From the Vault — originally published August 25, 2009. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
Shadow Complex is an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive side scrolling action adventure game. “Metroidvania” is the term being used by many to describe the traversal, item collection and adventure elements in Shadow Complex. After over an hour of playing the game it does indeed live up to the Metroidvania claim. To collect every item and power up you will have to backtrack akin to Super Metroid. There are areas that you cannot access earlier in the game because you will not have the required weapon or item. The map style in Shadow Complex is most definitely like Super Metroid and newer Castlevania games such as Portrait of Ruin, or order of Ecclesia.
So what’s new? What does set Shadow complex apart from those aforementioned 2D games is the aiming mechanic. In Shadow complex you aim your weapon with the right analog stick and unlike older 2D games you actually can and will have to shoot enemies in a sort of 2.5D space. Enemies in the background and slightly deeper in the environment can be targeted with your weapon. This appears to be the biggest departure from the classic 2D formula that you will encounter in Shadow complex. There are also close ups when you do melee take downs and certain sections where you will actually play in a 3D space such as when you use a gun turret.
Decisions on which area to explore or come back to keeps the game interesting. Finding hidden items and power ups always feels rewarding and the mystery of the unexplored areas on the map provides the “crack factor” that will keep you playing until you literally have to stop playing to do something else.
If you are a fan of 2D games of old you should get Shadow complex. I forgot how much I missed simple 2D side scrolling action. No wonky cameras to worry about here. Shadow complex is great and at $15 this could be a serious contender for downloadable game of the year.
Karma
"No wonky cameras to worry about here"
This was actually one of my biggest problems with Shadow Comlpex. Despite being a "2D" game, they still managed to mess the camera up. Either you are fighting things that are far outside the screen, or the camera can stick to certain "places of interest" for too long, sometimes causing the character to run -outside- of the visible area before the camera is released from it's position and tries to catch up. What they should have done was -DON'T TOUCH THE CAMERA- other than perhaps made it "look ahead" a little, making firefights a little less "I'm shooting randomly into something I can't see".
Another thing was the 3D. It's good looking, but they made it too much of a game play element, making the character sometimes aim "into" the picture towards some enemy (or CRATE) instead of towards something you DO want to shoot at, which either means shooting something different than intended OR, as happened a few times (killing me in the process), shooting into a wall that happened to be inbetween the character and the 3D-target.
And who came up with the idea of level grinding in a solo platform game?
This could have been a flawless game, but they actually messed up (instead of enhancing) several of the most core elements of this type of genre and added a few new strange flaws. I played it through in 7-8 hours, and after a lot of frustration when trying to get the character NOT to grab onto each and every wall and ledge, some nice moments of coolness, suprisingly little exploring, and being told that "America is the greatest country in the world" (I'm no American but I don't really care much for my own country either)… I was left with a pretty bland and bitter after-taste. A nice concept, but it's really a shame they didn't do more with it. It's in many ways a copy of Super Metroid with a few added bonuses, and with a far less inspiring setting (soldiers soldiers soldiers oh a robot soldiers soldiers).