So Shadow Complex came out and it doesn't suck. Not that I'm implying I thought it WOULD suck, just that, in point of fact, it does not suck. I told myself I wasn't going to buy it though and that I already had enough games on my plate what with Fable II and Prototype (by the way, fuck that bullshit where it's all OH YOU LOST UR POWERS SO SORRY PLZ TO BE DOING MISSIONS WITHOUT THEM FOR AWHILE), but after I played the SC demo I was friggin sold.

Shadow Complex is a very solid, atmospheric and well designed 2-D, "metroidvania" type game and if you're reading this, chances are you probably know more about the game than even I do thanks to the extreme pre-release hype.

I'm guessing about halfway through the game, maybe more, but my impressions are very positive, however I do think the game has a few flaws/worthy criticisms that most mainstream reviews kinda side-stepped.

1. No game ever, ever, EVER, EVER should have insta-kill. Never. Ever. This is not the quarter munching heydays of arcade machines and all that. Nothing in a game should EVER cause the frustration of an instant death or close to an instant death. Shadow Complex has a few insta-kill moments and I just want to take the developer's hands and slap them. NO! BAD DOG!! Now, the insta-kill moments do not ruin the game because they are purposefully placed, for the most part, in places near save points, but seriously people, fuck insta-kill. Especially when an insta-death means having to wait through a 15-20 second load time and then having to go BACK to where you were. Seriously, it accomplishes nothing other than frustrating the player. Again, SC does not abuse this to where it really effects the game, but the fact it's even there means someone somewhere at Chair deserves a mild spanking.

2. The game is a bit too linear for being something based in the tradition of Metroid-style exploration games. To much of the map is off limits for far too long of the game and basically there's not a whole of reward of going off the main path unless you already know where you're going because the map is, in my opinion, not really varied or open enough. Minor complaint, but still it's there.

3. The camera needed some work. More specifically, it was a bad design decision to make it so that enemies can shoot through doors but you can't see into the next room on most of the map until you actually go INTO that room. This isn't a game killer, but it certainly will be massively frustrating to someone playing the game on the higher difficulties where a few bullets from a guard can fuck your shit up and take you from 500 health to 80 in a matter of seconds. At minimum, the camera should have previewed the next room for the rooms where enemies were placed close to the door as it is possible, even sneaking, to get spotted just walking into a door and then getting holes put into your favorite clothes.

4. SLOWDOWN. Now, I'm not a graphics whore nor am I one of those who freaks out and goes madly posting on blogs and forums about OMG FRAMERATE DROP, however it does seriously effect Shadow Complex in a few places, most notably when it decides to rape you with tons of on-screen guards and missles and shit shooting at you. When this happens the game can go into a crawl that makes controlling things difficult and annoying. That should have been cleaned up just a little bit, I think.

Apart from those complaints, Shadow Complex is pretty damn sweet and easily one of the best XBLA offerings in some time. It's nice to see Chair doing some more cool shit on XBLA after Undertow and they are now officially a developer to keep an eye on.

Also: HEY NINTENDO WHAT WERE YOU SAYING 4 OR 5 YEARS AGO ABOUT YOU CAN'T DO A GOOD 2-D ADVENTURE GAME ON A NEXT GEN SYSTEM? WHAT WAS THAT?