Originally Published: August 18, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Examiner.com

I want to continue our exploration of games being featured on Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade and in doing so we look at an exclusive downloadable game.

Shadow Complex is a product from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games (the same team that produced Gears of War) and the best way to describe the gameplay is a mix between Bionic Commando and Metroid.

A 2.5D side-scrolling shooter, Shadow Complex is the story of how a couple of hikers in the woods stumble upon an anarchist plot to overthrow the U.S. government, starting with San Francisco. The hero of our story, Jason, must rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of this unknown organization after she is captured during their hike and, in the process, defend truth, justice, and the American way by taking down the entirety of the underground complex.

The story progresses extremely quickly, but this is understandable considering downloadable games are typically far shorter than disc-based games for the sake of hard drive space and download times. Unfortunately, it seems to only skim the top of a much larger plot and keeps you in the dark even after the game ends (maybe that’s why they call it Shadow Complex?). Of course, the end credits do reveal that the game is a compliment to an actual novel and that the game is set in the universe of Orson Scott Card’s Empire series. Nice to see Epic Games encouraging us to read more by making us go out and get a book to figure out the larger plot to their game. A maximum of 10 hours worth of gameplay if you go through the training mode and set it to the highest difficulty, if you just blow through the story mode and gather a decent amount of collectibles, you can get complete it all in 4-5 hours.

The gameplay is smooth for the most part, but the 2.5D aspect with enemies coming out of corridors that you yourself cannot enter makes it difficult to know who or what you’re aiming at most of the time. A variety of special weapons and upgrades, including a prototype suit of armor with a grappling hook and speed boost, make dispatching the enemies in new and creative ways a constant thrill, though. There are also several methods to solve each problem. If you can’t find the jump boost, you can make a bridge out of the foam shot. If you lack the grappling hook, you might be able to run up a curved wall with the speed boost. This non-linear play is a nice change considering how linear side-scollers traditionally are and this harks back to Bionic Commando and Metroid.

It is a pretty game for a side-scroller and the cut scenes are just as good as if it was a regular disc-loading game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound nearly as good as it looks. A lack of overall music is a disappointment and the few times it comes in it actually shocks you out of the illusion of the game because it is so rare. Add in cheesy, over-the-top voice acting and you might as well just wear earmuffs while playing.

A few minor details bothered me in Shadow Complex, most notably the aiming dynamics, but in terms of story, action, and item collection it deserves to be in the same class as Bionic Commando and Metroid, two of the all-time great side-scrollers. If you’re looking for a cheap game to kill a few hours with some quality old-school gameplay, Shadow Complex is a great pick up as Xbox wraps up it’s summer arcade push.

Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 8.0: Considering it is a downloadable game, the graphics are really good. During the game itself, the graphics are flawless and very pretty. I only take a couple of points off because the cut scenes, which Epic usually makes so beautiful, weren’t as smooth as I suspected in a few instances.

Audio: 4.0: The little bit of music the game offers jolts you out of the experience instead of enhancing it and the cheesy voice acting makes the listening experience a very poor one. Good use of SFX for the guns and explosions keeps this score out of the basement.

Plot/Plot Development: 7.0: Certain parts of the plot were a little too convenient and others were sloppy and left you guessing at plot points. The fact that you might need to read a novel to understand all the loose strands of plot keeps this from being a classic story. I would prefer a stand-alone tale over a compliment to another story.

Gameplay: 9.0: Solid action, combined with flawless, glitchless play that allows you several methods to solve problems in the game makes this a truly enjoyable experience. Four levels of difficulty and a pretty thorough training mode could provide up to 10 hours of gameplay, which is great for a downloadable game. The only downside to the game was trying to aim at enemies in the background where your character could not go.

Replay Value: 8.0: With four difficulty levels and hundreds of collectibles, there is plenty to bring you back to Shadow Complex as you try to find every nuance to the massive underground bunker.

Overall (not an average): 8.0: A good game made great considering it is downloadable software. I would love to see a fleshed out, more polished version of Shadow Complex with even more levels and collectibles and a less vague story. Until then, this is not an elite level game (its close), just a great value for your buck.

Shadow Complex is available for download exclusively on Xbox Live on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009, for 1200 Microsoft points ($15 American dollars).

-Ray Carsillo