Mr. Shifty

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.

Recently I haven’t played anything other than Rocket League and I realized I hadn’t virtually killed anything in a while, so the voices were starting to get rowdy again. I was on the hunt for another game when I saw the trailer for Mr. Shifty. I was immediately reminded of a previous favorite of mine – Hotline Miami. Its senseless violence and punishing gameplay coupled with its instant respawn had me hooked for days. After playing through Mr. Shifty, I can say that while it might not be up to the same standard, it does a good job at scratching that same itch.

Bludgeon baddies to death from all directions.

Shift through walls! Punch enemies in the face! Dodge Bullets! Mr. Shifty is exactly the kind of indie hit that the Nintendo Switch needs, because it's perfect for shifting between docked and portable play. Find out why in our review.

You better have to choose if it’s worth spending your spare cash, because it might not be the game for you and it might be for others.

I'm going to start out my review by telling you that I never had any interest in Mr. Shifty. When I looked through the screenshots and read the info on the Swit

Mr. Shifty is an okay brawler that uses a stylish warping ability as a cool way to get the drop on unsuspecting foes. While it’s fun to smack down security goons with quick melee skills, the horrible framerate of the final act will test your patience. If you do endure and manage to drop the final boss, Mr. Shifty doesn’t present enough reasons to replay it.

When you see a game that looks like Hotline Miami but with a neat new gimmick, it definitely seems promising. So, does Mr. Shifty have what it takes to be the next twitch-inducing overhead action game?

Bland, inoffensive, and instantly forgettable - Mr. Shifty does nothing a lot wrong, but it does nothing a lot right either.

Arguably a better follow-up to Hotline Miami than its own sequel, but it wastes its best idea on repetitive action that lacks any substantial challenge.

Mr. Shifty starts off on a promising note. You play the eponymous hero, infiltrating a skyscraper to steal a valuable piece of technology. Shifty has the impressive ability to teleport short distances, passing through walls and enemies to reach his target. The entire game hinges on this mechanic, and it is fun for a short period. However, Mr. Shifty soon devolves into a repetitious experience that ends up being nearly unplayable thanks to a bevy of technical issues.

Judging a game can be challenging. On one hand you might reflect on how much fun the game was by discussing the mechanics and how they create a fun and cohesive experience. On the other hand you must decide if a game is worth purchasing when faced with frustrating problems that dampen the experience. Sometimes these problems aren’t worth mentioning because they’re inconsequential but other times these problems can significantly drag down the experience. How much should nitpicking out problems determine our ultimate view of the game if it has a lot of fun and has great ideas?