There’s a lot to be impressed by with a game such as Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. First, and we’ll get to each of these things more in depth later on in the review, is the style. It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a game ooze with this much character and class. Second, you’ve got some phenomenal gameplay that’s unhampered by traditional platformer mechanics. Finally, you’ve got an entire Metroid-like package wrapped up into a singularly, very fun game. Something we haven’t really seen since Chair Entertainment’s fantastic Shadow Complex XBLA title.

So, suffice it to say, by this first paragraph you can probably tell that I’m a rather large fan of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. In fact, if you want to skip all the rest of this review I’ll just go ahead and say it right now: buy this game. It’s worth the money. I’ll reserve judgement until each of the Summer of Arcade titles gets released, but I’d wager that this will be a contender for the best of the bunch. If you’d like to know more about the game… read on!

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (from here on known as ITSP) is a Metroid-like game, as I’ve already mentioned. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Metroid-like” then… what are you doing here? Go play Metroid right now! Seriously, though, essentially what it refers to is an action adventure platformer with a large singular map begging to be explored. This isn’t a traditional platformer where you’ll fly from one end of the level to the other and carry on to the next. Instead you’ll be exploring various areas of the map, retracing your steps, acquiring items and fighting bigger and badder enemies as you proceed through the game. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet nails this concept. If you’re a fan of Metroid-like games, you’re gonna love this one.

Of course, the unique thing about ITSP isn’t so much its genre, but rather the way the game plays. In a traditional platformer you play as a character of some sort who can run and jump, etc. Largely, more often than not, said character is stuck on the ground. ITSP takes place in a flying saucer alien ship meaning you have full range to fly up and over obstacles or underneath them. Really the only thing keeping you down are walls. This method of movement gives the game a feeling of being unhampered by traditional platforming mechanics. Quite refreshing really…

Finally, you have the art and design. If you haven’t seen some videos of this game, you’ll probably want to check it out. Essentially the team behind ITSP puts some serious thought into the way this game was going to look and feel. And you know what? They nailed it. For a game called “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” their style has worked out tremendously in conveying the idea. Enemies are dark, shadowy creatures and the overall aesthetic almost appears to be entirely silhouetted across the game leaving the color to primarily accent the game’s main features. It’s remarkably well done.

Combine all this beautiful, free flowing, Metroid-like concepts and add in a few weapons, some exploration, and hidden items for collectors and you’ve got yourself one very solid game. If you’ve got 1200 Microsoft Points lying around the house somewhere, you could do far worse than buying ITSP. At the very least, it’s a fun 8-ish hour romp.

[Xbox Live Arcade]

[DIYGamer.com was given a free copy of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet for review purposes.]