Mr. Shifty

Short version:

Pros:
+ Fantastic gameplay
+ Stylish visuals
+ Cool soundtrack
+ Short but sweet

Cons:
- A few annoying areas near the end

"Long" version:

Mr. Shifty is a 2.5D top-down action brawler that has you play as the titular Mr. Shifty on his quest to steal a plutonium core from the hands of the evil Chairman Stone. You must use your teleportation powers and hand-to-hand combat skills against his army of lackeys in order to achieve your goals. It was developed
by Team Shifty and published by tinyBuild.

Just like Has-Been Heroes, I watched the reveal trailer for this game during a Nintendo Direct and immediately wanted to try it!
The story in this game is not particularly deep – it really is just an excuse to get you into the action. Mr. Shifty does not really get any character development and the other characters and one dimensional at best. Be that as it may, it is serviceable and enjoyable enough.

Gameplay is where Mr. Shifty shines.
You get to teleport at will, with a very short cooldown – unless, of course, you spam it. You can go through walls because of this power and it makes for a very satisfying combat loop. You can also punch enemies into submission or use objects scattered around the levels or that originate from broken pieces of furniture and base defenses. These usually result in one hit kills, which is pretty awesome!

Initially, you will use most of your abilities to dodge bullets and put enemies down, but it soon evolves into a very entertaining loop of dodging traps like lasers and explosions AND dealing with hordes of enemies.

There is also a meter you can build up to get a slow motion powerup for a few seconds that usually allows you to clear a room with little to no resistance.
Enemy variety is OK, but it could be a bit more interesting – the game tries to one-up itself constantly, which I appreciated, but there is not a big amount of enemy types. Some explode when killed, some are weak but very numerous, some are a bit tankier and so on.

Some rooms maybe have mechanisms that disable your shifting abilities, which was alright, but not necessarily fun after a while.

A few chase sequences have you dodge explosions and run away from deadly lasers and those are pretty enjoyable and intense.

Some areas towards the end of the game are a bit frustrating because they are more amount trial and error; you have to deal with a lot of traps that require precise timing. It never got too obnoxious, but it might be roll my eyes a few times.


Mr. Shifty looks really good in my opinion, as it boasts a highly stylized look. The characters are visually striking, and the environments, though minimalistic, effectively convey a sense of futurism. This, combined with the frenetic gameplay, creates a truly enjoyable visual experience.

Same thing goes for the sound effects – the hits feel crunchy and they pack a punch. Objects around the levels, in particular, have a very gratifying sound effect with each hit.
The soundtrack might be a bit generic for some, but I found it very suiting and got me into the action.
Mr. Shifty is a short game, you can finish it in around 3 hours. This, however, is a good thing. It felt just right to me – it did not overstay its welcome. It provided a very enjoyable focused, fast-paced experience and was over as soon as the gameplay stopped innovating. I think it is a stellar title that is priced just right. A total steal during the summer sale – a hidden gem!

Final score: 8.5 out of 10.

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This might be one of my simplest reviews, but then, this is a simple game.
Mr. Shifty is a fun, tight, twin-stick brawler about an absolutely forgettable main character working for an absolutely forgettable mission-control lady to steal an absolutely forgettable macguffin from an absolutely forgettable villain. However, the story doesn't really matter, because the actual hook of the game is its moment-to-moment gameplay.
In essence, Mr. Shifty is "Hotline Miami but you're Nightcrawler from the X-Men." The titular protagonist is equipped with that character's signature short-range teleport ability, and the influence is fairly obvious given how heavily "comic booky" the art style and color palette are. The immense extra capability that teleportation gives to the player allows Mr. Shifty to throw a lot more enemies and projectiles at the player than Hotline Miami, at times verging into bullet-hell territory but more typically as a form of light positioning puzzle.
That's the entire game. It gradually parcels out more enemies, and more obstacles, and more projectiles, forcing the player to get better and better at spastically warping around the arena, but nothing radically departs from the formula established at the beginning of the game. It's a power fantasy about being a cool butt-kicker with teleportation powers and it doesn't need, or try to be, anything more than that.
Decades ago, this would have made gangbusters as an extremely popular Newgrounds or Kongregate flash game. It still carries that basic feel despite being a contemporary Unity-based indie game. At its Summer Sale price of $3, it's a steal.

Mr. Shifty is an amazing game.
The shifting mechanic promotes strategic gameplay instead of brute force.
The metal pole kills anything in one hit.

the teleport mr shifty has makes the game hilariously easy, same with the combo mechanic which gets you out of danger of death if you build up a meter, but thats not to say that its not worth playing. its nice and snappy, with pretty fast paced combat and a cool climax. only thing i dont like (aside from the difficulty) is the survival segments being used way too often, and an overabundance of 100s of big guys to kill at once, with not enough weapons given to clear them out in a timely fashion. other than that the game is cool af

This is a fun top-down beat 'em up that you might like if you like Hotline Miami. The shifting (teleport) mechanic is unique and is quite rewarding to properly utilise. The only real gripes that I have here are with the final level. There are some arena segments with quite a few obstacles to keep track of. These segments also drag on for WAY too long.The final showdown against Chairman Stone is also quite anticlimactic. I'm not even entirely sure if it's possible to clear it without having slow-mo ready. I suppose quickly shifting over to him could do the trick, but it's simply better to just have slow-mo ready.Buy this on sale.

It's a little too easy and a little too short. I was hoping for more meat on the bones. Especially when Hotline Miami is $5 cheaper. What's there is good though, I just wanted more

Pretty good game and I have enjoyed my time with it. Some levels are quite difficult, but satisfying when you finish them.
Unfortunately it crashes too often for how simple it is and because saves are based on completing a level you lose your progress.