A Fun Side Scrolling Adventure, Akin To Classic Consoles In Homage
Enter your character Jason Fleming and your girlfriend Claire, on a adventurous day out in the woods you both discover the existence of one of the bunkers occupied by a shadowy faction of right-wing militants intent on overthrowing the current government. As your girlfriend is kidnapped by this group, and taken into the bunker you begin your exploration of the bunker system discovering many secrets.
This faction have high-tech weaponry and equipment, that puts them well above the capabilities of the current national army making them a clear threat. You know that if this secret army of super soldiers and robots are unleashed on the nation, the government will crumble within days to their sheer power. You take it upon yourself to sabotage their efforts from within, using their own technology against them.
What hits you first is that Shadow Complex is not your modern shooter, it pays homage to the old side scrolling shooters on the classic consoles of the 1980's and 1990's with the addition of 3D effects in places. This never put me off, I found it a refreshing idea mixed with modern cut scenes and set-pieces.
Exploration is what made me play on for hours at a time, discovering upgrades and boots for my weapons and character hidden away behind vents, walls and obstacles you must work out a way through. The storyline did eventually lose appeal to me, as it was just the game play that interested me as they did not expand on the story, or the aims of this shadowy group.
Most of the time you will spend exploring the bunker looking for hidden upgrades and boosts, as some are required at certain points to pass on through the game.
Shadow Complex was well worth the price of downloading off of Xbox Live, I got it on black Friday deal for just 800 Microsoft points instead of the original price of 1200 Microsoft points. This in itself was a bonus for me to enjoy the game, knowing I made a saving on it.
The Good:
- Great fun, enticing side scrolling game play.
- Great soundtrack.
- Fun bosses and obstacles to beat or find a solution to.
- Hours of exploration in searching for all boosts and upgrades, some hidden away ingeniously in places.
- Graphically quite alluring.
The Bad:
- Story line leaves a lot to be desired, most of it is just mentioned but never elaborated on throughout the game becoming redundant very quickly.
Give Shadow Complex a try, if you are a fan of the old-school side scrolling games or if you are in need of a new game to keep you busy for a few hours.