Hero Story: Renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog has been framed for stealing a Chaos Emerald from a bank in Central City and has been taken into custody by the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.), the national military. While the helicopter containing Sonic flies over the city, Sonic breaks free and using a piece of metal from the chopper as a snowboard, Sonic makes his escape. Sonic outruns the police and military and does battle with one of G.U.N's giant walkers: Big Foot. Sonic defeats the robot and encounters a black hedgehog, who goes by the name of Shadow. Shadow is the one who stole the Chaos Emerald and uses it to escape with the power of Chaos Control. Sonic is re-captured by G.U.N and taken to Prison Island.

Meanwhile, Knuckles the Echidna is having trouble guarding the Master Emerald when the mysterious thief Rouge the Bat attempts to steal it. Dr. Eggman snatches the emerald while they're fighting but Knuckles shatters it. Knuckles sets off to find the pieces and restore the Master Emerald.

On Prison Island, Tails goes to break Sonic free as he knows that his friend is not guilty. Upon arrival, Tails, piloting his Cyclone walker, saves Amy Rose from Dr. Eggman. Amy finds Sonic and releases him from his cell, Sonic racing off to find Shadow. The two battle and then have to flee when Eggman announces that the island will blow up from bombs Shadow has set.

Later on, Sonic, Tails, and Amy witness Eggman destroying half the moon with a powerful weapon, the Eclipse Cannon on board the Space Colony ARK. The three realise that Eggman could destroy Earth with that kind of firepower; all he needs is the seventh Chaos Emerald. Later joined by Knuckles, Sonic and the others must race to the ARK and destroy the cannon before Earth is blown into extinction.

Dark Story: Cooled off after the events in Sonic Adventure, Dr. Eggman hears wind of a top secret military weapon sealed away by G.U.N., created by his late grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Eggman breaks into Prison Island in search of his grandfather's weapon: "Project Shadow". After blasting his way through the floors and security systems of the base, Eggman finds what he's looking for.

Activating a stasis pod in a vault, Eggman discovers Project Shadow: A black hedgehog with incredible speed and a high resemblance to his arch enemy, Sonic the Hedgehog. The hedgehog introduces himself as Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform. Shadow disposes of a guard robot and then invites Eggman to the abandoned Space Colony ARK. Shadow shows Eggman the shutdown Eclipse Cannon, which is capable of destroying an entire planet.

Shadow and Eggman decide they can conquer the world by collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds to power the cannon and use it to hold the entire planet hostage. The mysterious thief Rouge the Bat assists the two villains, though her motives are initially unknown.

Manufacturer: SEGA

Platforms: Dreamcast, GameCube

Year: 2001

Main Characters:Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Dr. Eggman, Rouge, Shadow

Side Characters:Amy, Metal Sonic (GC only), Tikal (GC only), Chao, Chaos (GC only), Big (DC only)

Comment: This is a one of the greatest 3D Sonic games made today. The action stages were very fun, the shooting stages were kinda "iffy", the hunting stages were "OK" too. The chao engine was revamped for the GC version, the one for GC had the brand new "Chao karate" and the first ever hero and dark gardens. Overall the gameplay was great, the chao garden is time consuming but addictive. It's a shame this was the last Dreamcast game, but a must have for most Sonic fans.

Rating: 9.5