Shadow Complex

Shadow Complex
Developer(s)	Chair Entertainment, Epic Games
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Writer(s)	Peter David
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Xbox Live Arcade
Release	August 19, 2009
Genre(s)	Action-adventure Sidescroller
Mode(s)	Single-player

Shadow Complex is a platform-adventure video game developed by Chair Entertainment in association with Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox Live Arcade. The game uses the Unreal Engine 3. Cliff Bleszinski, design consultant at Epic Games for Shadow Complex, indicated during an E3 interview that the game is based on the Orson Scott Card novel, Empire, and that the game will dovetail with a sequel to the book, Hidden Empire, due out in late 2009.

The game's script is written by comic book writer and Star Trek novelist Peter David.

Gameplay

Shadow Complex uses a 2.5D design, with the player moving about levels like a side-scrolling video game but required to dispatch enemies in three dimensions.

Shadow Complex is presented in 2.5D format - the game world is fully three-dimensional, but the player can only move in two dimensions, simulating the environment of a classic side-scrolling video game. Enemies can, however, move in any direction, and auto-aim is utilized to allow the player to fire at nearby enemies or objects both inside and outside of the 2D plane. The player can use the right control stick to aim with a laser sight. Gameplay in Shadow Complex was inspired by Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Similarities with Super Metroid include a map showing the locations of objectives and power-ups, a large amount of hidden items; color-coded doors, panels, and other objects that can only be destroyed using a certain weapon, abilities such as a supersonic speed booster and double- and triple- jumps, and an achievement challenge called "Jason Bailey", named for the Justin Bailey code from the original Metroid on the NES. Ammunition for the player's basic weapon is unlimited, while secondary weapons have limited capacity until a maximum amount of power-ups for the weapons have been attained. Melee attacks can also be used at close range, and include a cumulative score multiplier. The player is able to upgrade their armor to integrate a number of abilities - while, initially, the player uses conventional weapons and basic armor, they may ultimately obtain a fully-integrated powered exoskeleton. The player can save at various points, as well as heal a certain amount of health and refill ammunition.

The game rewards the player with experience points as they complete objectives and defeat enemies. The player can gain up to fifty experience levels, each level boosting basic attributes of the character such as improved gunfire precision or damage resistance; special rewards such as the reveal of the full map and unlimited special ammo are granted at specific levels. When the player starts a new game, they will lose all the weapons and items that they have acquired, but will keep the character's experience level and any benefits they already received from that.

In addition to the main campaign, a number of challenge levels, called "Proving Grounds", are available, generally requiring the player to make it to the exit of a room using a limited set of items and health. Players are ranked based on time of completion and any scoring objectives when they complete these. Scores and other statistics from the main campaign and the training group are tracked via online leaderboards.

Plot

Jason Flemming (voiced by Nolan North) and his new girlfriend Claire (voiced by Eliza Jane Schneider) are backpacking in the Pacific Northwest when they come across some caverns. Claire opts to explore them, saying she used to come there as a child, but when she does not respond to Jason's calls, he follows her. He comes across a massive underground complex manned by numerous soldiers with high-end technology. He manages to follow men dragging Claire through the complex and is able to rescue her. However, both have heard discussion among the soldiers about their group, the Progressive Restoration, which appears to be ready to launch attacks across the United States. Jason escorts Claire to the entrance to allow her to contact authorities, while Jason uses the high-tech devices to further infiltrate the complex and learn more. He comes to meet Lucius, the leader of the Restoration, who reveals a long-term goal of inciting a civil war in the United States, allowing their group to take control; Lucius further reveals that they have already killed the Vice President of the United States earlier that day and are now planning to launch an airship to attack San Francisco, California. Jason is able to destroy the airship with the complex's own missiles, and corners Lucius before he can escape. Lucius attempts to plead while held at gunpoint by Jason, who becomes hesitant to shoot him. Suddenly Lucius is shot in the head by Claire, who has arrived by a helicopter. Claire reveals to Jason she is with the National Security Agency that was investigating the Restoration, and had gotten romantically close with Jason after identifying him as a person capable of completing the infiltration of the base. Jason departs the area with Claire. The story is continued in the novel Empire in which the President of the United States is dead hours after the vice president and the plans of civil war were about to start.

A non-canonical ending is available midway through the game, where Jason can escape the complex and leave Claire to her fate. Jason is seen driving away in the Jeep and commenting "Eh, plenty of fish in the sea."

Development

Chair Entertainment's creative director Donald Mustard stated that much of Shadow Complex is based around the gameplay of Super Metroid, a game he considers "the pinnacle of 2D game design". Much of their effort was in creating the Metroid-style of gameplay, a first for their company. The first month of development was spent having the team replaying the various Metroid games in order to establish the language and concepts of such games for development in order to expand on enjoyable sections while avoiding the mistakes of these games. Chair's design process started by drawing out the game's world on graph paper, using the concepts of tile-based games to craft out the world, despite the final game not being tile-based. This process set certain rules, such as how high the character may jump with the various upgrades or how far the character must run before a certain power would activate. They then played out the game on this paper map to make sure that all parts of the game were possible to complete. Such a map was also used to also help with the game's pacing, making sure that the player's interest in the game would remain despite the acquisition of more and more powerups. With a brush stroke tool within the Unreal Engine, they were then able to quickly to build out their drawn map into the 3D computer engine, using a cylinder to represent the player. After working on tightening the feel of the player's movement controls with the simplistic map, they then began prototyping the rest of the game.

Though the game is directly influenced by Metroid, the development team had to alter some of the series' principles due to non-tile nature of the game. Mustard noted that many players in the Metroid games would "bomb every square" to discover secret areas, but this would not translate to Shadow Complex. Instead, they relied on the use of lighting to focus the player's attention on certain areas, and created the flashlight tool in the game that would highlight such secrets when illuminated. They further used lighting and a low depth of field to reduce the amount of perspective in the game's 3D view to allow key features of the game world to stand out for the player without sacrificing the 3D nature of the game.

Much the of game's four-year development time was focused on the game's controls and making sure they worked, as Mustard believed that without controls that "feel sweet", the game would have been poorly received. This included the incorporation of weapon aiming through the right thumbstick and other tactical elements such as firing from cover from games such as Gears of War. With the game being published by Microsoft Game Studios, the development team had access to the Microsoft play testers, who helped to identify other problem areas with their original level design. This also led to the development of the option to show a blue line on the game's map that would show the player where to go next. Mustard realized this was both a benefit to this feature, as it would help guide players that were stuck, but at the same time, players could become too dependent on the line and follow it exactly, giving them no challenge in exploring the game's world. To counter this, they had the line show the general path that needed to be taken but included parts of their world where the player would be forced to deviate from the suggested path in order to work around an obstacle or collect a required power-up.

Mustard considered the minimalistic story approach in Super Metroid to be ideal, and while he consider the narrative story presented in Metroid Fusion to be an obvious extension, felt it was too detailed. Thus, the development team chose to use minimal dialog, aiming to allow the story to be pushed forward through the setting and design of the game. Shadow Complex's story arose from the development team's common love of the cartoon G.I. Joe, pitting heroes against enemies with high-tech technology. As Mustard and others on Chair had worked with Orson Scott Card during the development of Advent Rising, they approached him about a story for their game as to avoid simply copying the G.I. Joe concept. Card offered the idea of a faction of the United States that wanted to create a more imperialistic government, which fit well with Chair's concept. Card, enthralled with the idea, proceeded to write Empire, fleshing out the full story beyond the framework that Shadow Complex would fit in, while Chair completed work on its previous game Undertow. Once Chair was ready to restart work on Shadow Complex, they approached comic book writer Peter David to help match up Card's novel with their game. Mustard cited David's ability to remain creative when certain events were already scripted—in this case, the events of Empire and its sequel Hidden Empire—as a key asset towards the game's story.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	89.86%
Metacritic	89/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	B
Edge	7/10
Eurogamer	9/10
GamePro
GameSpot	8.5/10
GameSpy
GameTrailers	8.8/10
IGN	9.4/10
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	9.0/10
TeamXbox	9.4/10
X-Play
Giant Bomb

Shadow Complex has been met with unanimously positive reviews. IGN has given the game a 9.4 out of 10, stating it to be one of the best games of the year, specifically praising its lasting appeal and graphics, though having minor issue with the sometimes "frustrating" aiming. Ars Technica gave it the verdict "Buy," stating that Shadow Complex "may be one of the best games of the season" and that it "is a must-play for those looking for a classic twist on a fresh challenge." Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann has given the game 5 stars out of 5, writing "the quality of Shadow Complex makes it well worth its $15 price tag."

X-Play has also given the game a 5 out of 5. GamePro gave the game 4.5 stars out of 5, calling the game proof "that DLC doesn't have to stand for 'disappointingly little content.'" TeamXbox have given the game 9.4 out of 10, mentioning that "... it is great, truly great even. One of the best new games you’re going to play on your Xbox 360 this year, hands down..." Resolution Magazine has awarded the game 94%, the highest score the site has awarded so far this year, describing it as "the greatest game in XBLA [Xbox Live Arcade] history." Eurogamer awarded the game 9 out of 10, commenting that "its significance might just be unfathomable."

Shadow Complex was the top selling Xbox Live Arcade game for the week within its release, and furthermore was one of the top ten played titles for all of Xbox Live. It also broke all sales records for Xbox Live Arcade titles, selling over 200,000 units within the first week of release.

Controversy

Shortly before the game's release, some gamers considered calling for a boycott of Shadow Complex due to Orson Scott Card's views on homosexuality and right-wing beliefs. The game itself does not contain any references to homosexuality.

Soundtrack

The song playing during the end credits is "Light of the Day, Dark of the Night" by Shaun Barrowes.

External links

• Shadow Complex Xbox.com page