Shadow Complex came out on Xbox 360 in 2009 and was quite the sensation. It broke sales records and was loved by many. So, after all these years, how does the remaster hold up? Quite well to be honest, but there are some technical issues. Let’s start from the beginning shall we?
Shadow Complex Remastered is a remarkable platformer because it prioritizes a sense of progression more than any other aspect. Even though a lot of backtracking is involved, you never feel like it’s part of the experience to prolong gameplay. It’s baked into the game from the beginning and it’s all about collecting upgrades to access areas you couldn’t get to before. Whether it’s a grenade upgrade or the ability to breathe underwater, Shadow Complex Remastered always keeps you invested by making you that much stronger with every passing moment.
The story behind Shadow Complex is quite simple to begin with. Certain events propel lost hiker Jason Fleming into the hollows of government conspiracy, dark political motives and military upheaval. Basically Jason is on an unusual date with his girlfriend Claire and they accidentally stumble upon a rogue paramilitary group called The Restoration who wants to destroy the United States and start another civil war. What starts off as a simple rescue mission becomes all about stopping The Restoration from bringing about total chaos. There are a lot of unanswered questions about Jason’s past which are hinted at but never fully addressed. Maybe if the developers had incorporated additional cutscenes in this version or collectibles that provided more detail about Jason and his father it would’ve enhanced the experience.
Apart from that, the good thing is that the shooting and controls are as tight as ever. The high-resolution textures make it easier to figure out where to go and spot enemies. Everything is clear and sharp. The high frame rate insures that the controls are responsive and aren’t plagued by input lag found at lower rates. All in all, it controls perfectly when there aren’t technical issues.
Even though this game has been remastered and the visuals look incredible for the most part, there are some remnants you can see during the cutscenes. For example, the buttons on the consoles look very blurry and out-of-place. The details of the characters’ faces are also blocky and odd. This is a little confusing because surely the developers could’ve updated the small buttons when they updated almost everything else. Why couldn’t they have redone the faces? The point of remasters is to upgrade the visuals…at least from what I understand. Leaving some vestigial textures seems like a strange oversight.
Shadow Complex Remastered also has a lot of performance issues which crop up randomly. I tried to determine the cause but they show up when you least expect them. I would encounter hordes of enemies in an enclosed area and the frame rate wouldn’t dip at all from sixty frames per second. However, a few minutes later I would be crossing an empty checkpoint and the game would stutter horribly. It seems that the title isn’t properly optimized for Xbox One. It needs more development time in order to iron out the performance issues which can be quite jarring to repeatedly experience.
Summary
Overall, Shadow Complex Remastered is still the great platformer we first experienced on Xbox 360. It offers many hours of gameplay and countless upgrades to become a true force of destruction and The Restoration’s worst nightmare. The title is even better on Xbox One but the performance issues and visual inconsistencies detract from the experience. It feels like a rushed project rather than a game lovingly crafted for a new generation of devices. I keep on comparing remasters to Gears of War: Ultimate Edition because that was done right. From top to bottom it improved on everything the original offered and the visuals were flawless. One might even call Gears of War: Ultimate Edition the pinnacle of what a remaster should be.
When reviewing remasters I look for that quality and unfortunately Shadow Complex Remastered misses that mark. I wish a little more care had been put into the visuals and performance. With that said, the game is still fantastic and fans of the original and newcomers should experience it. It’s still one of the best platformers around and to this day manages to maintain its appeal. It’s a recommended upgrade even though it’s a little rough around the edges.
With that said I have full confidence Chair Entertainment and its partners will fix the minor issues in the Xbox One version through patches. At least I hope they do. Ironing out the problems will elevate the experience and make it a must-buy title for Xbox One. Until that happens, all we can do is wait.
Asher is a games journalist, former News Writer (Gaming) at Windows Central. They contributed 1110 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: wrote over 1,100 ICXM pieces on Xbox news, hardware reviews, and platform commentary before joining Future plc’s Windows Central in 2017.