The Life of an Ex-Hardcore Gamer

If you were like me growing up in the 80s, both the Metroid and Castlevania series are remembered with fond memories of hours upon hours of playtime. These were true 8 and 16 bit classics and when the 32-bit era came around a game by the name of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was released that combined the two series gameplay wise and it was one of my all-time favorite games. I mention this in a review for Shadow Complex because the creators of the game have not kept secret the fact that they love these games too, and this is their modern day tribute.

I have not read the novel that this game is supposedly based on, but the game has kept me pumped for it for quite some time just due to the fact of what they promised this game would be. “We took our favorite elements of Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night and threw them together into one great game.” Well, that is what they did and they ended up with an amazing game along those lines, with some modern day twists. You are an agent that starts off with nothing just like in the other games of this type and as you progress with game you get more gear and abilities that let you progress even further. The map system is also very similar where it’s all setup in grid form to keep track of where you have been and where you need to go. Although the game is made in 3D it still play on a 2D plane, with the added ability to shoot enemies in the background sometimes as well. With some of the platform elements, especially with sprinting jumps and clinging to ledges it also sometimes has a bit of a Prince of Persia feel to it (another one of my all time favorites).

The game also starts you off as a different character that’s fully powered up to give you an idea of what you can expect to do in the game later on, which I thought was a genius way to hook people into the game. They said that this was inspired by RPGs that did the same thing. You can tell the makers are true gamers of the same generation as me that know what my generation likes to play. It then brings you to the tutorial which is the type of tutorial which is introducing the story and it makes sense why he starts with so little and gains more as he goes. These means that you are hooked right away with the right learning curve of how to do everything. Add the fact that you also gain XP to gain better stats and you continue to have that “dangling carrot” to keep you playing. I still have yet to see all the game has to offer and it makes me want to finish this review that much quicker so I can get back to it.

Now that we know that the gameplay is solid, what of the graphics. The graphics, without question, are beautiful too. Especially for a downloadable title everything is so detailed and well animated along with some great looking water and lighting effects. I was especially a fan of the dust particles seen at a particular point floating in the air near a light source. Had someone said this was a full retail release I would not have questioned it one bit.

The game also has Epic’s use of your progress of achievments, just as Valve does, so you know where you stand in a particular achievement. Instead of wondering how many melee kills you have, you know how many you have and how many you need to get the achievement. This is just a nice way of knowing where you stand. On top of the achievement being at a certain point, there are leaderboards attached to them as well. So you’ve passed the 5 melee kills, now it’s time to get more kills than your friends on your friends list. I was playing, did a melee kill, and it alerted me that I was only 1 kill away from tying a friend at kills. Did the extra kill and it told me I passed them. I thought this was a nice added touch that keeps you playing the game instead of in menus.

The game is not perfect though. I do run into random glitches here and there usually related to clipping and AI. Sometimes my guy will get stuck in walls or body parts move through tunnels or rocks and then just getting all “jumpy” in animation. Then there are times that the enemies will just stand there even though you shot them or bumped into them. IGN has a video review for this game that shows what I’m talking about. Luckily they are not that often, and when they do happen they are not game breaking.

At just short of 900 MB, this XBLA title is a great way to finish off the Summer of Arcade and cannot come recommended enough. This game was hinted and rumored to be $20, but released at $15 which makes it even more of a bargain. This game is easily worth $20 or more due to the multiple difficulty levels and all the secrets to look for. Add the leaderboards and that can help push that replay value even further. The bar has now been set extremely high for XBLA games, let’s hope other developers can live up to it.

5/5 – A must buy for fans of “Metroidvania” type games. Buy now, especially if you’ve already got all the other Summer of Arcade games since you’ll get 800 free MS points.

PS – Thanks to GameFAQs for the pics for this review until I can make my own.