Shadow Complex Remastered Review

Shadow Complex Remastered is a remastered version of the 2009 game Shadow Complex that was released on Xbox 360. Shadow Complex Remastered has had a facelift with better graphics and new challenges added but it is still the same game that we all loved back seven years ago, just now brought to a new audience on the Xbox One.

Shadow Complex Remastered is an adventure platform game that follows a man called Jason Fleming who is on a task to rescue his missing girlfriend Claire, who has got lost exploring some caverns that they stumbled across. Inside the caverns however is a big shadowy complex (hence the name shadow complex) that’s filled with all kinds of high-tech gadgets and lots of soldiers. Jason decides not only to rescue his girlfriend but also find out what is going on in these caverns.

Shadow Complex is a 2.5D game that means that even though the backgrounds are in 3D the player can only move in two directions, so you can move left and right across the screen. Because of this it plays a lot like classic metroidvania games and was actually inspired by Castlevania and Super Metroid. It is also easy to pick up and play thanks to its simple controls, the left stick moves the player around the screen and you can use the right stick to control your laser sight to shoot enemies. The buttons are used for various other skills that you unlock throughout playing the game.

The game’s world is a big one with lots of different areas to explore. Shadow Complex is filled with many cool and interesting enemies and when you defeat them you will be rewarded with new weapons and new skills that will let you eventually get to new areas of the game. You also get experience points by playing the game and completing various objectives that you are given. The experience points give you higher levels, which give you more skills and better attributes, for example as you level up you will become stronger, be able to take more damage, and be better at shooting enemies. You will also get special rewards as you play, things like getting unlimited ammo and the whole map being revealed to you. The good thing about this is when you finish the game and want to start over you will start at the beginning of the game but your level will carry over with you meaning that your character will be better and harder than the first time you started the game.

As well as the main game Shadow Complex Remastered has some levels called Proving Grounds that the player can go and play. These proving grounds levels are as the name suggests proving grounds where you can test your skills and become better at certain things. You will be timed and ranked on the time that it takes you to finish the proving ground, which is usually having to get to an exit of a room with a smaller amount of health and only a select number of items. These are fun if you want something to do apart from the main game but the main story is the best part of the game.

Although that Shadow Complex does not really do anything new thanks to it being like a metroidvania title, it still does it really well, and any fan of side scrolling platform games would be wise to pick the game up. Its graphics are better than ever in Shadow Complex Remastered, the environments are dark and gloomy and fascinating and the character models are all really well designed and great to look at. The sound is excellent too and the soundtrack sets the mood greatly. The voice acting is good too, your main character Jason is voiced by Nolan North so you know its going to be good straight away!

Shadow Complex Remastered is a great game that I can recommend to anybody who owns a Xbox One. If you have played the original it does not really offer much different but if you enjoyed the game the first time round then whats your excuse to not play it again? If you have never played the game before then you will surely love it. The story is interesting, the locations are great and the sound is good. There is also plenty of replayability factor because of the New Game Plus and the addition of the proving grounds. All in all its a great game that is definitely worth playing, even if you’re not a big fan of metroidvania style titles the comic book style story is surely enough to hook you in. Give it a go, it’s great!

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox One code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.