Shadow Complex (Xbox 360)- Gen Next Super Metroid

Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Super slick animations, dozens of power ups to find and collect, in game notifications.

Thumbs down: Getting from one end of the massive base to the other can be a pain,   Aiming doesn’t always work the way it should.

Inside the trunk:

• Platform Xbox 360
• ESRB rating Teen – Violence, Mild Language
• Genre Action
• Number of players 1 Player
• Connectivity Scoreboards
• Customization Downloadable Content
• Sound Dolby Digital 5.1
• Resolution 720p,Widescreen
• Developer Chair Entertainment

The whiz-kid speaks:

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that’s exactly what the storyline of shadow complex is… when Jason and his girlfriend Claire are on a great alfresco they come across an underground base which is home to the progressive restoration, a fanatical organization set on liberating San Francisco. What follows is Claire being held as a captive by the wicked guys. Now its upto Jason to save his lady and that’s just what the game is all about. Even though the saving of Claire is supposed to be the highlight of the game, it is not actually integrated properly into the storyline with action being given more prominence. So for all you action oriented nut heads… get your guns and get going. Shadow complex is the game for you.

Coming back to the game… to start with Jason only has only a flashlight and probably quick wits. It’s with the help of this flashlight that Jason must search for equipment to arm himself with from the restoration camp. Though the base seems to be teeny weeny in the beginning, as the game progresses the area expands. The flashlight almost guides you through the way; also there is a map option so there are hardly any occasions where you would get lost in the camp.

It also enables you to shoot left and right and it has a new feature added to it… shooting in the background. The left thumb stick controls Jason’s movement and the right thumb stick helps in aiming the gun precisely. Jason’s agile, he can leap, jump, run around and the game gets all the more engrossing with he constant thrills of finding the dozens of power-ups, exploring every nook and corner on the map, and pushing your completion percentages all the way to 100 are more than enough to keep you wanting for more.

Deep inside into the restoration base, your attacked by a huge melee of attackers with the guns the bombs and the grenades. Once inside the infiltration camp, that’s where the real drama begins. All the drama, the excitement adds to killer antics of the game. The main hook up factor is the item gathering. You got to discover the power ups in the rat-hole. The more power ups that you discover, the more previously inaccessible areas become accessible. This is where the super metroid comparison actually comes into picture. Every new found item leads to a lot of  new possibilities. it’s not just Jason’s weaponry that expands – early on he finds a piece of an advanced suit of armour that eventually leads him to transform into a super-powered cyborg. At first the upgrades are slight – thrust boosts for a double boost jump and damage reduction come in very handy, but then even more powerful armour pieces are found – breathing apparatus for underwater diving and the hook shot for Spider-Man-style swinging to name only two. You can bulldozer your way through the game with the help of the friction dampener.

You cannot knock the bottom out of the item gathering gameplay. It quietly increases the health, the armour and the accuracy along the way without actually making the player dependent on it. Awesome kills would mean scoring experience gain multipliers. For example, killing a bunch of goons with a falling shipping crate would get you a huge amount of XP. Its does not matter that u kill, but the way in which you kill is what actually matters in the end.

Nitty- gritty: Like I said earlier by the end of the game all that’s on your mind is collecting the armour and smashing the opponents down… saving your poor better half is not actually on your mind. Unlike the other remix and remade versions this is surely a breath of fresh air. The platforming is shot on. The collision detection is bang on again. The animation is kind of fantastic with each action sequence in a smooth flow. I say kind of fantastic because for a Xbox Version the animations are a bit off the league. But still again, this time definitely Chair has come up with something; no action oriented whack job would like to give up on. For all the gamophiles out there, go ahead give it a shot. It surely won’t disappoint you.

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