We talked to the developers, and learned about how potentially awesome Shadow Complex was. We then played Shadow Complex, and learned that it was indeed ridiculously good, the kind of game that makes you expect more out of the XBLA service in the future. Now the game is out today on Xbox Live Arcade, meaning you should go and grab $15 and get yourself some Microsoft Points.

You don’t have to love Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in order to dig Shadow Complex, but if you do, prepare to see your nostalgia married with current-gen technology. While you’re sitting and pondering this purchase, I’m going to go start another game of Shadow Complex, because it’s just that good.

Shadow Complex is an experiment. Developers ChAIR wanted to create a game in the same vein as classics like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but they wanted to evolve the genre by fusing that time-tested gameplay with some new wrinkles and the advancements gaming has made over the past 15 years. Because of the experimental nature–it’s not like there’s any kind of data to track on how well this style of game would do in today’s gaming world–Shadow Complex is an Xbox Live Arcade game, but don’t be fooled by its form of distribution–this is a game that could stand at retail as far as depth and replayability are concerned, and you can get it for just $15 from the comfort of your couch.

You play as Jason Fleming, who is out on a date with a woman he met named Claire. Claire takes him to go for some hiking and spelunking out in an area she says she is familiar with from her earlier years, but things go awry almost immediately as Claire is kidnapped by an unknown organization that has built an underground base. You know, your typical date gone wrong. What Jason doesn’t know is that this organization, just a few minutes earlier in the game, assassinated the Vice President of the United States in order to start a second civil war–the game runs parallel to events in Orson Scott Card’s Empire novel, and also helps setup the sequel, Hidden Empire. They are a bit uptight about people snooping in their business, given what it is they do, so Jason is caught up in the middle of this all because some cutie hit on him at a bar, not because he’s some trained NSA agent like they think he may be.

Like in the games Shadow Complex is inspired from, you start with nothing except the most basic of tools, and find more as you progress through the levels–hiking gear, a pistol, grenades, and eventually, a lightweight cybernetic suit that turns you into a fearless killing machine. The game is also very non-linear, as you will see areas you need to travel to hours down the road almost immediately, but you will have no way of accessing them at that time. You can see these areas by shining your flashlight on them; they will glow a certain color, and you will know which item or ability you need in order to get through the obstacle. Thankfully, your map keeps track of all of that stuff for you, so that you can just go about your business finding alternate paths to Claire in the meantime.

That exploration is the driving force behind the game, as the level design is so fantastic that you can spend hours just running around unlocking upgrades and items and wiping the floor with the baddies in your way. Unlike in Super Metroid though, your character can level up through exploration and killing, so you may even get to a point where you are so strong that you do not need all of the upgrades scattered throughout the game. Your level also sticks with your character even when you begin a new game, so you can get a bit of an assist when trying to beat the game faster or dig deeper into the facility.

In addition to replicating the classic gameplay style almost perfectly, Shadow Complex has a few other things going for it. The backgrounds are 3D, so even though the action is on a 2D plane, you can shoot into the background to take out the enemies coming at you from hallways or from side doors. While games on the SNES could (and did) this kind of thing using Mode 7 in order to simulate 3D, Shadow Complex is capable of using actual 3D thanks to advancements in technology and the use of the Unreal Engine, and it looks and plays great (with a little help from aim assist, for those of you that can’t hit a target with the right thumb stuck). The story is also very good, and adds to the game without intruding on what is ordinarily a very isolated feeling experience. Acclaimed comic book author Peter David (Spiderman, Dark Tower) collaborated with ChAIR on the script and story, and the end result is concise but productive dialogue that gives Shadow Complex the extra personality it needs.

If you want to collect 100% of the items, it should take you about 9-10 hours. That’s the first time, of course, as you will want to play again. And again. There are multiple levels of difficulty, as well as an achievement for speed running the game collecting just 13 percent of the items–figuring out how to be so good and fast at the game that you can beat it without collecting almost anything is half the fun, and gives this game the ability to suck hours and hours out of your life. It’s possible to beat Shadow Complex with just‚  four percent of the items, meaning you need to figure out how to get by with say, just the foam (which can be used to build platforms for you to stand on if you use it right) and the pistol–in addition to your now very high level character. That makes each playthrough of Shadow Complex different than the previous one, and despite your experience with it, it also makes it more difficult for you. Now that is replayability.

In addition to the campaign, there are also leaderboards so you can see how much faster and how much more violent you are than everyone else on Xbox Live Arcade. There is also a Proving Grounds mode, which acts as a tutorial but also acts as Speed Runs 101. You get to use a variety of the items in the game, trying to run through hallways quickly, wall jump effectively, kill large numbers of enemies without taking a scratch, and a many, many other things that will teach you skills you can utilize in the campaign. This challenge mode is a welcome addition, the kind of thing that is missing from many games today, but was so prevalent (and so much fun) generations before.

Blast Factor: Shadow Complex is a throwback to the glory days of the sidescrolling exploration game, and it fuses those elements with some of today’s in order to create a game experience that is both fresh and loads of fun to play and replay. Don’t be fooled by its Xbox Live Arcade status, as it is a deep, difficult and engaging game that will suck you in for hours, and all at a $15 price point. Shadow Complex is a wonderful tribute (and evolution of) the games it was inspired by, but it’s also so good that those oblivious to the past it draws from will still love it too.

Shadow Complex is an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive, and the last of the “Summer of Arcade” titles for the service in 2009. It is available for 1200 Microsoft Points. For more on Shadow Complex, check out our interview with ChAIR.

If you’re like me, you miss one of the finest genres ever created, one that has been missing from home consoles for about 15 years. The exploratory sidescroller, a la Super Metroid, has just gone missing the past few console generations, which is a shame given that Super Metroid is one of those inarguable “greatest games of all-time” types. ChAIR believes that the genre deserves a second life, and with their most recent game, Shadow Complex, they may have just breathed life back into it. I spoke to Donald Mustard (creative director) and Geremy Mustard (technical director) about Shadow Complex, its story, and its inspirations.

BLAST: How about you tell our readers a bit about ChAIR?

Donald Mustard: We formed ChAIR a little over four years ago, with the intent to create really awesome games and really cool intellectual properties to create and control to set those games in. Our first game was Undertow for the Xbox 360, and just next week we’re coming out with Shadow Complex, which we’re very excited about.

About a year ago, we were purchased by Epic Games. We are now a subsidiary, part of the Epic family. That is so awesome for us, because Epic came in, and gave us all of the time and resources and expertise that we needed to create a really powerful game. The awesome part about being part of Epic is that we get access to the Unreal Engine 3, which is, in our opinion, the very best game technology that’s ever been created. We love using it, and that’s a huge advantage to being part of the Epic family.

BLAST: Shadow Complex has a deeper story than many sidescrollers and other games in the genre, which makes sense given you have Peter David working on it. Tell us a little about how you get Peter to work on it, and on the story itself.

DM: The story of Shadow Complex takes place in our Empire universe. About two years ago, we released a novel called Empire by Orson Scott Card. The novel is about a second civil war breaking out in the United States in the near future, and the ramifications of what that would entail. The story of Shadow Complex runs parallel to the events of that novel and sets up a lot of the events to the sequel to that novel, Hidden Empire, which will come out this December.

Shadow Complex is reminiscent of some of our favorite games from the past, like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, games that are all about exploration and this environment that you’re placed into. One of the challenges that we wanted to take on in Shadow Complex was to layer in more story than we have seen in those games in the past. We thought it would be awesome to partner with something who understood quick, concise dialogue, and we thought “Who better to do that then a comic book writer” They really have to marry their words with a strong visual style, similar to games in many ways.

We don’t see any reason not to set our sights high, so we made a list of our favorite comic book writers of all time, and Peter David was at the very top of that list. We were able to get in contact with his agent, and through that we got his phone number and we called him up. We talked to him about what we were thinking about Shadow Complex, and what the ideas were, and he really loved the idea of it so we were able to somehow convince him to come and partner with us in writing the story and script. We think the end result is just awesome, he did an amazing job of creating a compelling narrative with cool characters, but still allowed for so much of that open-world freedom that we kind of needed in the game.

BLAST: I see a bit of Metroid Fusion in this title as well, since that game had more story and you have the voices coming in over the walkie and such, in a similar way. How did you prepare for that game, as the play style”"even though it does its own things as well”"it mirrors them [Super Metroid & Metroid Fusion]; did you do anything special to prepare for that?

DM: For us, for everyone at the company, Metroid, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, and Metroid Fusion are some of our favorite games of all time. And we just saw this hole in the genre. I’ve been waiting almost 15 years for someone to make a new console version of these exploratory sidescrollers. Imagine if no one made a first-person shooter for 15 years, how weird that would be. Then 15 years later, Call of Duty 10 comes out; after 15 years, how fresh do you think that would feel? We decided that no one is making these games, even though they are so awesome, so when we finished Undertow we decided it was a great opportunity to take a stab at creating this type of game. That’s what we set out to do. So at the very beginning of the development process, we looked at the Metroid games to see what they did right, and what we thought they did wrong, and how to bring them back with a re-design and modernize it with everything we’ve learned in the last 15-20 years about game design about pacing and narrative flow, and then fuse that with the very best game technology that we have. The Unreal Engine, bringing in all the graphics and AI and all the things we can do now in modern games. We’re pretty happy with the result, but it remains to be see–you can answer this question better than we can”"were we able to take the old and create something that was fresh and new for gamers today?

Geremy Mustard: One of our goals along those lines was”"well those types of games are still out on handhelds, like the Game Boy”"but that’s a pretty niche market, for the kinds of people that remember those types of games, and we wanted to really bring it to the next generation and bring it to the new generation that has been weaned on Halo and the modern first-person shooters, and we wanted to make that type of game accessible to those kinds of players as well. Hopefully that will be the case.

BLAST: Do you have any kind of insight or idea as to why this type of game disappeared from consoles for 15 years?

DM: Super Metroid came out in 1994, and then in ’95, the Playstation came out, and then everything was 3D, 3D, 3D. The idea that a sidescroller, no matter what the design was, could be successful, went away. Now, as games have become more mature, and the technology has become more mature, the platforms have matured; look at what Microsoft is doing with Xbox Live Arcade. It creates opportunities for all kinds of games being developed, regardless of the design. There is really an opportunity now for any kind of game to be developed on these next-gen systems regardless of where you set the camera.

BLAST: One thing I noticed while playing is that Shadow Complex looks like it’s set up for speed runs, which is kind of interesting given that speed runs seem to be one of those things where you exploit the design. You even have an achievement for completing a speed run.

DM: We do! One of those things we have fond memories of was the ability to do speed runs in games and sequence break them. While I will always believe in my heart that while I was speed running Metroid and sequence breaking Metroid that no game designer ever intended for that to happen”¦I think they intended for that to happen, and they made the game support it. So we thought, “Of course we have to support that.” Of course we have to allow the technology to even consider that someone out there will think of ways to break things that we never even thought of, and so we wanted to make sure that we could support it and allow them to complete their game however they want to figure it out. So because we decided to support that, it allowed for some really awesome stuff to happen, and as we ran through the testing process of the game we started to see all the cool ways to speed run the game and sequence break the game, and we allowed that to stay in. So yeah, you can absolutely speed run the game really, really fast if you know where everything is and you’ve played it several times and leveled up your character even enough to unlock some of the really cool secrets and abilities we have to assist you in speed running. A lot of that is built in.

GM: Honestly we see that as one of the coolest forms of replayability that we have in our game, and that these types of games have. Even though you’re kind of playing through the same experience, it’s quite different as you try to play in different ways. Obviously you can see from the older games, people continue to play Super Metroid to try to do speed runs and sequence breaking, there are all kinds of videos on YouTube and stuff about that. We know it’s a very valid form of replayability to get value out of the game, so we wanted to support that as well as we could.

DM: Geremy’s right; playing the game in new ways almost creates an entirely new game experience. Some of these people, after they beat the game a few times, will be able to reach the foam earlier in the game, and will be able to beat the game with just their foam and the pistol. That is a completely different gameplay experience than any other way of playing the game, it’s almost like a new game at that point. There’s some really cool stuff for players that are more interested in finding new stuff to discover and interact with in the game in new and unique ways, it can really extend the life of the game.

BLAST: So the game comes out Wednesday, if it’s successful do you see yourself doing anything else like this in the future? Any other style of throwback, or more in the Metroid/Shadow Complex style of game?

DM: The short answer is we would love to. We love the challenge of making this kind of game, and through the creative process we learned so much about how to create these kind of non-linear, exploratory games. If a game like this can take off, not only would we love the opportunity to create more games like this, but what I really hope is that other people would make games like this. The one problem with Shadow Complex is that Geremy and I already know where everything is! We don’t ever get to play it and enjoy a fresh, new Metroidvania style next-gen game. I hope someone else will make it so that I get to play. Uh, not another Shadow Complex though [laughter]. You know what I mean.

At the end of the day, we are beholden to what gamers want. If they want it, we’ll make more.

GM: We have some sweet ideas for a sequel to Shadow Complex, so if your readers want it, tell them to go buy the game. [laughter] [Editor's Note: Go buy the game.]

Shadow Complex releases Wednesday, August 19 for XBLA at 1200 Microsoft Points. You can read our review here.

Whether you’re an undergrad headed to the dorm or just moving into your first place, you’re leaving the nest and need stuff.

For the college crowd, by now, you’ve not only had a few awkward Facebook conversations with your new roommate (look to see how many pictures he or she is tagged in that are added by others, not by themselves-that’s how you know they’re cool), but you’ve probably acquired your brand-new comforter and Twin-XL sheets and you’ve got your shower caddy and shower shoes safely packed away. You’ve spent the past few days tinkering with your new Macbook’s iSight camera and you think you’re prepared to face the great beyond of post-high school life.

Well, you’re not. You’ve almost certainly forgotten a few items that will make your college experience a whole lot better, but thankfully for you Blast Magazine has decided to help you out.

10. Organization

Depending on how cheap your university is, they may or may not provide desk drawers or a hutch/bookshelf. And as much as you think you won’t be studying, you’ll still need a place to store your unused hundred-dollar textbooks and to hide your solo cups and ping-pong balls from the wandering eyes of resident assistants. The best (and most flexible) option if you don’t want to actually buy any kind of quality shelving, is stackable cubes or bins-basically, you want them to be small enough to fit in the nooks-and-crannies of exposed space in your dorm room (on the window sill, under your bed, bottom of your closet, etc.) and you want to be able to configure them to fit your needs.

9. Water

In college, you need water for everything. Whether you’re trekking to class, making a cup of tea at 3am in the morning, or you’ve run out of soda on Saturday nights, water is essential. And frankly, it’s not only expensive but incredibly wasteful to burn through 24-packs of Poland Spring. Instead, buy a filtering pitcher like a Brita pitcher to keep in your fridge. It’s also important to have a plastic bottle on hand, both to carry water around and to bring to dining halls so that you can liberate juice and milk.

8. Fan

Even if your dorm room has air conditioning (unlikely), a small fan is essential. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never slept with white noise before, a fan is ideal in order to block out your roommate’s snoring (or to block your snoring for your roommate) and it is also important to keep some air circulation going in your tiny room. Dorm rooms are small, compact places and frankly, it’s in both your interests to have a little breeze here and there. Your best option is probably an oscillating tower fan.

7. Visitor accommodations

The thing about dorm life is that there are always people around. Once you make friends, there’s a good chance that someone besides yourself and your roommate will be hanging out with you. Where do they sit? Some people are uncomfortable either offering their beds or sitting on others’ beds, and so a chair of some kind is a definite plus. The coolest thing I’ve seen is actually a Yoga or Pilates ball that just rolls around your room“"not only are they really fun (and people fight over them!), but they offer a nice break from the monotony of sitting on your ass on a hard, uncomfortable chair (more on that later) and they’re really good for your posture.

6. Comfy clothes

The other thing about dorm life is that everyone sees everyone in their pajamas and ratty old field hockey shirts and so on and so forth. On wet days, you’ll come back to your dorm and get out of your soaked jeans as fast as possible and you’ll probably do your best not to leave your dorm room for the rest of the night. A good pair of sweatpants and a REALLY good pair of slippers are invaluable for times like these (especially if you actually go to your 8ams). You don’t want to walk around bare-footed because dorms are dirty places and no one wants to see your feet, anyway. Personally, I recommend L.L. Bean’s Wicked Good Moccasins (they have male and female versions) and your college bookstore will have a good selection of sweatpants.

5. Lap desk

I don’t care how studious you are, you won’t want to sit at your desk for hours and hours and hours on end. So you’ll move to your bed, bringing your laptop with you, and an hour later the fire alarm will go off thanks to your overheated computer bursting into flames. So a good-sized lap desk that holds your computer and a notebook or two is definitely a good investment.

4. Personal decorations

“But I already bought two awesome posters,” you say. But what you probably bought was yet another Klimt “The Kiss” or Dali”"Narcissus” that everybody and their mom already have tacked up on their wall. Go for something original; if you have a few unique posters on your wall your roommate and your dorm-mates might actually be interested in you. Don’t forget that the whole point of college (besides a degree and stuff) is to unashamedly be yourself. So if you’re an Apple fanboy, fly your true colors. If you’re a die-hard Bond fan, don’t be embarrassed of your Goldfinger movie poster reprint

3. A good backpack

You absolutely need a quality, comfortable back-pack. You might have a cool new shoulder bag or an adorable designer tote, but you’ll use it for one day and then realize that they make back-packs the way they do for a reason. You’ll need a bag big enough to hold your laptop (with sufficient padding for it, too), a notebook, a variety of extra pouches and so on for whatever you might need, and an easy way to carry your water bottle. If you sleep over someone’s room or take a weekend trip, a back-pack is honestly the best solution. Don’t hesitate to spend a significant amount on one, either, especially if it’s high-quality like a North Face or an L.L. Bean (which has a lifetime guarantee).

2. A nice set of speakers

Obviously it depends on your studying methods, but personally I have music on all the time. And laptop speakers just don’t cut it. Whether it’s a weekend night or you’re watching a movie with a friend or studying, a subwoofer makes all situations more fun. There are a lot of good options out there, but you can get a very nice set of two satellites + 1 subwoofer from Logitech for a decent price.

1. A comfortable office chair

I was lucky enough to get this advice before my freshman year and it was honestly one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. A proper rolling office chair lets you bring seating to others’ rooms easily, makes sitting on your ass for long, long hours much more comfortable, and is generally 12462343x better than the terrible hard, wooden chair that the college had mass-produced especially for you. Even though they might be expensive, a good chair is undoubtedly worth it. If you don’t believe me, just go to college and sit at your desk for a week. Then go buy a chair.

There you have it — my ten essential dorm room accessories. Now go forth and be educated.