MOST DEFINITELY WORTHY: SHADOW COMPLEX

Once in a long while, a new game will come along that stops you dead in your tracks and forces you to take notice. A game that makes you want to smile, eat Skittles and watch mystical midget Unicorns dance to the beat of ‘Rappers Delight’. OK, maybe that’s overkill, but I am indeed smiling right now. Not just because of that visual of midget Unicorns getting funky in my head, but because of a little game called Shadow Complex. What’s making me smile the most about it, you ask? It is the level of quality Shadow Complex provides, and especially the price to download and own this Xbox Live Arcade gem. Xbox Live Arcade was created for games like Shadow Complex, and I hope this game starts a trend of high quality games, for a ridiculously low price. Microsoft could have easily charged more, and people still would have been happy with their purchase.

It took me a while to finally download this game. I don’t know what it was. Maybe I didn’t know enough about the game itself due to lack of marketing, or the fact that Epic Games was behind the production. Yes, I am still bitter about Gears of War 2 being a crappy game. Beautiful to look at, but lacking in the ‘fun’ department. Hate all you want, Gears is not a fun game to me. So seeing Epic’s name behind this title was a turn off. But Chair Entertainment, makers of Undertow, seemed to be behind most of the development. So I shoved my stubbornness aside, bought the game, and I am so glad I became more open-minded.

In Shadow Complex, the main character, Jason Flemming (modeled after Nathan Drake from Uncharted?), and his girlfriend set out to explore some caves in the Pacific Northwest. His girlfriend enters the wrong cave at the wrong time and gets captured by some sketchy militia-style soldiers. These soldiers, part of the ‘Progressive Restoration’ movement who just killed the Vice President, are equipped with some advanced technology, which Jason will acquire throughout the game. This unfortunate misstep sets off a chain of events that has Jason trying to save his girlfriend, and stop these home-grown terrorists from starting a massive civil war in the United States. The game is based off of the Orson Scott Card novel, Empire, which pits the Left Wing and Right Wing against each other in a second civil war. (On a side note, the film rights to Empire, have been acquired by Warner Bros. Should be interesting!)

The game itself is pretty much a 2D side scroller with 3D elements, inspired by the game ‘Super Metroid’. What I found most enjoyable about this game is the progression throughout the levels after finding new parts to add on to your high tech ‘powered exoskeleton’. Jason becomes more badass the more items you find. Strap on a jet pack to get some boost out of your jumps. Strap on your scuba mask to breathe under water for an unlimited amount of time. Strap on some armor to help stop bullet damage. And the best part, strap on some jet pack jump boots and speed run through your enemies, run upside down or even run on top of water like Jesus. The animation and visual effects shown when your speed run kicks in is fun to watch and the visuals in general are top notch. Probably the best you’ll find on an Xbox Live Arcade title to date.

The weapons Jason will acquire consists of a automatic machine gun, grenade launcher, missile launcher and a foam launcher. Pretty much the norm for most games. Though the foam launcher lets you shoot foam that will freeze your enemies for a few seconds so you can take them out. It also has other uses in the game, like sabotaging equipment and security doors so you can get past them. Another addition to the wonderful toys at your disposal is a hook, similar to the hook in ‘Lost Planet’, which comes in handy when you need to attach yourself to a wall to take cover, or dispose of unsuspecting enemies. In all, these weapons and the benefits of your powered exoskeleton combine to make Shadow Complex a truly enjoyable experience. I found myself enjoying the game more and more as the game progressed.

My one small gripe about this game, and there really isn’t anything else I can think of other than this, is when you leave a section and come back at a later time. The same enemies you dispatched just a few minutes ago can magically come back to life and you have to kill them all over again. Minor glitch, but it could be annoying for some. Like me.

If you’re on the fence about this game, or if you are just one of a dozen or so people left to play this game, seriously, what are you waiting for? Shadow Complex is Most Definitely Worthy to download on Xbox Live Arcade. Trust me, it’s worth the hard drive space. It’s $15, and it gave me about 6 1/2 hours of gameplay in the campaign. Not to mention the Proving Grounds ‘challenge’ mode which pits you against the clock, racing through obstacles to get to the other side in time. Which I am finding more than challenging as I have yet to conquer this one. It’s the best bang for your buck and with Epic’s reputation on DLC, you’ll probably see some decent extra content coming your way in the not too distant future. Hopefully by the end of the year.

Played Shadow Complex already? Share with me what you liked and dis-liked about this game in the comments!

BUBBLE BOBBLE NEO: NOT WORTH 800 POINTS

I‘ll try to keep this short and sweet. I have been looking forward to playing Bubble Bobble on my Xbox 360 for a while now. Bubble Bobble NEO, a version I have not played yet, finally came out last week. It wasn’t the original version I played on Nintendo, but who cares? It’s still Bubble Bobble, and if you have read my posts in the past, I felt this was one of the few titles that was a must for Xbox Live Arcade. I wanted this game to come out, but I didn’t actually think it was ever going to happen. And when it finally did get released to my surprise, I didn’t even need to play the trial game. I bought it immediately.

I regret that decision now. I should have looked into the details of this game further. And if you’re a fan of Bub and Bob like I am, maybe more for nostalgia than anything, then let me save you the $12.50 or 800 points.

The first feature you’ll notice lacking in this game, you unfortunately won’t be able to play online, with your friends. Yes, a brand new Xbox Live Arcade game in 2009 came out without this feature. How can such an important feature not be included? When I played the original Bubble Bobble back in the early 90’s, I played it with my best friend. So I ended up telling that same friend to buy NEO so we could play and re-live the memories. Unfortunately, the impatient person that I am and also the kind of guy that doesn’t read directions, (who needs directions anyway? Psshh.) I did not know it was only local co-op. Meaning, my buddy and I had to be in front of the same TV if we wanted to play. Are you serious? Total bummer.

Second negative you will notice is the lack of any difficulty to this game. You can breeze right past the first 50 or so levels with little to no effort. Why was is much more difficult back in the day? I couldn’t be that much better of a gamer. However, once you get to certain levels, it becomes clear something was not designed properly. For example, Level 72.

That was not my video but that of someone else going through the exact same motions I went through. I am not the type of person that goes to look for a cheat or a way to beat a level, but this was one of those certain ‘beyond frustrating’ times when it was absolutely necessary. My girlfriend and I could not figure this one out on our own. We were stuck. In between 2 walls, unable to produce any bubbles to jump our way out. And it’s not just me, I guess a lot of people had trouble with this level with some even claiming it is ‘broken’. And not just on the 360 with NEO, gamers have had this same issue in Bubble Bobble Plus for the Wii. I assume NEO is just a port of that game.

We eventually managed to pass Level 72 and move on to beat the game. So it isn’t broken after all, but definitely not designed as well as it should be. It took a few hours to beat the full game the first time playing through. Mostly because we got stuck on that damn level for so long. But playing with my best friend the next day, after we already knew what to do, we blazed right through and beat it in almost an hour exactly. Now compare that to ‘Shadow Complex’ on XBLA which provided me with an awesome experience recently for about 6 1/2 hours of total gameplay, for only 1200 points. Only 400 points more than Bubble Bobble, which only gives you an hours worth of gameplay. What happened to the quality here?

To top it all off, the controls for Bub and Bob were extremely sluggish. There were many deaths due to slow response time. It would have been nice to be able to produce bubbles at a quicker pace, and to jump when I told them to jump. By the way, how about those default controls? Press B to jump and A for bubbles? It felt so awkward as most games use the A button as the jump feature. I thought every developer was aware of this? Good thing they allow you to change this in the settings.

Look, don’t get me wrong. I loved Bubble Bobble when I was a kid, but I guess some games of my past should stay in the past. Had this game been half the cost, I might not be as disappointed as I am. But at the same time, I expected more. Especially from such an awesome Taito classic.

Do yourself a favor and skip the purchase on this one. At least until it drops down in price. You will not get much game for your buck, as there is little to no replay value. 100 levels sounds like a lot, but not when some of the levels take as little as 10 seconds to beat.

‘SNOOPY FLYING ACE’ COMING TO XBLA IN 2010

Back in November 2008, I wrote an article about Smart Bomb Interactive’s New Snoopy game gunning to be top dog. At the time, there were no specifics. What platform would this game be released on? Will there be online gameplay? And by far the most important, can you play as the mighty and all powerful Woodstock? Yea, I said Woodstock. What?

With no specifics at all, I could tell that a lot of thought and effort was going into this game and trash me for liking Snoopy, but this game looks badass. No, I don’t care what you say. This game deserves a chance. It looked good back then, and it looks even better now. If the gameplay on this Xbox Live Arcade trailer doesn’t get you excited at all, there is something wrong with you. Xbox Live Arcade is one of the best, if not the best feature Microsoft has added to their console. I don’t know what I would do without it and in fact, I enjoy more games on XBLA than their $60 counterparts. Snoopy Flying Ace may add to the list of reasons why.

So what’s the basic idea behind this game?

Excerpt from GamerBytes: (Since I couldn’t explain it any better)

“The game is, for the most part, an aerial dog fighting game where you and 15 other players can fight each other online. The game will support 9 different modes including airborne Rugby, and will also include a challenge mode that is playable by yourself or in local or online coop. You can also choose from 12 members of the original Peanuts crew, or use your Xbox Live Avatar.”

Another game to use your avatar sounds pretty sweet to me. And in the original post I did in November, I mentioned you could end up getting out of the plane you’re flying and the flying game turns into a platformer. No word on this still being the case, but either way, Snoopy’s new adventure looks like a lot of fun.

For those of you about to hate on me, I”ll probably end up seeing you playing online. Watch out, I will be aiming for you.

EARTHWORM JIM ON XBOX LIVE ARCADE A PRELUDE TO EARTHWORM JIM 4 DETAILS?

“You want some of this?”

I have been dreaming for the day Earthworm Jim would come to Xbox Live Arcade for a few years now. In my article, Top Games the should be on Xbox Live Arcade, that I wrote back in March ’09, the top game of them all, hands down was Earthworm Jim. There really was no competition. Originally developed by Shiny Entertainment (now merged with The Collective to form Double Helix who just released the highly acclaimed GI Joe game*sarcasm*) and released in 1994, a re-release of this instant classic is way overdue. 15 years of waiting to play this wonderful, masterpiece of a game again? Now is the time my friends, and there is a new Genesis Poll online to find out if you feel the same.

If you head on over to the SEGA Genisis Poll, you can be part of the solution to bring Earthworm Jim to the Xbox Live Arcade. Finally! You have a few titles to choose from but, really… there is only one choice in the bunch and it is quite clear. As of this posting, the majority of gamers favorite earthworm is leading the poll by a wide margin.

The whole reason why I wanted to talk about Earthworm Jim in the first place was because in April of 2008 many of the top game sites reported there was an announcement from Interplay that Earthworm Jim 4 would become a reality. But when? How? On what platforms? Interplay mentioned they would support the Wii for Earthworm Jim and other games, but could a next gen Earthworm Jim ever see the light on the 360 and PS3? It’s interesting that this poll would be released now and I’m wondering if Interplay is testing the waters to see if Earthworm Jim is something gamers definitely want. It would make total sense to tease gamers with Earthworm Jim on XBLA in anticipation of hyping up the Earthworm Jim 4 release. That seems like common sense to me if that is indeed what is planned. I could be wrong, but I sure as hell hope I am right. I was right when I said Bubble Bobble should be on Xbox Live Arcade, and I got my wish. (Except it’s still only available in Japan! WTF Microsoft? Such a tease.)

If Interplay, Doug TenNapel or whoever is behind this, needs any indication that their desire to pursue the reemergence of the Earthworm Jim franchise as a game, or cartoon series is a smart decision and fully backed by their loyal fans, I have no doubts that the answer is yes. Bring it! That would totally be Groovy!

What say you? It’s been well over a year since we’ve heard any details on Earthworm Jim 4. Is it still being developed? Is it dead? When will TenNapel give us some details on the long awaited sequel? I’ll keep an eye on his blog for now and keep guessing until more details are announced.