Shadow Complex
posted on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 10:07 by
theshadow
Today I sat down to try out the new and raved about XBLA platformer game Shadow Complex. I had heard several great things about it and it even won an award at E3 so I figured, hell, why not? Now before I jump into the details I'm going to say that there were some good things and some bad things about the game. As there are with most games.
So lets jump right in shall we? Starting off the game had a nostalgic feel to it being a platformer. Adding to this was the fact that the world is beautifully rendered in 3D which one would expect no less from the Unreal Engine. Though the opening sequence felt a bit out of order and the story had plot holes to fill in I did enjoy the classic espionage, world-is-about-to-end kind of story they were going for. The effects and renderings were truly a great piece of eye candy. But after you got passed all the pretty things, and the thrill of being a super high-tech ass kicking badass you're not left with much.
One of the glaring plot holes start right at the beginning where you're tossed into a street shootout with other supposed enemies. Though those that you would think are the friendlies, wearing US standard issued army fatigues and speaking like military commandos, are actually the enemies and those scary looking guys in the all black suits with glasses are friendlies. Then, after a quick street shoot out where you learn to use the weapons built into your amazing suit and destroy the enemy helicopter you find out that the suit is still under the control of the bad guys and are left struggling as the enemy flies off laughing. Which is all fine and dandy but then you start the next scene near some cave for some unclear reason other than some woman you met in a bar was flirting with you and you were hoping to get some. Apparently you're new lady friend Claire (so original guys...) is an anthropology major who likes to explore caves and this is why you are here. Which it conveniently turns out she use to explore as a child. Now you find out that cave has somehow been turned into a secret subterranean lair of some sort and in true platformer fashion they hired the worst structural engineer they could find. With ladders placed just out of reach requiring jumping to get on, and lovely stair cases everywhere that your character can't seem to figure out to use and instead wall jumps up tight places.
There were many other issues to point out about the game play but I'm just going to stick with the major ones. First, as previously stated the game was beautifully rendered, which brought a certain ambiance to the game but it also made it distracting and frustrating. You see since its really a 2D platformer you can't go and explore all these wonderful nooks and crannies even though they look like you should be able to. Whats worse is that your enemies are allowed to hide and shoot you from the Z-axis which brings me to my next topic. The controls for the game were laid out like a 3D shooter. The right analog stick is for aiming and the left is for movement. This works well in a 3D environment because you can quickly and easily move and look around at the same time. This doesn't work so well when you're locked along one vertical plane of the screen and your baddies aren't. Half the time I was getting used to having to move the right analog stick "UP" to point in to the Z-axis. Not only that you have to have your enemy somewhere on screen if you want to even be able to aim in that "direction". What I found most confusing about the game was the fact that it was rendered in 3D. In several instances it was difficult at first glance to determine what was usable and what was navigable. So I spent time hoping around seeing what I could actually interact with.
All-in-all the game felt like Megaman meets Metal Gear Solid with all the fun and all the annoyances of both. For 1200 XBox Points its an ok deal and you should at least get one decent run through if you can look past the horrible controls and confusing terrain.
Tags: