Gaming the Pandemic - Day 14: Mr Shifty (PC)

The latest randomly selected title, played daily from my 631 game backlog for every day that the UK is in 'lock-down' is...

Mr Shifty on PC

There's a thing that happens a lot in games media, the internet probably has a 'clever' name for it but to me it's just plain old 'judging a game for what it isn't' - as opposed, obviously, to what it is. I can only imagine, given the game's unfairly harsh reception, that it fell victim to this thinking.

Mr Shifty is a game viewed from the top down perspective in which you take on swarms of enemies with your fists and whatever else comes to hand.

Mr Shifty is not Hotline Miami. Maybe it wouldn't have found a publisher without Hotline Miami, maybe it was inspired by the success of Hotline Miami... But it isn't Hotline Miami. Nor is it trying to be.

Without a single second given to backstory or plot, Mr Shifty throw's you straight into the deep-end of an unrelenting onslaught. a basic plot does unfold as the game goes on but it completely generic and is delivered in a very knowing way. Sometimes this kind of thing can backfire, I've seen games make fourth-wall breaking jokes about fetch quests while sending the played on unending fetch quests; joking about it doesn't make it less annoying. Fortunately for Mr Shifty the jokes are usually quite funny and are online ever sidelines to it's frenetic action.

Levels are swarming with various enemy types, some have guns, some fight with their fists. As the game goes on other will arrive wield sword, grenade launchers, and flame throwers. There are subtle differences in the way these can be most effectively attacked but never in a way that slows down the breakneck pace. Even the light puzzle elements, moving laser traps of increasing complexity, are tackled at full pelt.

Shifty's main mechanic is the use of something I've seen often referred to as 'blink'; the ability to teleport or warp short distances. There is a small dot that hovers a fixed distance from your avatar, it shows exactly where you will shift to when you hit the appropriate button. It's a simple thing but one which unpins the core mechanic beautifully.

There's a very silly moment in the very silly film Transporter 2, where The Stath essentially dodges bullets as he runs down a corridor - Mr Shifty is basically that: The Video Game.

It's one of those games where the levels are short, death is frequent, and the restarts are instant - my record so far is 83 deaths in one level.

Pretty much my only criticism of this is that the game could really using some kind of rating system - like those you see in many Japanese games - to give the player an idea if their level complete time and number of deaths is good, bad, or average.

The game is short, three or four hours, I know this because I'm on the final boss level now, I paused only to write this when the game crashed (thankfully, all progress is safe). Whether that length bothers you is a matter of personal taste. I tend to prefer a short game that is designed to be replayed other one that is padded out with a sub-hollywood story, but you may feel differently.

Mr Shifty - Definitely recommended for action fans