“Shadow Complex” (Xbox 360 Arcade) Review

The video game market today is a little short on old-school fun. Most of the market is dominated by first-person shooters- namely Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Aliens Vs. Predator, and the like. I do agree that these shooters are brilliant, but they don’t contain the charm and personality that some 80s arcade games had. That day has finished- Chair Entertainment and Epic Games has released perhaps one of the best shooters of all time, Shadow Complex.

2.5D games have existed for a while. They’re games that are set in 3D graphics environments, but are played like a 2D/side-scroller game. Shadow Complex doesn’t do much to try and reinvent the medium, but instead takes all of the stuff that worked from previous games and combines them into an all new experience. The game borrows much from Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, and any fans of those games should check this one out.

In Shadow Complex, you play as Jason Flemming, who, when back-packing with his new girlfriend Claire, get’s involved in a military conspiracy, started by a militant group called the Progressive Restoration. Claire gets kidnapped, and you have to wander around the base, picking up futuristic upgrades, guns, and parts of a rather fantastic battle suit, in your attempt to try and save Claire and find out exactly what is going on. The story is written by famous comic-book scribe Peter David, and is a prequel of sorts to the novel Empire by Orson Scott Card.

You start as a rather simple character with not many abilities- a flashlight, and the ability to jump around a bit. However, as you progress through the game and pick up new weapons that get more sophisticated as you play as well as parts to a really cool suit, the potential for destruction exponentially grows. I guess you could say it’s a superhero game of sorts- you can run at hyperspeed and boost your jumps. However, the game does fall a bit short by the fact that you rarely come across a unique villain- Most of the people you’ll be facing are the same henchmen, and when you do finally find a worthy villain, they all do the same thing.

One of my favorite parts of the game, that perhaps should be put in a bit more, are the 3D turrets. You can occasionally play in a turret, which transports you into a 3D gameplay environment where you have to take on waves of enemies. It’s pretty sweet, but is let down by the frame-rate drops. It happens a few times in the game, but it doesn’t deter gameplay.

And when you’ve finished the story, it doesn’t end there- there are a number of challenge levels in the Proving Grounds segment, which contains the aforementioned levels and tutorials. They’re sort of like “survive as long as you can”, but they have potential replay value, and will have players coming back for more to beat their original score.

All in all, Shadow Complex is a pretty sweet game. It doesn’t tire you out, and I found myself playing it every chance I had. It could have been amazing- it’s not, but it’s getting there. If Epic Games and Chair Entertainment ever decide to make a sequel, I'd suggest them to try and do something new with the game- perhaps more challenge levels, a multiplayer option- who knows. But I’ll be there to buy it when it comes out.

“Predators” Comic Book Announced; “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions” Announced; Dick Giordano Dies.

Dark Horse has announced that they are working on a new Predator limited series, entitled Predators. It’s a prequel to the film of the same name and based on the Predator franchise, started in 1987 with the feature film Predator, directed by John McTiernan and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The limited series will last for 4 issues, and will be released on a weekly basis. The comic book will deal with a team of Navy Seals who are slowly being hunted down by a “strange enemy” (I wonder who that is), until only one man survives. He then must survive the Predator’s attacks. On another note, 20th Century Fox has released a two-minute trailer for the Predators. I just happen to be a master of html, so I’ve included the trailer below for your viewing pleasure:

In other news, a new Spider-Man video-game has been announced: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The game will be released on the following platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Ds, and Wii. The game (to the joy of die-hard Spidey fans) will feature four different dimensions that you play in, each with their own version of Spider-Man. Marvel has decided to keep us in the dark, and has only released two of the four Spider-Men you can play as: The Amazing Spider-Man, the version that we are most familiar with, and Spider-Man Noir, based on the limited series by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Spider-Man Noir is a retelling of the Spider-Man story, but set in the 1930s and drawing elements from film noir. This video game comes as a joy to us Spider-Man fans as Marvel has finally realized the potential of using their diverse number of universes. This dream was realized back in 2005 with the mediocre and little different Ultimate Spider-Man video game, but has only been fully realized now. Each Spider-Man will feature different combat systems. As far as I know, The Amazing Spider-Man will feature more intense combat whilst Spider-Man Noir will feature more stealth-based action. Additionally, a trailer has been released, which I have included below. But wait, there’s more! If you pre-order the game through the official website, you get four additional costumes- cosmic versions of the four that you already get.

Last, but definitely not least, we present some sad news. Legendary comic-book artist and editor Dick Giordano died on March 27th. Pat Bastienne, a close friend of Dick’s, has stated that the death is a result of “complications of treatment of leukemia”. He died on Saturday at the Memorial Medical Center at Daytona Beach, Florida. Giordano oversaw the creation of such classic works as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Watchmen, which has been recently been adapted to film by Zack Snyder. He is most famous for working on the monthly Batman series with Neal Adams and for bringing many of the Charlton Comics characters over to DC. He will be missed.

“Kick Ass” by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Have you ever wanted to be a real life superhero? Have you ever wanted to know how superheroes would fare out in the real world? Well, if the answer to any of those questions is “yes”, then you probably have already read Watchmen, Frank Miller’s Daredevil run, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. However, when compared to Kick-Ass, many of these books simply miss the mark in realisticness. Kick-Ass doesn’t, and provides us nerds one of the genre-defining pieces of superhero comics.

Kick-Ass introduces us to Dave Lizewski. Dave is an avid comic-book reader, and spends most of his time talking to fellow high school friends and surfing the message boards. However, when he starts to get bored with his life, he finds his answer in his comics- pull on tights and become a superhero. He trains for about six months, orders batons and a costume off of Ebay and starts his crime-fighting career. However, it quickly goes drastically wrong with extremely violent consequences.

Mark Millar delivers a genuinely brilliant story. Whilst some have complained that it is merely an excuse for over-the-top violence and profanity, I find the story genuinely intriguing. Millar has written an interesting story that examines the superhero world very closely and brings us the greatest realistic superhero comic ever. Kick-Ass also shows us how teenagers interact, and some of the scenes in which Dave is hanging out with his friends tell us a lot about how teenagers interact with each other in the modern world. He also gives us one of the most lovable characters to be seen in comics- Hit-Girl. Imagine a ten-year-old girl with ninja agility, two swords, and about fifty guns, and you can get the picture.

John Romita Jr. gives us one of his defining works in terms of narrative and action-sequences. Every panel of the comic is rich in detail and he manages to capture the environments to perfection. The look of all the superhero characters are brilliant. The movie (which is coming out April 16th- yay!) nowhere near captures the greatness of the costumes. I would say that Red Mist does look a bit ridiculous sometimes, but it is hardly noticeable. Tom Palmer gives us some nice inks as well.

Dean White also gives us some great colors. Kick-Ass is perhaps one of the most vivid pieces of graphic fiction that you will ever come across, and Dean White’s colors is one of the main reasons for it. The superheroes look great when in stark contrast with the realistic world about them.

In terms of extras, Kick-Ass gives us an introduction by Rob Liefeld; bios on the comic’s creators; “Kick-Ass’s Greatest Hits”; Combined variant covers; variant covers by Scott McNiven and John Romita Jr.; and an illustration by John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer, and Dean White advertising the movie with the characters depicted as the movie versions. The extras are pretty neat, but it would have been nice to see something in the way of “making of”- some concept art, scripts, letters… you get the picture.

Overall, Kick-Ass is one of the defining pieces of comics. You’ll find much to like in the book- the art, the story, the colors. It will prove to be one of Mark Millar’s and John Romita Jr’s greatest works. However, I would only advise you to read it if you have a strong stomach.

Script: 10/10
Pencils: 10/10
Inks: 10/10
Colors: 10/10
Extras: 7/10
Overall: 9.4/10