I’m not sure how far I am in Shadow Complex. I’m not sure how far I will get in it either. It’s taken me a while to pick it up, and playing games post-review era is a fascinating venture I don’t usually take part in. Everybody this summer raved about how it’s an HD Super Metroid: a gamic style that is currently one expressed in DS Castlevania titles. It’s an itch that’s needed to be scratched for every console gamer nowadays.

Over the last months, however, I’ve been playing through Metroid Prime Trilogy and Super Metroid. The exploration-based gameplay has been great to dabble in as college finals take up the majority of my time. Now that school of over for a month I sit down to play Shadow Complex and I’m not in love with it, but not to the fault Chair Entertainment of Epic Games.

You will love Shadow Complex if you need something to quench your Metroidvania pallet, but if you’ve had your fill of that gamic style, you will find yourself looking at the games faults. I will state beforehand that these issues are not what the game is about in its entirety, but after playing other games similar to Shadow Complex, it’s worth taking notes of what could be fixed for the future.

When I heard about this game at E3, I was intrigued by its story. The game uses licensed characters from an Orson Scott Card novel. Last time I checked, people love Ender’s Game, but I can’t help but find Jason Flemming, That game’s protagonist, absurd and unremarkable (I actually had to check wikipedia to learn what his name is). Early on, Flemming has a flashback about him telling his father he wasn’t keen on hurting people. Then he pulls out a gun and kills bad guys throughout the rest of the game. Also, for someone who isn’t keen on weapons, he knows the names of more weapons than any pacifist should.

The concept of a 2.5D game seems a little wonky too. It does seem broken that my enemies can shoot me on a Z-plane that I can’t reach. The same thing goes for doors as well. As a gamer, I want to access these areas that are in the background, but they are not at all in the play-space. These doors are purely cosmetic. It’s not a game-breaker, but it simply feels odd to see areas that can’t be accessed because Jason Flemming can’t walk anywhere other than left or right.

Shadow Complex is a great game with these quibbles aside. There aren’t any console Metroidvania-styled titles around in this day and age, and it should be played on these merits alone. I do like the attempt at adding a story to this style of game, but I just don’t think it works too well. I do enjoy the game more because there are story elements in it. It gives me a reason for playing which is something that games like Metroid on NES really doesn’t have. I may post a follow-up review once I actually finish this game, but at the moment my opinions stand firm.