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| Shadow Complex XBLA Cover |
I really enjoy
adventure games. There’s just something about exploring the unknown that makes
me want to sit down hours for a time and enjoy the experience. These days
people are interested in shooters, so one Xbox Live Arcade title seeks to
deliver both an action adventure and an action shooter.
Shadow Complex,
developed by Chair Entertainment, is an action adventure game in which one man
goes up against an organization preparing to overthrow the United States
government. It starts out with the guy, played by Nolan North, going spelunking
with a girl he just met and continues with him finding a super suit. I played a
few hours, gradually exploring the environment and gaining new abilities to
open up new areas and fight more powerful enemies. This game takes heavy
inspiration from Super Metroid, a classic action adventure title and one of my
favorite games of all time. For example, in Shadow Complex you shoot missiles
to open doors that are highlighted red when you shine your flashlight on them.
The game keeps track of all the collectible items you find and the areas you
explore. Apparently you can level up and gain abilities like having infinite grenades,
which is great for speed runs and low collection percentage runs.
In addition to
the exploration elements, the shooting is pretty good. You start with a pistol
and get upgrades to the basic gun power. You also get special additions like
grenades to fire at your enemies and a foam gun attachment to incapacitate
them. The only problem with the shooting occurs when trying to aim at objects
not on the two-dimensional plane movement is restricted to. Sometimes it would
take me a while to hit an enemy in the background, but it was never too
frustrating that I would be dying repeatedly. Additionally, enemies respawn
after you load a save, so on one occasion I encountered a group of enemies I
already fought from the other side of the room. They kept killing me before I
could get a grenade to open the exit on the bottom of the room, but I managed
to get through it somehow.
Shadow Complex
is an excellent downloadable title made by the now focused on the iOS Infinity
Blade titles. I look forward to coming back to the game to complete the super
suit arsenal and defeat the sinister organization with power suits and heavy
mechs. I might even explore the world for 100% item collection and complete the
optional challenges like the Insurgent run, which isn't even an Achievement by the way.
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