Mr. Shifty Reviews
In quintessential evil villain fashion, what awaits you is a face-off to see who will be the only one to survive. Soon the credits roll, the overflowing confidence and braggadocio rapidly disperse, and you're left with an overwhelming disappointment that you're not actually as powerful as Mr. Shifty. And you never will be. But at least you had fun pretending to be.
Mr. Shifty begins in the same place it ends; by punching a man through a window. Defenestration is appealing, especially when it's preceded by short form teleportation, but the first instance is more gratifying than the last. Mr. Shifty deals in scale, quantity, and strategy in the wrong order, assuring its sharp edge dulls after an auspicious opening.
All in all, Mr. Shifty is easily one of the better games I've played in a while. And that's nice to see in a gaming industry that includes AAA, billion dollar to make games. It's simply, it's fast, tight controls and more importantly, it's fun. The very first time I played this game, I clocked in 3 hours, without even knowing it.
Mr. Shifty is immediately reminiscent of Hotline Miami. Shift into a room, punch Mr. Mc Pistolman twice, shift out before his friend can get a bead on you. Repeat until dead.
Mr. Shifty is like Nightcrawler from X-men starred in a boring Hotline Miami ripoff.
Mr. Shifty encourages you to replay a stage to run it faster and finish it with fewer deaths with the ultimate goal being a perfect 0. Mr. Shifty will be released on both Steam and the Nintendo Switch with the later of the two being the better platform. With stages set to last between 5 to 20 minutes this style of gameplay lends itself to pick up and go mobile play.
Mr. Shifty is a fantastic debut title from Team Shifty and a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch. I look forward to seeing what the developers come up with next.
There's not enough substance to Mr. Shifty to leave a lasting impression, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is certainly enough to get your blood pumping for a bit. In this case, that was certainly enough for me.
Mr. Shifty's shifting is one of the most satisfying and enjoyable combat mechanics ever conceived. Teleporting through offices, smashing furniture and enemies in a flurry of kicks and punches is a wonderful visual spectacle, as well as an adrenaline-fuelled treat. Allowing the story to take a back seat so the action leads the way certainly feels like the best move in this case, but there's certainly some room for a more thought-out and quirky narrative. Meanwhile, some frustrating checkpoints can make the more frustrating fights that bit more annoying.
I had fun with Mr. Shifty as I played on handheld, tabletop and docked mode. Other than a handful of moments when the framerate slowed down a bit, the game kept me coming back for more until the end. tinyBuild, the game's publisher, has already said that Team Shifty is working on a patch to smooth thing up, so do keep that in mind.
Mr. Shifty is a very fun and fast-paced Nintendo Switch release with plenty of content to enjoy. You're looking at around 4-7 hours to finish the whole thing depending on skill, which makes its $14.99 price tag feel right on target. The only thing I could complain about is a couple of rooms in which the game suffered from some considerable slowdown when the area was too crowded, as well as the one time the game crashed on me. Luckily it was at the start of the final stage, so I just hit continue on the main screen and was back in action. tinyBuild has already said that Team Shifty will be working on a patch for the game to solve this, but rest assured it's certainly not a deal-breaker as the game is very playable and entertaining in its current itineration.
Mr. Shifty is an undeniably fun game, with a neat gimmick to add to the top-down action genre. It is a perfect title to make those in control feel like they are Nightcrawler, and it a great experience that can be enjoyed in short spurts. Some gameplay issues and short length keep it from being a full, must-have type of recommendation, but there is definitely still plenty of intense enjoyment to be had in this release.
Shifty is a straightforward, focused caper with little fluff that will last you a few hours as you climb through 18 stages. What it lacks in length its makes up for with a dynamite gameplay hook. Teleporting is incredibly neat and opens up a lot of daring and rewarding circumstances where you can mow down foes. As long as you can overlook the handful of moments where the combat isn't the focus, Mr. Shifty is a great addition to the young Switch eShop.
In contrast to Hotline Miami's brutal difficulty, you'd think Mr Shifty would be Hotline-lite, but you'd be far from wrong as it can stand tall as being one of best top-down brawlers.
Mr. Shifty has a promising gimmick but the fact that you can easily exploit it makes it far too easy and tedious.
Can you go from loving to loathing something in two hours? Apparently you can, if it overstays its welcome.
The biggest problem for the game is the current technical issues on the Switch. It’s bad enough that I think the game should not have been released until the issues were ironed out. The developer has stated that it is working on fixing the issues, but as of this review, the game is just in too rough a shape to recommend.
I found Mr. Shifty to be a really fun and enjoyable game, that had a great core mechanic and played like one of my all-time favourite games. The challenge isn’t quite there however and it does get a bit repetitive the more you go on. There isn’t a great deal of replayability besides beating previous times, which isn’t enough to keep me coming back. But for those who want a short-lived but super slick and really fun game then I can certainly recommend Mr. Shifty to those people. It’s no Hotline Miami beater, but then again, what is?
Mr. Shifty is a fun, fast-paced top-down brawler that manages to keep you on your toes as you dodge baddies and beat them down.
Mr. Shifty is a wonderful indie game with gameplay that makes you feel unstoppable. It's an exhilarating feeling when you take out enemies with teleportation. The levels are challenging and, most importantly, it is extremely fun to play. At $14.99, I can't recommend Mr. Shifty enough.