Shadow Complex is a “Deal of The Week” on XBLA this week so I’m going to give you the low down on the game to see if it’s worth it. Shadow Complex is a 3D side-scroller. I say 3D side-scroller because not only is the game rendered in 3D, it also doesn’t keep you locked into the 2D plane as most side-scrollers do. But I’ll get more into that later. First off I have to say the game looks great. Sometimes when they zoom in for cut scenes it doesn’t look the best, but the game isn’t made to be viewed that close up. Shadow Complex is rendered with the Unreal 3 engine, and it shows. Character models look good, the environment looks even better. Lighting effects are great as well as physics and explosions. I have to say a great use of the Unreal engine.
After a brief playable intro, the story starts with you and your girlfriend hiking in the woods. She goes ahead of you in a cave. You follow after her only to find her pack left over. You go looking for her and come across a secret underground facility. They are holding your girlfriend hostage, thinking she is a spy. So now you need to rescue your girlfriend from the hordes of soldiers equipped in special suits. Good thing you were trained in the ways of the US Military from your dad when you were a kid so you already know how to use weapons and knockout trained soldiers. But this isn’t the main plot of the game.
You actually rescue your girl pretty early in the game. But now you need to find something that will get you out of the complex. You find this something in a super suit which you cannot obtain because of a security measure. So now you are tasked with finding all the pieces to complete the super suit so you guys can escape the complex. Oh, and while you’re doing that your girl tasks you with a few other small items like, I don’t know, stopping the entire underground operation. As cheesy as it may sound, I have to say, it’s a truckload of fun.
The game play of Shadow Complex isn’t too complex. You move from room to room, taking out enemies and collecting items that will help you in your quest to escape the complex. Each room is uniquely built with different areas of cover and sometimes with environmental hazards that can either hurt you or you can use to hurt your enemies. There are exploding barrels, power lines you can shoot down to hurt your enemies, items to drop on top of your enemies. You also have a variety of enemy units. Some enemies just shoot, while other grapple on to the ceiling and shoot. Some have very large chain guns, while others have rocket launchers. Those are just a few examples but you get the point. Depending on what variety of enemies you get in a room, some rooms can be very challenging to get through. The worst thing is when you have go back through that room after you haven’t been there for a while, the enemies respawn.
One negative thing I have to say about the enemies, they aren’t the brightest crayons in the box. Sometimes enemies won’t move into a position to hit you, they will just shoot into the floor or a wall. Also, if you don’t clear the doorway (or vent) and start killing enemies, others won’t shoot back. But enough about them, let’s talk about you. Your character starts off with nothing but a flashlight, then you find some climbing gear. Eventually you will find your first weapon and so forth and so on. You have one primary weapon and several secondary weapons that you can scroll through.
For your primary weapon you start off with a handgun, move up to a semi-automatic, then to full automatic weapons. I guess you can consider them upgrades. Upgrades in primary weapons usually increase rate of fire as well as clip size. You have unlimited ammo in your primary weapon so the only downside is the time it takes for you to reload your weapon during a firefight. You can upgrade your secondary weapons as well by collecting their packs hidden all around the complex, however it only increases the amount of ammo you have for that weapon.
The secondary weapons are a critical part of the game play. When you shine your light on doors and other objects sometimes they will turn a certain color. This color corresponds to one of your secondary weapons. Use the appropriate weapon on the object and it will open new path ways for you. For example, if a door turns green when you shine the light on it, it means you can use a grenade to blow that door open. You will find yourself going back to old rooms that you couldn’t progress through before after finding new secondary weapons… a lot.
In addition to primary and secondary weapons you will come across some special weapons like turrets. I mentioned earlier that you’re not always on a 2D plane. In cases where you use turrets, the camera will change to third person so you can dispatch of your enemies properly. Also, in a lot of the rooms there will be enemies in the background that you can aim and shoot at. Since this is a 2D game and you really can’t turn in other directions besides left and right on your own, the game has an auto aim feature for these enemies. Basically just turn your control stick right or left and it will aim at those enemies in the background. It doesn’t always work the greatest, but I haven’t experienced too many problems with it.
As you progress through the game you will find pieces of the super suit. These pieces will give you special abilities that will help you get through several environmental hazards. For example, the jet pack will allow you to fly over large gaps, while the scuba mask will allow you to breathe underwater indefinitely. These suit pieces are also critical to gameplay as there will be environmental hazards blocking your way in certain rooms until you get specific suit pieces.
The game has an easy to use map system. Each room shows up as a block on the map. The map will show you what rooms connect to other rooms, what kind of doors are in the room, and what kind of rooms they are. The map places a path through the rooms you need to go through to get to your objective. With this you can see where save rooms are on your path and plan accordingly. Save rooms are filled with health and ammo caches.
This game has a XP system but it has nothing to do with the weapons you have or can use. You gain XP by exploring areas, killing enemies, and gaining weapons. You use XP to level up your character. Each time you level up you will get a stat like stamina or accuracy increased. Two things that I really like about this game are that headshots matter, so aim well, and that you can stealth attack enemies. You can sneak up behind enemies by crouch walking. Also, in dark rooms, if you’re not spotted in light and don’t have your light on you can sneak up on enemies.
As you explore the complex you will find that there are multiple ways to enter many rooms. Sometimes you can save yourself A LOT of time by doing a little exploring and finding a more direct path to your objective than what’s displayed on the map. I’m a big fan of competition and just being better than my friends at everything so love features that track stats and compare against your friends. Shadow Complex will track your achievements and certain stats like headshots, kills by hazards, etc. For example, I surpassed Long Diep’s headshot count and the game let me know. So satisfying!
Overall, I must say I am very happy with the game. It’s only a few hours long, maybe 5-6 hours; but those 5-6 hours will be packed with a lot of fun. It is hands down the best game I have played on XBLA. I would highly recommend getting this game, especially now since you can get it for half off.
There used to be an embeded media player here, but it doesn't work anymore. We blame the Tumbeasts.
*Images taken from Shadow Complex Games Detail page
