There's a light-hearted story of a cackling kingpin up to no good, but it merely exists as a ricepaper wrapper for Mr. Still, while Team Shifty nails its hero's combat potential, the overarching tale could do with a bit more intimacy and personality. Firearms would make things too easy, too banal, too basic. This doesn't exactly make sense given how mercilessly he slaughters his foes, but a well-justified narrative is far from Mr Shifty's focus. Shifty takes the comic book hero approach to crime-fighting by not using guns. Shifty's teleportation is one of those Superhot or Portal-esque ideas that manages to get a lot of mileage out of a simple mechanic.

Your actual armaments may be slim pickings, but Mr. Traps like lasers, mines and explosive barrels can be used in your favour, and defeating furious ninjas makes them drop a sword that offers one-hit kills for a few swings before breaking. Shifty's difficulty curve is immaculately balanced, too, with the more challenging hazards offering greater opportunities for retaliation. Shifty developer, Team Shifty, is comprised of former Halfbrick devs who worked on Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride. There's plenty of room for off-the-cuff improvisation - triggering a proximity mine, snatching it, warping into a room, dropping it, then disappearing again as your frazzled targets explode in a panicked flurry. It's thrilling stuff as you get used to apparating about, in a constant flux between chaos and comfort. Sure you could knock out the guy with the rocket launcher in the beginning of a battle, but it's generally more effective (and exciting) to keep him alive and lure a cluster of foes into his line of fire. Shifty gradually teaches you how to to use these dangers to your advantage. Where most action games prioritise eliminating the biggest threats first, Mr. It quickly becomes apparent that turning foes against each other is a major component of Mr. Adding further challenge is the fact that the level layouts shift organically as confused clusters of adversaries scramble about, destroying the scenery with rocket launchers, grenades, shotguns and more. To combat the titular hero's powers, the developer throws copious amounts of criminals at you, discouraging you from staying still for longer than a couple of seconds. The ability to instantaneously teleport a few feet away is enough to make every other game's 'evade' button green with envy, as you reappear behind an unsuspecting foe or apparate behind cover.Ĭover matters a lot in Mr. Shifty differentiates itself from Dennaton's cult classic is with its super powers and dynamic environments. Shifty is a top-down action game about an assassin breaking into a series of organised crime lairs where you eliminate throngs of goons before they know what hit them. Shifty is a clear spiritual successor to Hotline Miami, yet it's the rare imitator that brings enough of its own ideas that the final product feels fresh. And what a beating it is! In terms of gaming inspirations, Mr. The similarities are staggering, yet we live in a world where we've not had a great Nightcrawler game, so you can't hold it against developer Team Shifty for beating Marvel to the punch. The title character even maintains Kurt Wagner's trademark colour scheme, sashaying around in a blue trenchcoat while a red baseball cap draws the eye to his noggin. Remember that opening scene in the second X-Men movie where Nightcrawler teleports his way through the White House, knocking out armed guards left and right as he swiftly punctures the barriers between public spaces and the president of the United States? Mr. Shifty's action-packed adventure about a teleporting hero offers a similar adrenaline high as Hotline Miami and Superhot.

Mr shifty trainer