousin), but she was like a sister to Shadow. So Shadow’s out for the world’s head, but so was the professor (his creator). I’m not gonna tell you the rest, but I will tell you that it all becomes a happy ending that leaves many unexplained questions that will hopefully be explained in later games, like when they pop the question “did Professor Gerald really intend to destroy the entire earth and kill off an entire planet?” This has never been explained any more then when Maria says “The gun lift’s weapons are supposed to be for emergencies only. Did someone know this would all happen?” Well, that was in a level of Shadow the Hedgehog and it’s never been explained to date. Maybe Sonic Team will expand on all this more in the future, but don’t’ be surprised to find a bucket full of unanswered questions.
All-in-all, this is a highly under credited game that isn’t any different then its Dreamcast port (with the exception of some of the Chao mechanisms and a few characters removed from the 2P battles, as well as all the characters being accessible from the beginning instead of having to be unlocked). As far as I’m concerned (and I know that doesn’t mean much), this is a good game. Damn camera is a pain in the tail sometimes, I’ll have to admit, but it’s still bearable.