Microsoft today dubbed Chair Entertainment's action-adventure game Shadow Complex "the most downloaded single-player title in Xbox Live Arcade history," as the Metroid-inspired game sold over 200,000 copies in the week after its August 19 release.

Priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), the downloadable Xbox 360 game has drawn high praise from a variety of outlets, including Shacknews. Much like Metroid and Castlevania, the side-scroller has players exploring a large map and finding new gadgets along the way, which then allow one to open up new areas and backtrack to uncover bonuses.

"Shadow Complex has raised the bar for downloadable games," said Microsoft's Scott Austin. Mike Capps, president of Chair owner Epic, added that "we're so proud to have Shadow Complex join the Epic portfolio" and urged folks to "give the demo a try."

The release of a launch trailer for Chair's Xbox Live Arcade game Shadow Complex is a convenient time to echo the seemingly unanimous sentiment that Shadow Complex is a great game.

Comparisons to Castlevania, and in particular Super Metroid, are spot on. It's a real crate and grate sidescroller, with plenty of optional exploration, backtracking, and stealth. Most importantly, Chair's nailed all the basics--shooting enemies in the 2.5D environments is immediately satisfying.

The story may be forgettable, and sometimes shooting guys in the background is tricky, and the bosses aren't perfect--but beyond that, it's tough to criticize. In this great season of downloadable games, it sits at the top with Battlefield 1943 and Splosion Man. The game hits Wednesday for 1200 MS points ($15). Highly recommended.

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Update: The below list has been tweaked to reflect a "last minute schedule change" that sees 'Splosion Man moved up to July 22 and TMNT bumped back to August 5.

With Microsoft readying its annual "Summer of Arcade" promotion, the company has priced and dated the five downloadable Xbox 360 games that fall under the campaign:

• July 22 - 'Splosion Man (800 MS Points / $10)
• July 29 - Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (1200 MS Points / $15)

• August 5 - TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled (Originally: 1200 MS Points / $15) (Now: 800 MS Points / $10)
• August 12 - Trials HD (1200 MS Points / $15)
• August 19 - Shadow Complex (1200 MS Points / $15)

With The Secret of Monkey Island: SE priced at $10 and arriving on Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday, July 15, that paints a pretty clear picture of what to expect for the next while.

While the artificial size constraint on Xbox Live Arcade titles has been steadily increased since the platform's launch, Microsoft now tells us that no Xbox Live Arcade game can exceed 2GB in size due to technical limitations.

The current "limit" stands at 350MB, but several Arcade games already exceed that boundary, including Portal: Still Alive (629MB), Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (368MB) and Watchmen: The End is Nigh (1GB).

"Our technical constraint is 2GB," said Microsoft director of digital distribution Scott Austin. "If there's a quality reason to go over 350MB, [then we will]."

The original limit was set at 50MB at the console's launch, and then increased from 150MB to 350MB last year.

Chair's upcoming action-platformer Shadow Complex, announced last week at E3, is expected to weigh in around 800-900MB, according to studio creative director Donald Mustard.

Revealed earlier today during the Microsoft E3 press conference, here is the first set of screenshots for Shadow Complex from Epic Games and Chair Entertainment. A trailer is available as well featuring cinematic and gameplay footage

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Shadow Complex hits Xbox Live Arcade this summer.

Gears of War and Unreal Tournament developer Epic today revealed its next Xbox 360 exclusive title, a downloadable action-adventure game titled Shadow Complex.

Developed by Epic subsidiary Chair Entertainment, Shadow Complex is a side-scrolling game inspired by Metroid and Castlevania, focused on exploration and big boss battles. As with Chair's Undertow, Shadow is powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3.

The full game is said to offer 120 items, with the main campaign lasting over 10 hours. Expect Shadow Complex to be released on Xbox Live Arcade this summer.