E3 2009: Shadow Complex Impressions

This game hasn't been the highest on radar for most people and was a complete surprise at Microsoft's press conference.

But man, I really like the look of this game. It's a sidescroller which I don't get too many of to play, and most of them on Xbox Live Arcade are simple left to right plowthroughs. But this one goes to new levels, obviously stretching the limits of Xbox Live Arcade for the sheer scale and programming to make this nice looking game.

I have to say I like when you get several alternatives to go through a game, and this game doesn't just give you the option to pick. The map screen, which i'm concerned will be confusing at first, shows you were to go. But when you go through a room you might think to yourself that some upper landings enemies are on might be a shortcut. I've seen alot of times where the foam gun has made stairways or frozen enemies to use as a boost.

That's not all you can do, i've seen demos where there is a need to explore the levels for powerups. I saw that you can "hang on" to stuff while shooting at enemies from a crate at one point. The possibilities are interesting, I can imagine sneaking on one of those walker like robots and clinging to them as they take me through the rest of the base until i'm spotted.

The really cool thing is one of the designers said we see what we can become but we start out with our hands and a flashlight. So it's a skill building, power grab approach to the game. At first, you might not be able to open a door, but soon as you gain powerups, you can just burn the door down. So there's also a rebel aspect to playing this game.

I'm buying this game, but the interesting part is it will be out this summer (August?) so it will be one of the first games announced that we'll get to play.