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It would take more than a double-jump, grappling hook and a screw attack to reach the lofty goal of being a new generation's 2D Metroid or Castlevania. But that's what Shadow Complex could hope to be. I've spent two hours and twenty minutes this morning with the game, a game made with great love for its predecessors. And no, of course it's not as brilliant as Super Metroid — what has the cleverness, the pacing, the geographic diversity, the unusual mix of power-ups? But it's clearly a game built on the same values. It's a game made to be played like it's a map being traced with a finger, followed closely, fueled by the excitement of where to explore next and where to come back to later. Here's how it is shaping up so far… What Is It? Shadow Complex is an Xbox Live Arcade game set for release when it's steamy outside, an August alternative to the heat. It is a side-scrolling adventure game in the style of 2D Metroids and Castlevanias, but rendered with a 3D engine. As with its inspirations, it is a game about exploring, finding power-ups and using newly enhanced abilities to reach previously inaccessible areas of the map. This one's all about a guy fighting his way through an enormous underground sci-fi military base and, so far, trying to keep his girlfriend alive. It comes from Chair Entertainment and parent company Epic Games, chiefly designed by Donald Mustard with oversight from Gears of War alpha-developer Cliff Bleszinski. It's a 1200-point game, costing $15 and the build I downloaded, which appears to be final, is close to 900 MB. What We Saw I was supplied with code of the game that appears complete. I played the first two hours and twenty minutes, discovering 32% of the game's expansive 2D-map and finding 20% of its mostly-hidden power-ups. How Far Along Is It? The game appears to be done, but because it's a downloadable, it's probably eligible for more last-minute tweaking than most. What Needs Improvement? Too Much Nostalgia: One of the themes of Kotaku's coverage this week has been developers' love of past influences and the extent to which that love can be applied too thickly. Shadow Complex's first hour is almost a sequence of homages to sequences from Super Metroid, Empire Strikes Back and other boys-will-be-boys action-packed inspirations. Evoking the past so much is risky, especially given that this game's chief interactive predecessor is considered one of the greatest games of all time. That the early action in the game is more conventional and its environmental puzzles less interesting than Super Metroid's initially sets Shadow Complex needlessly back. It's only when Shadow Complex starts getting past the early homages and starts showing off its own ideas that it demonstrates its worth. (That first hour isn't helped with its Uncharted homage. It's too much. Yes, you have the voice-actor, but did you also need to dress your guy in the half-tucked shirt?) Ledge-Grabbing: The controls are mostly good but compromised in one common way: it's hard to sometimes know whether you're going to drop from a ledge or just hang from it, whether you're able to pull yourself up from a ledge or whether you're going to be stuck. A smoother scheme there would be nice. Otherwise, exploration is a breeze. Finding the hidden nooks and crannies is, as always, great fun. Blind Enemies: It was good for Metroids to be set on worlds full of dumb monsters and Castelvanias to have dullards as foes. It's less convincing to see Shadow Complex's military-base guards and super-soldiers not recognize our hero when he's standing in the same room, just because he's a little too far away but standing in plain view. What Should Stay The Same? An Identity Of Its Own: A couple of moments in the first two hours show what Shadow Complex can do that its predecessors never did. I won't spoil them, but just know that they take advantage of the modern technology being used in the game. And that tech helps this game a lot. This is a Metroid/Castelvania-style game with audio cues, lots of smart use of vocals, and great graphical depth. It's one in which 3D lighting and the hero's flashlight can make hunting for weakened hatches and ducts a more visually interesting endeavor. I did not get far enough into the game to find Shadow Complex's more unconventional gadgets, which will surely distinguish the game even more from others in its genre. Where I'm at, it's a game of machine guns and grenades — a different set of armament than you'd see in a Castlevania, to be sure — but not yet one that allows the action to be consistently clever. The good news is: the game appears to be getting there the further I play. Pacing: One of Bleszinski's favorite hallmarks of good game design is good pacing. That's evident early as Shadow Complex moves smoothly from one exciting firefight to the discovery of an interesting new environment and then back to an interesting combat scene, punctuated with the discovery of a new gun or the hints of a new hidden power-up to crawl around and find, maybe hidden under an elevator or above the cafeteria full of guards. Depth-Perception: The game's made in 3D but played in 2D. And that's used to great effect almost every minute of the first two hours. You'll think you've shot the last guard in the room when a door in what should have just been the boring background graphics of the level opens and a phalanx of troops rush in for the kill. It looks great and is fun, particularly because you can shoot into the background. You may only be able to move in 2D, but your gun does 3D. It's Shadow Complex's strongest quality and one that will make it tough to ever return to flatter games in this genre. Final Thoughts As I said up top, Shadow Complex could never hope to be as good as the best Metroid and Castlevania games, and I don't think its developers expected it to be. What I've played so far — past an opening a little too in love with the past — shows signs of how this genre can move forward. I haven't even mentioned the XP system which adds a little RPG character growth for every discovered room, every kill — and a multiplier for more if the kills are done creatively. Shadow Complex is looking like a strong new entry in a style of game that too few developers seem interested in trying to make. Maybe other developers are intimidated. The bravado evident in the well-paced action so far shows that these guys most certainly were not.
from kotaku

some amazing new art and character designs have hit the net and we have brought them to you…

 

"It's worth checking out to play with the swing mechanics and to see the game's impressive visuals," Conrad wrote in the Destructoid review of Bionic Commando, "but I wouldn't recommend wasting more than a few hours on it and can't encourage anyone to pay retail price for the opportunity." Well, now you don't have to. It looks like Capcom's poor sales of the title are your gain. Today retailer GameStop has dropped the price of Bionic Commando for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to $19.99. While the price is still $59.99 on GameStop.com, we've confirmed this with the retailer this morning. It's more likely this is a limited time deal, and not a permanent price drop.  Go get it while it's hot.    from destructoid

While there were giant bugs in the first Lost Planet, all I remember are snowstorms and robot suits. Looking at these new screens of Lost Planet 2, it's OK, Capcom, I get it: in the sequel, there are giant bugs.

from kotaku

Ubisoft has just released a developer diary for Assassin's Creed 2. In it they focus on the new protagonist, Ezio, another of Desmond's ancestors. There's also a fair bit of the plot included so, if you plan on going in completely cold, you may want to shy away a little bit. I'm hoping this sequel can overcome the massive shortcomings in Assassin's Creed because the series has a great concept. I honestly want to know more about the character of Desmond and what's going on in his world that he's tied to a chair reliving the exploits of his ancestors. But if I'm going to have to slog through another lengthy series of repetitive, simplistic missions, then forget it. The developer diary is after the jump. I get the feeling that Ezio's tale is much more intricate than Altair's was, don't you? Here's hoping Ubisoft can deliver.   from destructoid

Producer David Littman takes us through some of the new features coming in EA Sports' latest trip to the most violent ice skating rink ever. Hockey is another one of those sports that I feel a strong pull towards but have never experienced outside of video games, so if EA isn't delivering an extremely realistic sports simulation, chances are I would never know, so I have to rely on the hockey fans among our readers and possibly Owen for any real-life comparisons. What I do know is that hockey players are scary as hell, and they look even more terrifying in the first-person fighting mode shown off in the video. If EA Sports could include an "I'M Sorry, Please Don't Hit Me" button I would greatly appreciate it.

from kotaku

Like they did with the Big Daddies, 2K have released some concept art for BioShock's tiniest denizens, the Little Sisters. Unlike the first lot, which showed the initial designs for the original Big Daddies, these show how 2K Marin - the developers working on the sequel - have gone about depicting the Little Sisters for the second game. And they look...well, pretty much identical. Which I guess was the point! She doesn't look mean. She just looks like she needs a nap.

from kotaku

 

Madballs in Babo Invasion has an interesting back story. Back when Canadian publisher Playbrains pitched the game to Microsoft, it was originally just going to be another Babo game. The people that checked the game out at Microsoft thought this was a Madballs game though and from there, Playbrains was introduced to the people that owned the Madballs license. And that’s how we got a game based on a really old toy line. This is Playbrains’ first console title and the amount of work that has been put into this game is staggering. It’s going to be one of the deepest Xbox LIVE Arcade games ever released, thanks to all of the game’s modes and features. Madballs in Babo Invasion (XBLA) Developer: Playbrains To be released: Summer 2009 Madballs is being described as a "casual hardcore" experience. Sounds weird, but it actually makes sense. Anyone can pick up the game and have some fun with it, but there’s a layer of depth to the game that will definitely please hardcore gamers. Madballs will feature ten original created characters, and two actual Madballs characters. More Madballs characters, and an assortment of other goodies will be coming by way of downloadable content in the future. There are five different classes that the Madballs fit into: assault class, heavy class, support class, runner class and flying class. Players can switch to other characters via the swapping machines found in the single-player mode, or after getting killed in the multiplayer mode. Each Madball also has two types of special abilities. For instance, my favorite character in the game, Magmor, has the ability to increase in size and roll others over. Using abilities will drain your special meter, but the meter recharges over time. The single-player portion of the game can see up to four players going through ten different levels where they’ll encounter various types of enemies and a nice amount of puzzles. There will also be 50 unlockables and 50 secrets players can find in the single-player. There will be ten types of weapons in Madballs, and each gun has two modes to them. Some guns have a heat and cold type of damage and some guns have an energy and impact type of damage. Each enemy you encounter will have a certain weakness. For instance, you’ll come across a fire-type monster that can be killed easier if you use the ice blast from your gun. That enemy can still be killed by your gun’s fire type, but it will just take longer to kill it. The real meat of Madballs is in the multiplayer portion. Up to 16 players can go at it in the various multiplayer modes on 21 different maps. You’ll have deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, Avatar mode and Invasion. In Invasion mode, each team will have the chance to create a map from a selection of 150 tiles. The game will automatically determine how big of a map the teams can create, and is based on how many players there are in the game. Each member of the team will have a few seconds to put down a tile on the map builder before it’s the next player’s turn. Once that part of the map building process is over, players will then select and vote where their base will be located on the map. Then both teams will see the entire map created by each side and jump into the match. Players will need to take over a majority of nodes located on the freshly created maps which will allow the team to attack the enemy’s base. If the team loses nodes, than the enemy’s shields will pop back up again.   from Destructoid In Avatar mode, players will play with their own Avatar’s rolling head! A machine in the game will convert your Avatar into a head rolling wrecking machine, and can control just like the other Madballs. The controls, by the way, are great. The major differences with the Avatars are that they can jump, which takes the place of special abilities. The heads will also increase in size based on how many other people they've killed. It’s really funny seeing a giant head Avatar rolling around for some reason. This does make you an easier target though, and you’ll be returned to normal size once you’re killed. Overall, there’s a lot here for players to mess with. Best of all, Madballs is going to have one of the deepest trial modes ever to hit XBLA. The demo will be out when the game is released, and you can actually play online multiplayer with people that purchase the game. You can play the demo for up to 30 minutes (or three game sessions -- whichever comes first), and only have two characters and a couple of weapons to play with. This is definitely a game that can't be missed thanks in large part to everything that's being offered. Plus, you're watching little freaky heads roll around and kill each other! How can that not be fun?