Shadow Complex
	Genre: Action (Platformer) Developer: Chair Entertainment Group
Publisher Region Released Epic Games NA 08/19/2009

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Staff Review

Review by Jason Venter
September 06, 2009

If the movie "Jaws" ensured that people would be reluctant to go near the water again, then Shadow Complex is the video game that will finally scare us away from hiking. As the story begins, a colonel is running along through the streets of a present-day city, hunting down what appears to be a terrorist group. As he makes his way through the urban environment, he takes out one gun-toting goon after another and even guns down a helicopter that tries to pepper him with bullets. Just when it seems that he's done some good, the news arrives: despite the colonel's best efforts, someone has killed the vice president.

Fade to black, then cut to a beautiful valley, somewhere not far from San Francisco. Jason--a nobody--and Claire--the girl he's only just recently met and would like to get to know better--are taking a peaceful hike near some caves when they get separated at the bottom of a steep embankment. Distressed, Jason follows his new flame deeper underground, where he is just in time to see her get carried away by heavily armored soldiers. Clearly, the two of them have stumbled across something significant.

Those opening moments do a good job of establishing a dark mystery, but from that point on they're the exception and not the rule. As players journey deeper into the cavern, the story is told through the landscape and the enemies that Jason encounters, not by way of an abundance of cutscenes. Occasionally, scripted exposition will break in and establish a new motivation to keep digging, but otherwise Shadow Complex is precisely what it should be: the tale of one man's journey to save the woman he could someday grow to love, to wrestle his inner demons and perhaps to protect the modern world as we know it.

While the people at Chair Entertainment and Epic Games could have told the story in any number of ways, they chose to go with something akin to Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. As with both of those classics, there's a huge map and a lot of backtracking to look forward to as numerous passageways reveal their secrets and new gear grants additional abilities to the reluctant hero.

There are some key differences, however, and these allow Shadow Complex to expertly straddle the line between derivative and innovative. Thanks to the power of current-generation hardware, enemies aren't limited to attacks mounted from the foreground. They'll dash from passageways in the background, snipe from distant railings or take cover behind crates. To defeat those resourceful adversaries, Jason will need to aim his gun, which is equipped with a laser sight. This mechanic allows for head shots and ensures that the game doesn't devolve into just a run 'n gun with occasional exploration, though it's certainly possible to dash toward an enemy, leap into the air and fire a few quick shots to turn the witless opponent into a corpse.

Boss battles, though infrequent, also benefit from complexity. When you're going up against a massive mech and you're not wearing a lot more than jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, it stands to reason that you'd get torn to ribbons by a burst of fire. There's a way around that. When you're stuck in a waterlogged shaft with a spidery robot capable of sending a barrage of missiles your way, your head makes a better weapon than your puny machine gun. And when you're running around a large platform and a machine is rolling around it like a buzz saw... you stand near the right side and just fire a missile whenever it passes by without worrying about taking damage. Ah, well. Not every fight can be a nail biter.

Fights aren't what games like Super Metroid were all about, anyway. Those adventures were about exploration, and so is Shadow Complex. When you're not battling some metallic behemoth--most of the time, then--you're usually trying to get some gear that will allow you to survive the next brawl. That means seeking out weaponry wherever you can find it, whether that be at the far end of a furnace vent or in a small cranny on the opposite side of an underwater passage. There are plenty of goodies to collect if you're just patient enough to go through the same areas a few times as new supplies increase the distance you can jump, the speed with which you move and the explosive power of your sub-weapons. If you make sure to grab everything (or even if you don't), you shouldn't have any sort of trouble reaching the end of the adventure in one piece.

Thanks to a few in-game cues, finding all of that loot is seldom a chore. At key junctures, blue lines will appear on your map tracing the route that you should take to reach your next destination, sort of like you might recall from the computer terminals if you played through Metroid Fusion. As you explore, question marks will appear to note the presence of an item you couldn't acquire at the time, plus dots are noted on the map when a room held a secret that you've already discovered. When you reach the rooms themselves, secrets have a tendency to glow just brightly enough that they stand out from the shadows or metal, particularly if you shine a light in their direction. They'll even reflect a certain color so you can get a feel for the technique that's required to remove any obstacles. There are a few brain teasers throughout the game, but usually you won't have much trouble if you take the time to stop and weigh your options.

Of course, some gamers won't appreciate the developers' efforts to keep things accessible. They'll want something more challenging. For those folks, there is a pleasing selection of achievements. Sure, there are some that reward you for kicking enough enemies, or for collecting enough headshots or even just clearing the game. Those are expected, but they're joined by calls to work through the whole adventure in less than two hours, or to collect only a bare minimum of gear. Those might not sound particularly rough, but give them a try and see how far you get.

Along the same lines, there's also a "Proving Grounds" mode that presents the player with a selection of obstacle courses. One requires you to leap along platforms without bumping into spidery machines that line the floor and ceiling. Another asks you to toss grenades into distant holes to trigger switches that will create a bridge so that you can cross a dangerous gap. These challenges are all timed and points are awarded upon completion, with your best records saved so that you can show off to friends who maybe haven't fared as well as you have. The potential for a little bit of friendly rivalry should be enough to keep some players busy long after they've seen the closing credits.

Generally, the games that are available for download through a service such as Xbox Live Arcade feel limited. They can sometimes be a lot of fun, but the sense when you're done playing them is that they offer the sort of experience that could never exist nowadays without the inexpensive digital medium. Shadow Complex, while certainly a throwback to older games, is different. Chair Entertainment and Epic Games have produced something magical, an old school adventure that feels more satisfying than many over-hyped titles that arrive on the local store shelf with three or four times the price tag. Don't miss it!

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