Shadow Complex

Overview

Jason using cover--and explosives--to his advantage.

Shadow Complex is Epic Games' first Xbox Live Arcade title and was developed by Chair Entertainment. The title has often been described as a 2D side-scroller in 3D similar to the Metroid and Castlevania series with some elements borrowed from Contra. The major difference is that the player can fire at enemies and objects not only in the plane of the player but also in the foreground and background. The player takes control of Jason Fleming (voiced by Nolan North), an average Joe out for a hike with his girlfriend Claire when she is kidnapped by a highly organized paramilitary organization. Armed with nothing but a flashlight, Jason must locate weapons and technology from the kidnappers to rescue Claire. The title was the last of the featured Summer of Arcade 2009 releases on Xbox Live Arcade and became the best-selling single-player game on the service.

Story

Claire

The story for Shadow Complex was created by Peter David, one of the most prolific and best-known comic book writers of all time. The renowned author’s vast credits include an award-winning twelve-year run on The Incredible Hulk and other popular titles such as Supergirl, Aquaman, Spider-Man, Star Trek, and Wolverine, among many others. The plot is set in Chair's Empire universe and the events run parallel to those in Orson Scott Card's novel Empire (OSC licensed the literary rights to Empire from Chair Entertainment in 2006). The story begins a few days before the beginning of Empire and ends during the plot line of Empire. Jason Fleming is out with a girl he met the night before exploring a cave she knew as a child. She is kidnapped by a militaristic group and brought into an underground base. Jason follows, and finds that this base is run by the "Progressive Restoration" a far left extremist group bent on "liberating" America from the right. Jason, bent on rescuing Claire, proceeds to gather pieces of a prototype suit from the Restoration, and, by the end, purposes to stop the Restoration, even if it means he must give his life to do so.

The end of the story ties in heavily with Empire, and answers a major looming question from the book. It remains to be seen how Card's next novel in the Empire universe, Hidden Empire which was released on December 22, 2009, will tie in with Shadow Complex.

Levels

• Prologue
• Is This a Joke?
• Claire has been captured!
• Find the Interrogation Room
• Get to the Helipad
• Find Mr. Sweet's Laboratory
• Find a Way to Escape
• Where's the Omega Armor?
• Shut Down the Factory
• Steal the Omega Armor
• Find First Component of the Omega Armor
• Go Back to Claire
• Get Claire and Escape
• Rescue Claire!

Features

Weaponry

Jason's upgraded armor

• Guns - Guns have unlimited ammo. You find your first gun early in the game and throughout the game will upgrade to more powerful automatic weapons.

• Grenades - Grenades are found at the beginning of the game and are used by firing them out of the currently equipped weapon.

• Foam Gun - Can be used both to immobilize enemies and to create platforms to jump on.

• Missiles - Dumb-fire missiles for taking down bigger enemies and doors.

Ability Upgrades

• Flashlight - The player starts with the flashlight, which is used to determine what weapon to use on a given object. Grenade doors will glow green, Missile doors glow red, Foam doors glow purple, and Friction Dampener objects glow blue.

• Climbing Gear - Found very early in the game, as they introduce the player to upgrades, and gives Jason the ability to climb up ledges and wall jump.
• Thrust Pack - A jet pack that allows the player to Double Jump and boost slightly when swimming.
• SCHCA Mask - A mask that lets the player swim underwater indefinitely.
• Omega Armor - Powered exoskeleton that adds more damage resistance and a ground pound ability.
• Hook Shot - Allows the player to grapple all over the environment to access and discover new areas.
• Thrust Boots - Additional thrusters that allows the player to Triple Jump.
• Friction Dampener - Allows the player to run (at extreme speeds) across the surface of water, straight through enemies and crates, and along walls and ceilings.
• Fusion Helmet - Makes the player invulnerable to all enemy fire while standing still or moving slowly.

Collectibles

• Health Upgrades - Increases maximum health by 100.
• Armor Upgrades - Makes the various armor types more effective with each upgrade.
• Grenade Packs - Increases the maximum number of grenades available to the player.
• Foam Packs - Grants the player more foam capacity.
• Missile Packs - Expands the maximum missile capacity of the player.
• Passkey Components - Allows access to the Fusion Helmet.
• Gold Bars - When all gold bars are obtained, the player gets access to a room at the beginning of the game containing gold versions of every single weapon. These weapons give the player XP bonuses when used. The room can be accessed on new playthroughs on any difficulty.

There are two achievements tied to collectibles. One achievement requires players to get 100% of the collectibles and beat the game, while the other requires players to finish the game with no more than 13% of the collectibles.

Experience Points and Multipliers

Melee attacks give more experience

While strictly not an RPG, Jason gains experience points by exploring the environment, defeating enemies, and acquiring upgrades. In turn, attributes like accuracy, precision or stamina, are increased automatically. A unique attribute of Shadow Complex's XP system is the idea of XP multipliers. If the player performs certain actions (head shots, melee attacks) a multiplier is added for every successful move, increasing the overall XP reward. Shadow Complex also rewards the player for defeating larger enemies like bosses by exploiting their weaknesses or attacking them in clever ways. While all enemies can be defeated simply by continuous shooting for extended periods of time, the game "knows" when this is taking place and gives less XP.

Additionally, uncovering squares of the map grants more experience than killing enemies. However, acquiring collectibles grants the most experience of all. This means that there is more incentive to explore and play through the game multiple times.

Achievements

Embracing Metroid and other similar games' traditions of speed running and sequence breaking, Chair has endeavored to add multiple achievements for these feats. The most difficult feats are not in the form of achievements, but rather in the form of "master challenges" that exist only within the game - a way to give achievement lovers more easy achievements while also giving the hardcore players a standardized set of goals.

Gameplay Features

The extensive map

• 7 to 12 hours for most players.
• Over 100 hidden items to collect.
• Leveled-up characters can carry over to multiple playthroughs.
• Challenge rooms are included to hone the player's skills, all with accompanying online leaderboards. In each challenge room, the player can earn a bronze, silver, gold or platinum medal, depending on how well they have completed it.

Accolades

Shadow Complex was revealed at E3 2009, where it also won numerous website awards as the best downloadable game of E3. The sites that gave it this award are IGN, 1Up, Team Xbox, GameSpy, GameTrailers, G4TV X-Play, Electric Playground, and Gamefocus. Shadow Complex went on to win more than 25 Editor's Choice and E3 awards to date.