Video Review: Shadow Complex
Chair Entertainment have not only made a great re-birth to the 2D/3D side scrolling adventure series but they have added so much content that after your first play through you will be diving back into it to collect all the secrets that are hidden in the world of Shadow Complex.
From the get go Chair have described this game as a 'Metroidvania' twist and it shows. Some items you may get a flash back from the past and you can see where some of the items have been influenced from. You will start out with a basic pistol and move onto a machine gun and then a shotgun, there isn't much variety in the weaponry but they are backed up with some much needed gadget. You will go through some grenades, rockets, grappling hooks and jump jets but then get your hands on a foam gun in which you can build foam bridges to get across difficult areas and also friction dampers which will enable you to run at super speed.
Throughout the game the map will get uncovered and by the end it is a vast complex that will take a fair few hours to explore. My first play through was roughly six hours and I didn't even get 100% of the items. However, every play through after will take a smaller time as you start to understand how you can navigate through the world. Your flash light when shone onto something sometimes changes the colour of the object; this will indicate how it can be smashed. For example red is rockets, green is grenades, purple is foam. This is where the Metroid style gameplay comes into Shadow Complex as some areas you will only be able to access much later on in the game.
While the game promotes exploration it also helps out whenever it can. Dropping the difficulty to easy guides you from room to room with a blue line, and when you get to level 20 the whole map is revealed along with all the items. I personally really like this features as too many games have driven me insane by hiding items that you can never find.
The presentation of the game is solid for the most parts, breaking up the story with cut-scenes and switching from 2D to a 3D perspective in set pieces usually involving a turret that you control and overall the Unreal Engine has been used to maximum effect offering one of the best looking 2D games. However, sometimes the shooting in the game can become tricky as the developers clearly just wanted to show off how they are using a 3D engine and placing enemies in the background making them twice as difficult to shoot sometimes, but most of the time Shadow Complex is broken up by save rooms that give you a breather.
Chair Entertainment have made such a great package and asked for so little (1200 MP). The story is slightly predictable but that does not take away from the great mechanics that Chair has put in place. Once you have completed it once you will be dying to jump straight back into it and the progression system is so well implemented that you will feel like the next unlock is just around the corner.
