There's this perception that Shadow was evil in SA2 and then suddenly became not evil. No, all that happened was he remembered Maria's wish. Shadow will still go to similar extreme lengths to achieve his goals, just as he did back in SA2. Shadow will still kill others if necessary. Shadow will still manipulate others if necessary. Shadow will still continue to fight even if he's dying. Nobody can get in his way once his mind is set.
Unfortunately, this is too "unrelatable" to self-inserting faggots, so you get people insisting he's less extreme and more friendly than he really is.