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by ERIK LEIJON

With summer nearing its end and the holiday shopping season just around the corner, the biggest story of 2009 gaming-wise has to be the increasingly widespread acceptance of download-only game services. It was especially tough for us grizzled curmudgeons used to plunking down 70 bucks a game at your local brick and mortar, but finally this year Steam, XBox Live Arcade, WiiWare and PlayStation Network softened our once stubborn resolve.

If there are still people out there wondering why the most talked about games of the year aren’t being sold in stores (don’t I feel like a TimeLife ad?), stop being so anachronistic and give in to the future: Shadow Complex (XBLA/Microsoft, Chair) and Trials HD (XBLA/Microsoft, RedLynx) are must-plays, retailer be damned. Admittedly there is still a place in this world for big-budget games developed by teams larger than Luxembourg, but in-between the Assassin’s Creeds and Gears of Wars, it’s the wildly inventive, smaller-budget downloadable games keeping me busy, not some second-rate generic war shooter.

Shadow Complex will look and feel familiar to anyone who played Capcom’s 2008 remake Bionic Commando Rearmed. It’s an action platformer set in a sleek enemy fortress, and even though the main character can only move and shoot along a two-dimensional side-scrolling plane, the environments are in full 3D. In terms of core gameplay, Shadow Complex is spiritually indebted to Nintendo’s classic sci-fi alien planet exploration series Metroid. Armed with a suit that gives superhuman jumping abilities, recidivist military operative Jason Flemming does a lot of backtracking and item hunting in the search for his kidnapped lady-friend.

Like Metroid, there are colour-coordinated doors that can be opened only with specific arms, while health and weapon upgrades are littered everywhere. Even the block-based map will have you thinking you’re on planet Zebes, hunting down Mother Brain and blasting slugs instead of a huge base housing an evil NGO army in the midst of their supervillain-esque quest to overthrow the American government.

It’s almost embarrassing to gush about Trials HD, a motorcycle time-trial game so simple that admitting to enjoying it feels like you’re setting video game technology back three generations. Trials HD is also a 2D game with 3D backgrounds. Players must navigate their masochistic driver across a track littered with huge jumps, dangerously steep ramps, explosive kegs and more than enough obstructions capable of sending your mini-Evel Knievel soaring to his death.

Beyond accelerating and breaking, the only thing a player can do to avoid crashing is to tilt the bike either forward or backwards in order to stick the landings. One may think there wouldn’t be enough variations on that simple gameplay idea to keep things interesting, but by the time I reached even moderately difficult missions I was completely flummoxed with how much preparation and timing went into surviving each track. With over 50 tracks, each with their own unique hair-pulling challenges, few games will test your video game might in 2009 quite like Trials HD.

Not only are Shadow Complex and Trials HD both terrific examples of ingenuity trumping big budgets and marketing department full court presses, but they’re also 2D games succeeding in a 3D world. Rarely are terms like side-scrolling and platforming bandied about in this day and age, but clearly there are still chapters to be written on the book of 2D. Incorporating gameplay reminiscent of the 16-bit era with modern graphics, AI and physics could really open the door for some wacky revisions on the games of our youth.