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It’s not often that we get as excited about an XBLA game as we do a full retail title, but that’s what’s happened with 360 exclusive title Shadow Complex. During Microsoft’s E3 conference Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski revealed the side-scrolling platform shooter to a muted reception (an XBLA game only partially from Epic, actually developed by Chair, wasn’t what everyone really wanted him to announce), but it’s slowly been building hype since. Now we’ve had a chance to play a sizeable chunk of the game there’s no doubting the game’s quality. Shadow Complex shouldn’t be forgotten about when looking at the Xbox 360 line-up for the rest of 2009.
Shadow Complex is actually set in the universe of Empire, the best-selling novel by Ender’s Game author Orson Scott Card. The novel tells the story of a fictitious second American Civil War, fought between the Right Wing and Left Wing in the near future. This XBLA game centres on lost hiker Jason Fleming and his girlfriend Claire, who accidentally stumble upon a paramilitary group called the Restoration – a group trying to set in motion a series of events that will cause America to collapse. The story here has been penned by popular comic book author Peter David (The Incredible Hulk, Aquaman, Spider-Man and Star Trek), and the events run parallel to those in the novel.
Comparisons to Metroid were made almost as soon as the E3 presentation ended and it’s clear why. From the side-on room map that shows you how to get to each location to the places that need to be revisited in order to use items found later on, the game has clearly been somewhat influenced by Metroid and Castlevania. While there’s no exploration in the modern sense (you’re strictly limited to wandering horizontally across each room), the game world is massive and there are hidden items all over the place. Chair and Epic are promising a game that’s comparable in length to a full retail release (along with replay promoting leaderboards), and from what we’ve played (and our percentage complete stat) that will almost certainly be the case.
Playing the game is initially a little odd. Jason controls smoothly enough, but the running and jumping has a classic Prince of Persia feel. He’ll leap across large gaps when jumping while running, and cling onto ledges before pulling himself up. The platforming isn’t nearly as rigid as the genre defining classic, though, and combined with the free-aim shooting (use the right analogue stick to target enemies and right trigger to fire) the whole thing could be likened to a 2D version of Sony’s Uncharted.
From what we’ve played so far the combat is quite slow-paced, with Jason better off popping up out of cover for a few shots than running in to battle all guns blazing. While you start off with a fairly weak pistol, it’s not long before you’ll get more powerful guns, grenades and other secondary fire options. You’ll need some high-powered kit in order to take down some of the larger enemies you’ll come across, with the first few hours throwing devastating mechanical walkers and attack gunships at you in spectacular set-piece moments.
With more than 80 per cent of the game still to see it’s hard to comment too much on the variety in locations, but what we’ve seen so far is rather Metal Gear Solid-esque. The underground lair is full of electronic doors, security cameras, roaming sentry bots, large expanses of water, plenty of grates to destroy and doors to blow up. Gameplay variety will rest on the items waiting to be found later on in the campaign, although we’ve already played through a section that puts Jason behind a fixed gun turret.
Visually Shadow Complex is above and beyond anything we’ve seen on XBLA to date. Built on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3, Chair’s side-scroller looks superb. The environments and character models are excellent, but it’s the lighting that catches the eye the most. It should probably be expected seeing as the same engine has brought us the Gears of War series, but even using a flashlight looks superb as Jason dynamically illuminates dark caves. Currently the game’s cutscenes don’t match the quality of the game elsewhere, mainly down to some iffy writing and lip syncing, but these are still better than what we’re used to in a downloadable title.
After spending a few hours with Shadow Complex we now know why Microsoft made such a big deal out of it during its E3 conference. It doesn’t have the hype surrounding it that a full retail release would, but that could well work in its favour. On its release gamers may well find a game that sets a new bar for downloadable titles on XBLA and all download services.
Shadow Complex will be released exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade on August 19, priced 1200 Microsoft Points.
