Jason Fleming and his new girlfriend Claire are backpacking in the Pacific Northwest when they come across some caverns. Claire opts to explore them, saying she used to go 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 he uses stolen high-tech devices to further infiltrate the complex and learn more.

Shadow Complex is presented in 2.5D format; the game world is fully three-dimensional, but you 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 you to fire at nearby enemies or objects both inside and outside of the 2D plane. You 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.

The gameplay takes many cues from Metroid you can move freely throughout the expansive game world, defeating enemies with a variety of weapons, and as they overcome challenges, you gain new abilities and weapons which allow you to reach new areas. The game rewards you with experience points as you complete objectives and defeat enemies. You can gain experience levels, each level boosting basic attributes of the character. These experience levels grant the player skills such as improved gunfire precision or damage resistance. Special rewards such as revealing the full map and unlimited special ammo are granted at specific levels. If you start a new game, you will lose all the weapons and items that you have acquired, but will keep the character’s experience level and any benefits they have already received from that experience.

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 the level. Shadow Complex is a great 2.5D game if you like them or just a great game in general and definitely worth a play through. -Frankie