A bit late to the party that is Shadow Complex

Well bloody hell, THIS is a find.

Let's get the boring stuff out the way: Shadow Complex is an Xbox live arcade game made by EPIC studios (them lot of Unreal and Gears fame) on the unreal engine. Its also deal of the week currently, and you can grab it for 800 MS points. THIS IS A STEAL.

The best thing about the game however is its style. Its part of the long lost Castlevania-Metroid genre, and its fantastic. Its fully 3D but the character can only move in two dimensions. Then its basically Metroid, but with guns and set in (kinda) modern day rather than in space. The main character, Jason something, is also far more talky then Samus - he's voiced by Nolan North, the bloke who does Drakes voice in Uncharted. He's video game gold, and his sarcastic comments throughout make the game even more fun. He's basically playing Drake if Drake was infiltrating a shadowy evil complex. This isn't really a bad thing.



So like in Metroid, you unlock bits of map, you navigate around areas with a surprising amount of grace, and you kill things. This is where Shadow Complex might out do its inspirations. Its weapons have a lovely feel to them, which is rather impressive on a side scroller - you feel like you've got some dangerous weaponry, something even some FPS games can't even get right.

Also its a definitely a contender for the "game that has pulled me in fastest" award. Admittedly, its not the catchiest name for an award, but pah! In about the first two minutes you've shot some fools and bought down a helicopter - the game was on trial at that point, and it offered that if I unlocked and bought the full product, I would get the achievement for my Die Hard style helicopter killing moves. This is as evil as it is clever, and I succumbed immediately, losing my afternoon to it in the process. Luckily the game continues to be fantastic, but wow, its commercialism bought to a scary new level. I don't know whether to be mortified or impressed.



Another realization this game has bought to me is that this "Metroid" genre might just be one of my favorite types of game, I just hadn't realized it. At first I simply thought I just loved Metroid, but hey Metroid Prime is awesome. And so is Castlevania. And so is Batman: Arkham Asylum, which uses the same map system and new items to progress system of those games. In fact, Arkham is probably my game of the year for 2009, carefully beating out Dragon Age, which I am convinced is trying to steal my soul. Every time I play, its like time outside speeds up, and I wake up a few hours later. Its witchcraft I tell ye, but I lack the will to break its hold over me. Also playing Brutal Legend... Really not quite sure on that one. The world is brilliant, the script funny and the voice acting brilliant. The gameplay at the moment however is lacking a bit. Tim Schafer hasn't let me down before, but I suppose nobody is perfect. I remain hopeful it will improve however.

Bloody hell, that was a bit of a tangent. Anyway, Shadow Complex. It's good, definitely a worthy investment. At some point before Christmas I should probably do a festive blog, full of yuletide cheer and love. Bah. Maybe.

Much love blogosphere!