'Shadow Complex' Beatable In Under 2 Hours

Chair Entertainment was in town today to show off "Shadow Complex," the non-linear, "Metroid"-styled action adventure game based on the "Empire" series of books by Orson Scott Card. Phew, that's a lot to pack into one sentence!

[All Time Greatness]

I was like wtf. Its a 10-12 hour game, but can be beaten in 2 hours if you know all the tricks and secrets.

[gaffyh]

I was also like wtf, but I remember back in the day I beat MGS1 in 3 hours 15 mins, which was my best time. Must have played it over 20 times through though.

But still I don't expect Shadow Complex to be a must have game, it'll probably be good, but I would have preferred a bigger game from Epic.

[Marcelles25]

i was thinking the same thing MGS4 had a challenge to beat it under 5 hours

[ShabzS]

you beat mgs 1 in 3hrs ... ?!!? wow man how is that even possible...

[Fishy Fingers]

Big Boss... Complete on Extreme, no kills, no deaths, no alerts, no health packs. In under 5 hours.

Thats a challenge, one I personally gave up on.

[Bnet343]

Before anyone gets their panties up in a bunch, this is an arcade game, not retail.

[Greywulf]

I doubt most gamers spend money to see how fast they can burn through a game, skipping everything...

[gaffyh]

@1.3- yeah seems impossible but i knew exactly what to do after playing the game so many times. The bit that was the most tedious was the key cards bit towards the end. Easily my favourite PS1 game

[FamilyGuy]

It was on topic and completely inflammatory, are the mods just targeting user names now?

REPOST
Why is it that
That this game is more constantly compared to the snes metroid? It has similarities but has even more similarities to Castlevania: SOTN. Maybe cause you shoot?

It supposedly has the hidden treasure rooms, the map display of where you've been, the 2D platformish nature (though this has 3D aspects, i don't know about the music as it's isn't mentioned or used as a selling point.

It was a really clever idea to make it similar to two legendary games, you know it'll be good.

On topic:
"sequence-breaks" were completely prevented in C:SotN unless you had beaten the game already or put in a cheat code. The one that let you play as Ricter belmont, for example, gave you his ability to kick straight up several feet, basically you could fly, so you could go straight to the boss skipping EVERYTHING and beat the game in minutes, not sure about the reverse castle though.

[Troll-Killer]

This isn't being made by EPIC. They bought the dev, Chair Entertainment, who had already made 'Undertow', using UE3. EPIC is just funding and, of course backing with extra staff to help them further exploit UE3....but EPIC is NOT the dev. MS is publishing.

[gaffyh]

@1.10 - Oh OK alright. I just expected something more when Cliff Blezinski came out at E3. Still hopefully this is good.

[callahan09]

Yeah, it'll be like Super Metroid in that if you know the ins and outs and every thing exactly as it needs to be, you can beat it in a couple of hours, but certainly not on your first play through, only after total memorization of the game and with a lot of skill.

I have high hopes for this game. I really dislike the art style, but I think the gameplay looks fun and the concept is top notch, grade A awesome. I like Card's writing as well.

The last teaming up of Chair with Card was Advent Rising, which was pretty good, if a bit less impress than it was hyped up to be. I couldn't get into Undertow, though. Didn't like anything about it. But I think they can get back to glory with this new game.

[likedamaster]

...looks absolutely phenomenal. An arcade game looking that good and playing that long? Day 1.

[cherrypie]

"only after total memorization of the game and with a lot of skill"

Exactly.

The world record for Super Mario Bros. is 05:08.

Does anyone say "SMB is beatable in under 6 mintues"?

No. The game is being designed to be *explored* and *discovered*, something lacking in modern adventure/platform games. I think this is a terrific idea; it adds re-playability -- if you get good, and want to "show" or "play more" at a certain point, you can "speed run" to that point... Serves the same purpose as SMB warp-zones... sort of "skip ahead".

[Downtown boogey]

I finished MGS4 in 2:34:02 along with the BIG BOSS EMBLEM

[Cajun Chicken]

Neat.

[iHEARTboobs]

It's cuz they're working on GEARS 3.

[The Master Chief]

You tried to make a funny.

[iHEARTboobs]

Not really, but they are. I'm sure it'll be out next year. Should be good.

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

Epic could put their name on any game and people would shower it w/ praise.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Are you not a fan of the Metroid series? This is a sort of homage to the game and it looks to be fun for an Xbox Live ARCADE title.

[likedamaster]

On the other hand, you'll have to be a real fanboy not to see this game's appeal. And just like you said, it's from Epic.

[MetalGearBear]

not buy on 2 hour games.
it useless.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

You should read the story because the game is not 2 hours long.

[likedamaster]

Oh, wait...

[logikil]

The title of this article is just awful. If you do not click through and actually read the article you have no context for why the title is what it is. The game is a 10-15 hour game. There is an achievement for beating it within 2 hours which requires you to beat the game using "sequence breaks."

Bad form, article poster.

[Polluted]

In the article poster's defense, N4G rules state you're supposed to use the exact same title as the original article. This wouldn't be an issue if people were actually reading the story and not just the headline.

...oh well.

[n to the b]

yeah, nothing wrong with the title if this were, say, a decade ago. like b4 the RIF (Rabid Internet Fanboy) virus began to spread.

[Nikuma]

Did you think they were gonna make a gigantic title? " Shadow Complex can be beaten in 2 hours if you know the correct secrets and do a speed run."

Honestly...

[Karum]

This would be a prime example of an article people will flame on based on the title.

READ THE ARTICLE PEOPLE!

[Mike134nl]

reading is so overrated

[Socomer 1979]

I hate when people say YOU CAN beat a game in a few hours.
Only experts can or people who have no lives and dont have any enjoyment in gaming.

We all did the super mario bros trick when we were kids and it was boring.

[themyk]

Coming from a Sony guy: this game looks awesome. And I wish I had it on the psn.

[OmarJA]

LOL!

[Xbots]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA........

typical xbroken3fixme piece of sh!t game that homo bots will get it...

[Gamer_Politics]

Yes another jealous sony fan but its tipical now days....

[tehReaper]

Nasim is working really hard today, I've noticed.

[Honolulu]

You'll probably be able to get the crap-ending really easy, like you could in SOTN... It's the other endings that interest me... and collecting all the goodies and secrets, Metroidvania-style. ^^

[themyk]

Jesus Christ, MOD. there was no reason to delete that comment. Pull ur head out of ur ass and try reading the comment before deleting them. I was quite obviously complementing the game by compairing, beating this game in two hours. To getting the big boss badge in MGS4. NOTHING WRONG WITH SAYING THAT.

and I also said this would be one of the first games I'd buy if I got a 360. WHAT'S WRONG WITH SAYING THAT.

I'm just sayin.

[Arnon]

Yes it can be completed in 2 hours. But that's if you do a speed run. I can complete Morrowind in 17minutes, but I'm not going to. Also, there's like 120+ secrets in this game. Why would anyone want to miss out on it? Or better yet, just look at the scenery. By far one of, if not the nicest looking XBLA game to date.

[AngryTypingGuy]

Yeah, if you read the story, you'll see it'll take 10-15 hours for most people. If you know all the tricks and can get the foam gun 15 minutes into the game, maybe you'll beat it in 2 hours.

[Silber]

Yes as some people here say - This is a speedrun. Nearly every game is beatable much faster.

I personally have beaten Resident Evil 5 in around 1:42. And it coud be done faster. I think Highscore is 1:09 in the moment.