Shadow Complex

Shadow Complex follows the main character Jason Fleming and his girlfriend Claire in their fight against an organization called the Restoration. After the two went out into the mountains to explore a cave, Claire gets kidnapped by some mysterious men and Jason infiltrates their complex built into the caves to rescue her and ultimately stop the Restoration in what they are doing.

The game plays similar to the Metroid series. While the graphics are 3D, the entire game is a 2D platformer with an emphasis on exploration. The player can acquire various weapons throughout the game, each of them can be used to reveal new paths within the cave. For example, green rocks, hatches or doors need to be blown up with grenades, while orange ones require the use of guns, purple ones have circuitry that needs to be disabled with foam and red ones need to be fired at with missiles. There are hidden rooms within the world, which can sometimes only be reached once the player has the appropriate weapon. This means the game involves a lot of back tracking, for example to gain new bonus items, like increased health or grenade capacity.

In later parts of the game Jason gets access to new movement abilities through parts of a special suit. They allow him to double and triple jump, get a jet pack boost or use a hook to cling to walls and ceilings. He is also able to run at hyper speed, breaking special walls and find gear that allows him to breathe underwater for an unlimited amount of time. The main quest is split up into separate missions and these are shown as a blue path on the map. A flashlight reveals hidden paths that can be explored by highlighting them in the corresponding weapon code colour. Killing enemies and progressing further in the game levels up Jason, giving him increased stats.