Fans of the “metroidvania” and 2.5D style of games rejoice! Shadow Complex will fulfill your side-scrolling, item-scouring needs faithfully. Gamers who aren’t familiar with these types of games or just don’t like them, however, may be best suited trying out a demo before purchasing the game.

Shadow Complex starts off in a rather strange (yet completely cliché) place. You’ll take control of some unknown agent with a high-tech suit on a mission to save the Vice President of the United States. Of course, like all “metroidvania” style games, in this first mission you’ll have every ability unlocked, lose those abilities, and proceed through the rest of the game collecting them all again. If you’re already displeased by the description of the game, you probably won’t like what else there is to say.

The rest of the game and its story will follow Jason Flemming, an ex-soldier who discovers a secret base while out on a date with his new girlfriend. Once his damsel is captured and effectively put in distress, Jason embarks on a daring mission to rescue her. Along the way, he learns that the base is actually the headquarters of a secret organization planning to take over the United States in order to rule it in a way they feel is best. Don’t worry, though, Shadow Complex’s story isn’t its selling point.

What ought to sell you on the game is the general feel of it. If you removed the story and replaced the main character with Samus, you’d never distinguish it from a remake of an old Metroid game, which is perfect for Metroid fans, but unfortunate for those not into the series. Players who don’t particularly enjoy searching through maze-like environments for small upgrades to health and ammo, and widely-spaced checkpoints might throw their controllers in frustration.

Though Shadow Complex does center around tons of item collection and exploration, most of the gameplay will boil down to gunplay. The game implements an auto-aiming system which seems more suggestive than forceful like the one in Halo. Enemies on the same geometric plane as you will be easily cleaned up by the auto-aim, leaving your only job to do the shooting. Unfortunately, when it comes to enemies off in the distance on other planes, you’ll run into problems targeting them correctly. You might want to aim at a stronger enemy who poses more of a threat, but all you can really do is tilt the stick slightly and hope for the best (this would work out if the auto-aim went on priority).

Another issue with the game is its uneven difficulty curve. Most games should get harder and harder as your character gains upgrades and you become better at the game. Shadow Complex starts off relatively easy and then spikes up the difficulty randomly by throwing rooms packed with heavily-armored soldiers right in front of the next checkpoint room, making it sometimes nearly impossible just to reach the next room to save and quit the game. Luckily, you can toggle the difficulty mid-game to counterbalance this issue, but that doesn’t make it nonexistent.

Most bosses are push-overs; toss a few grenades and get on with your life.

Graphically, Shadow Complex truly shines. Among the best-looking Xbox Live Arcade games ever, Shadow Complex is powered by the Unreal 3 engine, best known for its use in games like Gears of War 2. During actual gameplay, the game is perfectly fine, but when the camera zooms in during cutscenes, the flaws are more apparent. Lips move irrelevant to what words are actually spoken, and character animations are stiff, but it’s totally forgivable considering how nice it looks for such a low-costing arcade game.

In the audio department, Shadow Complex won’t astound anyone. Guns and other effects sound just right, but you won’t be humming any songs from the soundtrack years from now. One glitch I did find while playing was a silly one, but worth noting for those wondering if there are any funny exploits to be found. When you come up for air after swimming in the game, Jason will gasp for air as the oxygen gauge refills. While I was playing, though, I would jump up for air and immediately go back down, so as a result Jason would end up gasping desperately for air while deep under the water. It’s weird, and doesn’t take away from the experience at all, but it’s a quirky glitch if there’s one to be found.
The closest thing to multiplayer the game has is its online leader boards. Here you can check your score up against the folks on your friends list, other profiles on your Xbox 360, or the entirety of Xbox Live. What better reason to keep playing than to rub your huge score in the face of the Xbox Live community? If you tire of the campaign, though, you can check into the Proving Grounds mode, which serves as both an extremely lengthy tutorial, a challenge mode, and a time trial mode. You’ll compete against the clock, continually trying to shave seconds off of your time as you advance through a room with limited items and health.
Shadow Complex isn’t an incredible game by any means, but as an Xbox Live Arcade title, it beats out all competition. If you’re a fan of games like Castlevania, Metroid, or even Splosion Man, you’ll love this game from beginning to end. If you’re opposed to all item-collecting, side-scrolling action titles, don’t even give this one a passing glance. For all of its service to the “metroidvania” crowd, Shadow Complex leaves everyone else out in the cold, earning it, at best, a B-.

Grade: B-