The Complex Reviews
There is fun to be had here, especially in some of the more ridiculous endings, but even those are examples of tonal whiplash in a title that plays it straight for the most part. More film than game, The Complex doesn't gain enough from the premise of being interactive - instead, it ends up as a strangely paced movie with a lack of focus and not enough tension to draw players in.
The latest interactive film produced by Wales Interactive features both a chilling story and impressive acting talent. But does it innovate within the bounds of its genre, offering sufficient value for potential players? This is The Complex.
Lacks anything that really makes it glitter and at the same time isn’t awful enough to have a certain level of camp to it either.
The Complex is yet another chapter in the long contamination story between cinema and video games. Wales Interactive gave birth to an interesting interactive experience, yet the writing could have been a little deeper.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A lot of visual polish is not enough to cover for a product where the minimum of effort has been placed in every other component. There are far better interactive movies more deserving of your time and money. Even Night Trap was more interesting.
A sharp, smartly written interactive thriller, with not a single one-dimensional character in sight, The Complex is (despite its theme) a joy to experience.
The Complex is a decent little sci-fi flick, but its interactive elements only encourage you to dig deeper into a story and a gimmick that can’t withstand any real scrutiny.
The Complex on Xbox One is a good sci-fi experience that delivers a decent tale about pharma-terrorism with many complex and interesting themes running throughout. The production values, acting and the script are all very good and it’s a very enjoyable yarn, with all this helped by the fact that there are several different – and hugely interesting – outcomes in place. But the actual choice-driven gameplay has not been able to make me feel connected to the story enough
Is The Complex worth it? It's really hard to say. It's not exactly an expensive buy at £9.99, and the addition of choices make it more engaging than a television episode or movie. At the end of the day, it's basically a £10 movie rental with some button prompts added in. The best way to play it would be with a group of friends watching together, so you can argue over the choices and go for the path that feels best for you. Otherwise, there are better games and better movies available for the same cost.
The Complex is a decent story that feels bigger than it could be. While some choices feel very weighty, they are few and far between, leaving a lot of inconsequential decisions in between. Honestly, it may have worked if the experience was a bit shorter - sure, a common complaint has been it is too short, but maybe it would actually benefit from being trimmed a bit. As it stands, it feels like whatever ending you got the first time through, everything else is just "what if" scenarios that don't really matter.
The Complex is a run-of-the-mill live action adventure game, in a genre that can't really afford to phone it in. The decent price tag makes it at least a bit endearing for the curious, but fans will find The Complex to be an underwhelming movie and a forgettable game.
In terms of script, photography and art, The Complex dares little, with a direction that is sometimes confusing and problems in the construction of some ramifications that it proposes. However, it entertains and places itself as a good example of the so-called full motion videos, offering a sci-fi suspense that is very suitable for fans of the genre, a certain diversity of significant choices and an audiovisual quality in the average of other similar productions.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Complex is neither a game bor a movie. It's actually a movie that you can change its course by your actions. The gameplay is very simple and there isn't really much going on, and if you are a fan of the genre you'll probably enjoy it.
Review in Persian | Read full review
There are some components that seem unnecessary, and some settings that could be improved upon, but The Complex is absolutely a game I will recommend again and again.
Performances are mostly solid aside from the main protagonist, but the lacklustre script with a severe lack of character development aside from large amounts of exposition make it difficult to really care about any of them. Some of the endings are quite abrupt, leaving an unsatisfying finish. I find it unlikely that The Complex will win fans over to the genre, but those who do have a dedication may find something to enjoy.
Having played “interactive movie” style games since way back when CD-ROMs first allowed them to exist with the likes of classics like The 7th Guest and Phantasmagoria (among others) it has been interesting to see the genre progress...
The Complex is a failure of an FMV game, with meaningless choices and boring characters that would make you wish for your time back.
The combination of the shallow story, the predicted plot twists and the weak acting abilities of the cast, contribute to an experience that starts in a promising way, but falls flat a few moments later.
Review in Greek | Read full review
With a shadowy totalitarian state pulling the strings (thinly disguising North Korea) and a bio-terrorist threat in a major European city, The Complex could have much to say about politics, ethics, and other meaningful subjects. Instead, the game meanders in mediocrity to its meaningless climax, leaving with you little motivation to replay the game to explore alternative decisions.
The Complex is an interesting experiment that sometimes yields the fruits of its labor. More often, though, it reveals precisely why developers stopped using live-action video as a means to tell an interactive story. With a minuscule budget and equally small ambitions for its narrative and characters, The Complex just doesn’t replace the gaping whole that TellTale left behind.