One of the awesomely cinematic moments in Shadow Complex.

So I am now officially over halfway done with the Xbox Live Arcade game “Shadow Complex.” Well, I’m actually probably closer to 75 percent done with it, but I was on a roll the other night, so I just played until I found a good stopping point. What I want to try and do in this report is talk about the things I’ve experienced thus far in the game (what I’ve loved, or didn’t) and what I want to happen for the remainder of my stay with Shadow Complex (game ending, replayability, unlocks, hidden items). With this report, I’ll go into some detail about a lot of things in Shadow Complex. And then when I’m all done with it, I’ll be much more concise and give the game a more numbers-oriented review, with categories like gameplay, story, graphics, etc.

Here’s the 2009 E3 trailer for ya.

First things first, let me address the things that I have experienced thus far in “Shadow Complex,” which I’ll be referring to for the remainder as “SC.” This game starts with a bang. The first level takes place in a different setting from the remainder of the game, but it gives the player a great feel for how the main character (Jason Flemming) will eventually play like. The first level gives you access to some cool weapons, the jump boots upgrade, and the armor; all of which are not available from the get-go in the main story.

The main story starts off with the two main characters preparing for some random expedition. The beginning of this game feels so much like “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” for the PS3, it’s ridiculous. First of all, the same guy (Nolan North) voices the lead characters in both games. But the climbing mechanics, the “go-getter” female character, the overall look, are all so similar, I couldn’t help but feel like the people over at Chair Entertainment intended for something of an homage to the spectacular action-adventure game on the PS3.

And that’s actually one of my favorite things about SC. It’s all about homages. It’s all about recognizing the good things in many different genres of games, and bringing them together quite cohesively. SC has the great exploration capabilities of Super Metroid, without most of the frustratingly tedious backtracking. It has all the awesome, over-the-top enemies of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, without all the heavy-handed cutscenes and dialogue. It has the climbing mechanics of Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed, without the task of finding little nooks and crannies that you can actually climb from. (See also: you can climb on pretty much everything.) And believe me, I love all of the games I listed, so to have a great melting pot of all of them is something I, as an avid gamer, dream about.

As far as the actual gameplay of SC is concerned, it’s pretty great. I love the map in it’s grid-based mayhem. It’s actually a lot easier to get around than I thought it would be. Many of the big areas of the map have at least three entrances, so for those who always take the scenic routes, this map is for you. The gunplay is really simple, since you only have access to one gun (pistol, machine guns, and eventually a shotgun) and one specialty weapon (grenades, the foam gun, missiles, and the hookshot) at a time. I really enjoy when games encourage the player to be discreet with their choices (ala Halo or CoD) as opposed to games that let you carry every weapon and killing technology known to mankind (Unreal). But mentioning the gunplay does bring up one of my two minor complaints with this game.

The aiming system does take quite a bit of time to get a handle on. I’m over halfway done with SC, and I still occasionally will run into issues hitting enemies on certain planes of the backdrop. The whole aiming-with-the-right-stick-in-a-2d-shooter thing just doesn’t seem to work well with my brain. Don’t get me wrong, this in no way detracts from the overall awesomeness of SC. It’s just a hurdle that I kept tripping over on my way to full enjoyment.

My only other real complaint with SC is the sometimes-shoddy AI. A lot of times I encountered situations where enemies wouldn’t notice me, even if I was mere inches in front of them. And on the other end of the AI spectrum, sometimes enemies would start shooting me before they could ever have possibly seen me, because I was on the other side of a wall. This latter issue was especially problematic when I was hurting pretty bad in the HP department, trying to sneak around until I found a health pack, and a large enemy with a minigun rips through me without ever taking notice of my presence.

But I digress. These two minor complaints can’t possible degrade the near-perfect Shadow Complex. I’m so excited to complete the game (I’m determined to get 100% of the items on this first play-through.) I can’t wait to play through it again, and discover all the hidden nooks and crannies that I missed up the first time. The Achievements for the game actually encourage multiple play-throughs, since there is one requiring the player to “Complete the game with 100% of the items” and another requiring the player to “Complete the game with less than 13% of the items.” I, as an Achievement junkie, love this kind of thing. I’d much rather have Achievements like this than the dismal “Finish the first level” ones.

All in all, Shadow Complex is a must-play. It has all the best elements of some of the current bests of most video game genres. I’m hoping that after I beat the game, I’ll play through it on a harder difficulty. I would also like to get some unlocks or perhaps some upgraded weapons for completing the game (As I suspect will happen since I’m only at level 16 now and there’s an Achievement about reaching level 50).

So that’s about it for my Shadow Complex Mid-Game Report. I love the game so far, and I hope the remainder of it will be just as good, if not better, than the first half. Thanks for reading about my thoughts so far. If you love games, you’ll love Shadow Complex.

MidwestGamer

Gamertag: AbsentAmpersand