Having treated the victims of a chemical attack in the totalitarian state of Kindar, Dr Amy Tenant is a leader in the advancement of Nanocell Technology. Now, in London, news breaks of a blood-vomiting civilian whose identity is far from coincidental. Reunited with an old friend, Amy is trapped in an impenetrable HQ of laboratories - a womb of scientific advancement with a perilous secret...

The Complex is an interactive movie experience where you can decide the actions of the main character at key points in the storyline. The game plays like a standard movie, but every now and then you'll have the choice of two options. While at first these don't seem to make much of a difference to the ongoing story, the deeper into the film you get the more important those choices become.

What I really loved about this was that as the game progressed I was kind of swept up in the mistaken belief that I was the hero and that everything would work out fine. So, on the first play through I was surprised to discover that was certainly not the case and I ended up bowing out rather unceremoniously, without discovering the fate of the other characters and events that I'd witnessed. This shook me momentarily, and I couldn't believe how dumb my critical decision had been.

Many people have been waiting a long time for an interactive movie and I can honestly say that the wait has been well worth it. The narrative rumbles along with you being swept up in the ongoing storyline to the point that on reflection the options don't seem to intrude on the unfolding plot.

For something like this to really work you have to believe and care about the characters and in this instance pretty much all of the actors do a great job of winning you over. Humour is another important part of ensuring you warm to each of the characters.

For the most part, the story is set in a single environment, an underground lab. This helps to add atmosphere as the main characters are pretty much stuck in the location, which helps to create tension as the story moves forward.

There are eight different outcomes; a real-time Relationship Status Tracking that influences the story as you play; and a real-time Personality Trait Tracking that evolves based on your choices. The Relationship Tracking works on how you 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 affect certain scenarios as well as having major consequences in the concluding scenes.

For every decision you make, every interaction, your character’s personality is being tracked. At the end of each play through, you are rewarded with a Personality Score and a breakdown to see how you played the game. Discover the five basic dimensions of a personality; openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

While there is plenty of replay value, personally I think it's best played once through and then left to one side for a while before heading back to unlock all the scenarios. You do have the ability to skip scenes, but this is a movie that should be savoured over time.

9

Darren Rea