Hobben has 7 chronicles

1. Quick Look: Shadow Complex
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Aug 25 2009

   
   
   Platform: XBLA
   Release Date: OUT NOW!
   Price: 1200 MS Points ($15.00)
   Multiplayer: No
   
   
   Shadow Complex is a great game, It doesn’t do anything new, actually it does old stuff GREAT. Inspired by Metroid, Shadow Complex is a “semi” side scrolling action adventure game. Now let’s take a quick look at my describing words for this game so you know why I classified it the way I did. As a bonus during this classification process you’ll get a “nut shell” view of the game (hehe see what I did there).
   
   
   Side Scrolling
   
   I mention that Shadow Complex is a Side Scrolling game because it is, you move in one single plane. In this plan you can move left, right, up, and down shooting enemies and solving simple puzzles on our way. I added the work Semi because for 98% of the game you’re in this single plane, but every so often you can “leave” the plane by shooting enemies in the background or when you take control of a mounted turret and destroy everything you can.
   
   
   Action
   
   
   
   Yep an action game, surprise! Action is a tricky tag to attach to a game; I mean what game doesn’t have some kind of action in it. Shadow Complex delivers its action in the kill the bad guys sort of way. Your movement is locked to one plane while your shooting isn’t; this allows Shadow Complex to do something really cool. You control this side scrolling shooter like you would a FPS. Movement is on the left stick and aiming is on the right. It feels great, when it works correctly. Shooting into the 3d plane is sometime challenging as the game seems to think your want to shoot in the 2D plane. It works most of the time but occasionally it doesn’t do exactly what you want it to. The action in Shadow complex can get pretty exciting; you barrel into a room filled with different enemy types and start shooting and launching missiles like crazy. Soon reinforcements start coming in and you are sometimes forced to use all your tools to come out victorious.
   
   
   Adventure
   
   This is where Shadow Complex shines, yes it’s a side scrolling game, and of course it’s full of action but at its core below everything else it’s all about the adventure. This is a good thing because without multiplayer it had better be a stellar single player experience. Shadow Complex uses alots of different ways to enhance your adventure as you play, here is a look as some of the “systems” the game uses to do this.
   
   Leveling System - You level up in Shadow Complex and while the leveling system is pretty simple it’s HOW YOU GET the XP that makes your adventure fun. The level cap is 50 and each time you level up you get one of your 3 stats increased by 1. You gain XP 1 of three ways; killing enemies, exploring a square on your map, and finding items. This system really makes you want to explore and get to areas you normally would just skip over. I’ve found myself spending a lot of time just seeing how high I can jump in the outdoor areas to see if I can unlock another square on my map for a little XP boost.
   
   
   
   Collectables – Scattered throughout the Shadow Complex world are 120 collectables but these are your traditional “cog tags” or generic item that don’t do anything. They are actually a huge power boost for your character. Some items increase the amount of ammo you can carry while others increase your health or armor. A few items are keys that once you collect them all let you access secret areas with some really cool stuff in them. The collectables show up as a ? on your map and some are hidden pretty well. You’ll find yourself spending a lot of time in a single square of the map just trying to find the hidden item.
   
   Story – While the story in Shadow Complex isn’t anything to write home about it does do a decent job of making you want to push forward and see what happens next, or rather see what awesome new piece of the armor set you’ll get next is. The story is a pretty simple lose the girl, find the girl, take out the bad guys type of experience. The good thing is you accomplish this by slowing unlocking pieces to an armor suite that by the time you have all of it makes you feel like a true badass.
   
   
   Verdict
   
   Like I said Shadow Complex does what it does great and is a truly fun game. When I finished my first play though I instantly started another, with no hesitation. No, it’s not world changing and it even has its problems (the 3d aiming issues) they simply took an old genre and modernized it a bit, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play it. It’s a great value and a great game to fill in those gaps between releases this fall. You’ll get hours of enjoyment out of it, between the story mode, new game +, and the challenge rooms (some of these I didn’t even talk about but hey you need a few reasons to dig in a little deeper and play the game, right?).
   
   
   
   
   Want more Shadow Complex info?
   
   Here are some other sites, reviews and videos on Shadow Complex! Go check them out!
   
   IGN screenshots
   Giantbomb Review
   1up Review (I thought 1up was a little harsh on the game but everything they say was true)

   
   

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Hobben has 2 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Seripha
   Posted On Aug 26 2009

   I'll be honest. The game looks like a lot of fun; however, I don't think I am going to have enough time to play it. As soon as ODST comes out, I will play that until Borderlands comes out. Furthermore, even if I did have time, I think I would be more apt to pick up Splosion Man first.

2. BEN
   Posted On Aug 25 2009

   With the photos/link drops into this Chronicle, I see you're technically savvy sir
   
   Thanks for the great video game review, from this game that seemed to be getting tons of hype last week. 5/5 on G4 TV must say something, but your review was way better!
   
   I look forward to more of these insightful reviews from you for sure...10/10