Shadow Complex.....oh mah gawd

[Kroogah]

As someone who collected every item* in Super Metroid way back when, I feel qualified to say you can believe the hype for this game.

Just finished the demo, and yes, it IS a full-fledged Metroidvania. I had no idea how badly I missed games like this. This is a jawdropping Live Arcade title. Better graphics than quite a few disc-based games. $15 is a steal. I'm feeling ripped off by the $20 Sam & Max, and I LOVE Sam & Max.

Download the demo, play through it, and see if you're not tempted to drop the MSP immediately after the ending. You may have to wait a while....XBL is backed up with downloads of this game. Gives me more time to buy the other Summer of Arcade titles while I wait.

*except for that one damn missile tank that you needed to shoot through 2 doors while sprinting and super jump straight up to get....god

[jedimind7]

About to d/l the demo. Cant wait to play this game. Will probably be purchasing Friday.

[Oobgarm]

Thank you for convincing me this is something I NEED.

METROIDVANIA = VERY YES

[exit]

Man I'm a sucker for sidescrolling games and this one looks mighty fine, hopefully it will hit Steam or something so I can actually play it.

[jedimind7]

Played the demo a bit earlier and wow... even better then I expected. This is a definite purchase.

[jcalder8]

I was never a big fan of Metroid but if/when this one goes on sale I'll be picking it up for sure.

[jedimind7]

Its on sale now good sir.

[kupomogli]

I hate paying for data, but this game would be one that I'd purchase if I ever got a 360 again.

[gepeto]

I agree I love it. Live games getting better and better. It has been a banner 2 months for live. I really believe though 10.00 800 points is the sweet spot. I think if more released at this price more would be sold. JMO

[portnoyd]

The demo is pretty cool.

[deltoidsteep]

This game is worth every penny. I downloaded it this morning and played through the entire game in one sitting. Fantastic. Now for the challenge modes and item collecting!

[Overbite]

this game fun as heck

[Trumpman]

Definitely buying this after I finish 'Splosion Man. Summer of Arcade has been awesome!

[Kroogah]

Just finished it on Normal. Nearly 4 1/2 hours and only 45% of the items. Still have 55 gs, 2 difficulties, and a whole bunch of trials to finish. Wow. $15 worth and then some.

[G-Boobie]

I have to say, this equals the DS Castlevanias for quality. It obviously surpasses them in presentation. Unreal 3, you know.

I'm REALLY not a fan of the pseudo 3D shooting, though. That's screwed me over a few times. It's hard to avoid getting blown up when you're not entirely sure what constitutes cover and what doesn't.

Still, completely worth the price of admission, and overall an excellent game.

[s1lence]

Excellent title and a must have on XBLA.

[chicnstu]

Tried the demo last night, the voice acting is great but the animations need some work. It's fun to play though.

I think a more accurate description of this game would be Gears of War + Crash Commando, which makes me wonder why there isn't multiplayer. Shadow Complex has a fun single player mode but no multiplayer. Crash Commando had some very fun multiplayer but the single player is stupid (no adventure). Were they afraid the multiplayer would be compared too much to Crash Commando (because of the jetpacks, sidescrolling, and the aim line on the guns) or was it hard for them to get an acceptable amount of players to work without lag?

[The 1 2 P]

I'm downloading the demo now. I want to see what all the fuss is about.

[heybtbm]

makes me wonder why there isn't multiplayer.

Barf.

The game is (almost) perfect as is. Not everything needs multiplayer.

There is one aspect that's associated with XBL though, the stats are updated in real time comparing you to people on your friends list. As of this morning, I had the most melee kills of the people on my list. As I was approaching the number 1 spot, a window kept popping up with how many melee kills I had vs. various friends. Kind of a cool feature.

[Kroogah]

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r142/Kroogah/sc100.jpg

Completionist run finished! Now on to minimalist! And the proving grounds! And the 4 challenges! Not looking forward to 4% challenge!

[heybtbm]

Completionist run finished! Now on to minimalist! And the proving grounds! And the 4 challenges! Not looking forward to 4% challenge!

Congratulations. I'm at about 65% items. I'm going to try for 100% on my first run through. Completing all of the challenge levels...that's another story. Not sure it will be worth the hours of frustration.

[carlcarlson]

I played the demo for about 20 minutes before I decided this game was going to be my first full price DLC purchase.

I finished the game last night with 100% map and items. I ended up looking at a map for the last pass key, which pisses me off. It was in the same room as another item, so there wasn't a ?. Still, that was my first play-through and I loved every minute of it. I immediately fired up the proving grounds stages and finished those. Now I've started a run on insane to level up a bit before trying a minimalist run.

I still think Braid is the best XBLA game, but this one definetely gave it a run.

[chicnstu]

Barf.

The game is (almost) perfect as is. Not everything needs multiplayer.

I know, I think that to myself very often, especially when people say things like "Fallout 3 needed multiplayer". But with Shadow Complex I think it makes sense, I think it would be something people love. Put a few hours into Crash Commando and you might see what I mean. Since Shadow Complex has more solid weapons and environments, multiplayer could be even more fun than CC.

[kedawa]

I played this on the weekend at a friend's house. It's funny how it took a western developed XBLA game to show us all what a modern Metroid game should be.

I'd like to ask the people who downloaded this game a question though. Did your copy download in a mindbogglingly short span of time? When my friend bought it, it downloaded in literally seconds. He didn't have the demo or anything, but somehow we were playing an 800+MB game just seconds after he bought it. We were actually worried that something went wrong, because even games and demos half that size take a few minutes to download. This was practically instantaneous.

[c0ldb33r]

I wonder if this will ever be released as part of an arcade comilation. I can wait to play it if I can get it on disc.

[ProgrammingAce]

I wonder if this will ever be released as part of an arcade comilation. I can wait to play it if I can get it on disc.

I doubt it, it's selling well enough that i doubt they'll see the need.

I just started my 2nd playthrough last night on Insane mode. It's certainly much more of a challenge...

[The 1 2 P]

It's a year later and I finally played this game to completion after getting it as one of the deals of the week during the summer for 60% off. If you are down with Metroidvania then you will love this game. It actually reminded me alot of Half-Life 2 because of all the many times that I had to think about how exactly I was going to progress to the next phase.

One small complaint I have is when shooting enemies at certain angles it can be a bit difficult because of the aiming but you adjust to it after awhile. I still have a few achievements to go back for and I only opened about 90% of the map so thats another reason for me to play it more. I know this came out last year but it's definitely one of the best XBLA games I have played and I've played lots of them.

[jonebone]

Agreed with the above post. This is one of the best XBL games I've ever played as well, Super Meat Boy also ranks high on my list.