Metroidvania has a new name (I guess. I dunno): Shadow Complex
 

It's been getting near-universal acclaim so far, and I have to say I'm pretty excited for it. Maybe we can finally stop calling these kinds of games Metroidvanias, finally... Ah, who am I kidding. They're just gonna call them Shadowvanias or some shit.

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It's released this Wednesday (August 19th) on Live Arcade for 1200 points. Which is good, because that 1600-point bullshit pisses me off.

Anyone else planning on picking it up?

I'm a big fan of Metroidvania style gameplay so this looks right up my alley. Is there a demo or gameplay video available on Live?

I'm definitely going to demo it first. Maybe it's just me being a shitheel, but I found it hard to get swept into the hype on this one.

It's a combo of the setting, story, and art, I think, that's sort of driven me to be completely bleh towards it. That and the pedigree. Just not an Advent Rising or Undertow fan, although the genre here means I'll likely be much more forgiving.

Seems like my fears are a bit unsubstantiated though, looking at that metacritic page.

Couldn't find anything on live itself, but Gametrailers has *gasp* a trailer of the game:

Shadow Complex Video Game, Launch Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Looks decent enough so far.

Fuck. That reminds me of The Red Star game.

Yeah, it's looking good and so I'll definitely give the trial a run out. Certainly looking like a decent amount of game for 1200 MSP.

Am I going to pick this up? Very Yes.

Which is itself simple yet effective in terms of gameplay (and no joke on the unlockable EX difficulty). Honestly, I think it's what the Double Helix folks might have been trying to mirror with their G.I. Joe game; too bad the camera direction and vehicle controls appear to be such issues.

They really need(ed) to have a new system for IDing destroyables in this. The flashlight, with it's hilarity battery, can practically be left on at all times and it reveals EVERYTHING.

Otherwise this feels like it's on the brink of being fantastic, but merely delivers an "eh" on pretty much all counts. Outside of the one freeze, the handful of graphical glitches, and it's short length, it's certainly fun. It's just not nearly as fantastic as everyone seems to be implying. Oh well. :(

You're just upset I punched like three times as many dudes in the face than you did.

Man, I played this for more than 6 hours. While not definitely mind-blowing, it is a blast to play. Definitely worth the price.

I just troll the soldiers around with hyperspeed is all. Currently level 11. Oh god, this will keep me busy for a short while.

Level 20 and currently running around like a madman trying to collect all the goddamn items. Irritating as hell without a walkthrough.

I am enjoying this, though as Skills is right to point out, it is far from perfect. Probably the second best downloaded game I've ever played though, after Wipeout HD.

I got this a couple days ago. I love the exploration aspect, there's a lot of nooks and crannies seemingly waiting to be discovered. The story is kinda bleh, but not bad for a live arcade game. I was having trouble with aiming at an enemy and not moving around, but then I discovered one of the sticks was meant for exactly that purpose. It remains a little difficult to remember to stop aim and shoot in a game like this, but I'll manage.

I laughed so hard on this one. Metroidilvanias can't be compared with this crap.