(Originally published to Glitchwave on 9/4/2024)
[Image from glitchwave.com]
Shadow Complex
Developer: ChAIR, Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Genre(s): Metroidvania
Platforms: Xbox 360
Release Date: August 19, 2009
Truthfully, I was never going to emphatically rave over Shadow Complex even if it hypothetically was the game that managed to perfect the Metroidvania genre’s design philosophy. This bias stems from the fact that Shadow Complex’s presentation and story are rife with modern FPS cliches that already make me gag and groan in their typical sources. The game begins with its foot on the gas in a scene where an armored soldier blasts a chopper out of the sky with an RPG. Already, with the scope of the frantic scene and the particular character interactions and dialogue, I can already tell that Shadow Complex’s story is one involving contentious political affairs that demand the audience approach it with the utmost seriousness. I wouldn’t even classify the game’s opening as an effective adrenaline hook, for the focus shifts entirely to another character for the remaining duration of the game. Shadow Complex’s protagonist is not the beefy military man who annihilated the helicopter, but a marginally less strapping man named Jason. The chaotic scene on the nameless city streets diverts entirely to the antithesis in setting and atmosphere: a tranquil wooded lakefront situated in what I can assume to be either along one of the Great Lakes or the Pacific Northwest where Jason and his girlfriend, Claire, are partaking in a hiking date through the picturesque landscape with the chance for romance in the air. The serenity is forever interrupted when Claire is abducted by a group of heavily armed men whose uniforms conceal their entire bodies.
Whether it be a case of mistaken identity or a convenient hostage for a terrorist faction, Jason’s leisurely afternoon has now escalated to enacting a valiant mission to save his girlfriend. Apparently, he possesses the skills needed to succeed in this daunting endeavor, for his government executive dad has trained him in the art of all types of combat plus stealth executions. Infixing this tidbit of character context with this brief flashback cutscene is laughably shoehorned, assuming the player needs reassurance that this average man is capable of thwarting the schemes of this hostile and dangerous organization. Isn’t one of the core tenets of the Metroidvania genre growing and adapting through progress? The circumstances would’ve been much more interesting if he was just some putz who was the victim of circumstance and became a swift killing machine through having to overcome a dire situation. He sure does seem like the epitome of an ordinary joe-schmoe regardless of his special set of skills, for his personality is more wooden than the trees that surround him. I bet he eats a bowl of watery oatmeal for breakfast every day and his favorite band is U2. What exactly does his girlfriend see in him?
The men in red and white jumpsuits have taken Claire somewhere into the depths of their vast headquarters, likely the eponymous “shadow complex” that the title alludes to. This facility serves as the base for the game’s map where all of the Metroidvania design elements are orchestrated. Overall, the institution is an ideal setting for a Metroidvania game. Any government building erected around the silent caverns away from the prying eyes of civilization is bound to have a treasure trove of secrets. Narrow passageways that Samus would’ve needed the cramped physical dexterity of the ball form to traverse through on Zebes have been cleverly translated to the series of air ducts convenient enough to circumnavigate around the tightly secured doorways that restrict access between the hallways. While the setting is not as alien in both the figurative and literal sense of the word as an extraterrestrial world, trespassing on the premise of a heavily guarded establishment whose high-clearance occupants will shoot you dead on sight if they catch you in their peripheral instills the player with an equivalent amount of tension. For the most part, Shadow Complex’s map is designed with a cogent understanding of the Metroidvania design philosophy and the choking tone that marks a Metroid game. However, how it handles the non-linear aspect of a Metroidvania game’s design is downright insulting. Whenever Jason is tasked with an objective, the game not only directly points where the task is located on the map–it blatantly spells out the exact trajectory to it with a blue line that zigzags accordingly. Afraid that we’d suffocate under the duress of reconnaissance, ChAIR Entertainment? Sure, the player isn’t forced to immediately comply with this painted path to progress, but it should be imperative for the player to organically find this road through curiosity. When I’m following direct orders, the sense of gratification via exploration is greatly diminished.
Shadow Complex’s 2.5D graphical rendering isn’t simply to keep the game in check with the high-definition gloss of triple-A visuals. Its gameplay equally treads the line between the flat and uncomplicated realm of 2D and the nuanced infinitum of 3D. How does it manage to pull off what seems incongruous by nature? Well, let’s just say that the backgrounds of Shadow Complex are incredibly busy, and I’m not referring to a purely visual context like in the fellow Metroidvania game Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. Oftentimes, there is an invisible wall of spatial range between Jason and the armed guards roaming the complex, positioning themselves on balconies and rafters to comfortably shoot at our protagonist. While it seems unfair that the enemies exist outside the bounds of Jason’s X-axis restrictions, his array of firearms is what penetrates this barrier as his means of self-defense. Jason begins his descent into the facility with nothing but a pistol, then he keeps replacing the firearm on his person with something gradually more lethal: a carbine rifle, an automatic machine gun, and finishes his adventure with an experimental shotgun that pierces through the shields of the SWAT variation of guards. In Metroid fashion, the primary weapon is an inextinguishable source of offense, even though the firearm realistically needs to be reloaded after the magazine exhausts like in any modern FPS game. When Jason is either ambushed by a squadron of guards or trips an alarm triggered by a security camera’s zoning lights, the situation will always expose the fallacies of Shadow Complex’s combat. Forget attempting to aim at any point during the game, for Jason will consistently line his sights at a 90-degree angle without entertaining any other integers in between. This faulty predicament would be reminiscent of the first Metroid’s lack of offensive range in the absolute earliest instances of the genre, but Shadow Complex corrects this inexcusable issue by aiming every shot for the player. Simply firing the weapon when an enemy is in the vicinity will course correct the bullet to hit the foe in question, and every other shot fired will automatically swerve over towards the next guard. Perhaps this automated aiming feature was implemented to overcome the incongruous dimensional perspective at play. Still, I’d rather aim manually because it raises the game’s skill ceiling. Due to readying and aiming being stricken from the firing equation, Shadow Complex is consistently on the easier side of the Metroidvania spectrum. Supplying cover to duck behind in most if not all of the spacious vestibules where a pack of guards are likely all bunched together also somewhat reduces the difficulty curve, but that element is a staple of the modern FPS title, and it translates over quite beautifully.
While crouching behind a sizable slab of concrete or another form of solid barrier found around the facility and dispatching the guards at opportune moments is a smooth recipe for success in Shadow Complex, killing them all one by one with the primary firearm can get a little tedious. This statement is especially applicable to Shadow Complex’s bosses: an assemblage of military-grade mechanical marvels that would make Solid Snake feel like a kid in a candy store. Fortunately, Shadow Complex allows Jason to diversify his arsenal beyond the restriction of replacing his primary one every so often. The pattern I noticed with the secondary explosive weapons was that the accuracy of each one improved as they were stacked in Jason’s pockets. The grenade launcher will blow multiple guards off their feet with a single shell, but the unexploded ordnance is bound to roll around past the desired target(s) before it ultimately erupts. Soon, pasting an enemy with the purple gel will provide an adhesive entry point to plop a grenade down an enemy’s gullet, namely one of the mech bosses. Eventually, missiles will act as a stronger alternative to the primary firearm complete with the same course-corrected aiming mechanic, with the caveat being that the ammunition is not infinite. None of these explosive weapons will ever reach the point of illimitable power, but crawling through the facility's nooks and crannies and finding upgrades that increase their maximum capacity will at least ensure that they don’t exhaust too quickly. Naturally, uncovering these well-kept secrets isn’t just a matter of meticulous searching, as all of the weapons at Jason’s disposal also function as the means to erode the barriers keeping these goodies from the player. In addition to every weapon obtained, certain blockages can only be obliterated by a function that allows Jason to bolt at them with lightning-fast velocity once he gains enough momentum. It’s stripped straight from Metroid so overtly that it’s practically an homage. Uncovering which specific tool is needed will be shown via the glow of Jason’s flashlight, and its everlasting energy negates the need to conserve its usage. Upgrade and armor plate progression is the greatest facet of Shadow Complex, as entertaining the little bits of additional traversal to obtain the upgrades displays a genuine understanding of a Metroidvania game’s progression. I’d argue it would be doubly effective if Jason started this escapade as a wimpy little shrimp, but one can still discern that his aptitude as an agent grows nonetheless.
All of Jason’s enhancements are going to be vital assets in his intrepid mission to save his significant other. Or, at least this is his goal for the beginning stretch of the game. Soon after Claire disappears from the cascading caverns, Jason finds her in a bunker relatively unscathed. Instead of getting the fuck out of dodge as Jason sensibly suggests, Claire is titillated by the conspiracy that surrounds the facility and wants to dig deeper into their clandestine activities. And to think that most couples settle for anal sex to spice up their fleeting air of romance. As spontaneous as Claire’s decision seems, it is revealed that she holds an invested interest in whatever these guards are protecting. She’s actually an NSA agent who is investigating the insidious Restoration, a terrorist organization whose agenda involves creating another civil war by eradicating a wide margin of the USA’s populace. Knowing that they’d recognize her, she bated Jason into enacting this feat of international espionage. Don’t call this girl anymore, Jason. The Restoration executes the Vice President as an introductory act to signify their damaging presence (although why they chose to kill the second in command instead of the chief is beyond me), and their next target is San Francisco. Shadow Complex’s climax is Jason taking down the airship that is armed to the teeth with weapons of nuclear annihilation. While this is a fitting finale for a game with this sort of grandiose, political thriller kind of story, interactively engaging in it through the gameplay is unfittingly brief and rather trivial. I can’t say whether or not the blowback of guards alongside revisiting boss mechs barely bruised me because I was well-prepared with the upgrades, or because the process of clipping this airship’s wings ultimately amounted to waiting for a rocket to emerge from a silo and aiming it at the target three times. The urgent scope of the scene and the breezy difficulty uncharacteristic of a final fight do not have that effective synergy between narrative and gameplay.
I think compromises had to be discussed during the conceptual period of Shadow Complex’s development. ChAIR obviously always had the Metroidvania genre in mind as the game’s fundamental backbone. Otherwise, why would they bother with this niche variant of video games in the first place? They evidently show a fondness for Metroid’s makeup, and it's when these elements shine that Shadow Complex is more than adequate. However, someone was apparently worried that a passion project revolving around this defunct and unpopular genre would be commercial suicide. Therefore, fusing the Metroidvania genre with all of the marketable cornerstones of gaming circa 2009 seemed like a logical idea to keep Shadow Complex afloat. However, the stale characters and bloated plot found in most popular FPS games at the time only undermine Shadow Complex’s impact. At least this odd hybrid of gameplay and thematic aspects makes Shadow Complex still a unique entry even among the wide selection of games in the Metroidvania renaissance, for better or for worse.
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