I’m a huge fan of the Wales Interactive titles, so I was naturally excited to get my hands on their latest title, The Complex.
Billed as an Interactive Movie, The Complex is set within the confines of a huge research company. In the wake of a major bio-weapons attack on London, two scientists find themselves locked down in a laboratory racing against time to stem the outbreak of a potentially devastating pandemic. How the story ends is up to you, there are a total of eight endings so there are plenty of chances to play through this more than once. If you have played Simulacra, Late Shift, or the Shapeshifting Detetecive then this will all feel very familiar.
During the movie, you’ll be presented with various choices that range from something as simple as answering the phone to as complex as deciding who should live and who should die. The way you interact with the other characters makes all the difference thanks to the Relationship Status Tracking and Personality Trait Tracking.
During the game you will interact with characters and depending on your choices will either strengthen or weaken your relationship. The relationship scores are calculated from the start right through to the very end and will affect certain scenarios as well as having major consequences in the concluding scenes. Your character is also assessed against five markers; openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
The story is interesting, especially with the pandemic we are all living through right now. The Complex was written by Lynn Renee Maxcy, part of the Emmy award-winning writing team from The Handmaid’s Tale and directed by Paul Raschid.
The cast includes Michelle Mylett (Letterkenny, Bad Blood), Al Weaver (Grantchester, Collette, Peterloo), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones, The Witch) and Twitch streamer and former Xbox UK presenter Leah Viathan. The acting is nothing amazing, I’ve seen better in Late Shift and The Shapeshifting Detective.
The chemistry between Amy and Rees stood out it was intriguing to see how their relationship would change during the movie and the subsequent playthroughs. However, it was interesting to see the relationships form with the other characters throughout the story.
There are a couple of moments where the story goes a bit flat but generally, I really enjoyed it overall. The set pieces were all excellent, especially the lab where most of the story takes place, there are a few scenes that look like there is some odd CGI but it doesn’t really detract from the film.
Once I had finished the film the first time round I wasn’t too happy with the ending, but that’s the beauty of the game, I jumped straight back in and made different choices to see how my ending would change, what surprised me most was how much the story changed, I’ve now been through 5 endings and the story took turns I wasn’t expecting.
The Complex is another great example of how you can mix movies and games, and if you have any interest in these sort of games you’ll surely enjoy this too.
The Complex
£9.99
Pros
- Good Story
- Other endings were great to discover
- Well acted
