Shadow Complex

Before we critique Shadow Complex, a world of clarification; when we receive access to a game, that we just have to get in, magically, it jumps from the Live Arcade section and gets its very own unique style of gameplay. Falling somewhere between Contra and Metroid, Shadow Complex takes the action platform mould and majestically balances the two. Following Jason Fleming as he tries to save his girlfriend, Claire, the plot is deliberately over the top with the action hammed right up, and naturally it’s much better for it. The true, genius, however, lies in how well the title paced. Evert aspect, from taking out enemies to hiking up the slide of a cliff, is ridiculously satisfying. On the top of this, Shadow Complex, challenges you to try and find everything in its massive map. At times it will even tell you what you have missed.

Shadow Complex is also a surprisingly intense experience. Just a single run through on the Normal difficulty will keep you occupied for a fair while if you are attempting to locate every last nook and cranny. Increasing the complexity shifts expectations. Boss fights go from enjoyable distractions to genuine challenges, often asking you to completely rethink your approach. For an Xbox Live Arcade title, Shadow Complex puts a lot f its rival to shame.

Medal of Honor Airborne

The online shooter. Perhaps the oldest and most revered of all internal games. PCs have been dominant for years, with the classic twitch of Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament still drawing in huge crowds years after their release. Medal of Honor Airborne is a fairly standard but extremely well executed affair. Electronic Art’s servers are strong enough to cope with any deathmatch permutation and the inclusion of airborne drops upon respawning makes for a slightly more considered, tactical affair then most. As with the single player game, shooting, movement and combat are smooth and satisfying, nailing a long distance rile shot or a panicked grenade is particularly enjoyable. But one niggle remains: Medal of Honor Airborne isn’t treading any new ground.

With Halo 3 just around the corner, Airborne’s community is set to shrink rapidly over the coming weeks, so if you are looking for a quieter, friendlier place to do battle, then here’s a good place to start. With great map design, crisp visuals atmospheric sound, Airborne is a solid addition to the ranks of Live deathmatches, but when Chief arrives, he is going to take most of its players. Still, this is another high quality product for EA, both online and off. The company has made a u-turn this year. Once synonymous with greed now almost exclusively associated with quality.

SmackDown vs Raw 2010

Eleven games on and you’d think that this perennial series that takes silly showmanship seriously would have hit terminal velocity by now, and in way it has. If you had issue with the lumpy wadding of the wrestlers, then that feeling will remain, and if you find waiting for a promote to tell you a reversal on a grapple and then in turn waiting for the other player to follow suit repetitive, then expect no surprise. SamckDown’s play core is unmistakably similar to last year’s model but this time it’s surrounded by the greatest and possibly most libelous story ever told, your own.

WWE Story Designer is fantastic in a similar way to elements of the PC game The Movies and that’s to say it’s very impressive indeed. Scenes are built of dialogue and actions that come from a pool of 100 prescribed animations, dialogue can be written with a USB Keyboard should you want to speed up the script writing process, you can reposition the camera to frame your shots and, with a bit of imagination, the result can be too hilarious or, if you are dead inside, laboriously. The result can be uploaded to the internet for all to enjoy. Sweet.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Even the biggest first person shooters are running scared of Modern Warfare 2, but Bad Company 2 seems to have everything going to be a genuine contender to Activation’s behemoth, although EA is still playing safe and holding out for an early release. Perhaps there are still concerns over the effectiveness of the single player campaign. The first game’s story about a rag-tag bunch of gold hunting squaddies was fun, yet hardly memorable in the same way players fondly recall Call of Duty 4’s sinking ship level or playing a dying solider as he takes his final breaths. Bad Company 2 catches up with the same squad, and it’ll take more than some more sweary banter for the single player to live long in the memory. It’s telling that whatever the sequel has been shown, it’s been the multiplayer campaign everyone has asked about.

And to be fair, it’s looking even better than before. In number crunching terms alone we’re looking at 15 vehicles, over 15,000 kit variations, and 46 weapons which can be customized to make an impressive 200+ guns. New vehicles include nippy ATVs, and the UH-60 transport chopper which ships four players into battle plus an extra tow manning its mounted railguns. Taking one of these down with a full six enemies inside is a massive coup.