Shift Walkthrough

So you are someone who enjoyed Nitrome's Yin Yang? Loved that game BUT wished it could have been a little more dapper? Yeah? If that's the case, you are in for a treat. You see, Tony of The Exp (the same guys who brought to us the Indestructo game series) comes up with Shift. It's one of those puzzle games that embraces the same negative space centric concept that we came to love in Yin Yang. HOWEVER, Shift does it more elegantly, more minimalist, and more exciting (partly thanks to the sexy and sweet spy background music).

So what exactly is shifting in Shift? When you shift, you are flipped beneath the floor you are standing on. Along with that, it reverses your body color as well as gravity. For example, let's say you are at the bottom of a black pit. When you shift, you will be transferred to a white mountain top, which should give you more freedom of movement. So how do you spot those paths available to you for shifting? Well, it's all up to you! That's where the excitement is, in figuring out where to shift and where you will be shifted. And you better figure it out well if you want to make it to the exit of every level.

You will find a lot of impassable platforms, which usually hinder your progress or sometimes helps you. You need to rotate it out of the way by finding the RIGHT key.

Shift is one of those puzzle games that are short, BUT really sweet. Nah, it won't waste your time or sap those precious seconds. The best times and scores are just a little over 4 minutes. As I have said, the game is pretty short. HOWEVER, those minutes are made magnificent and worthwhile not just by the clever mechanic BUT with the funny bits that the author has scattered throughout the game. Usually, you will feel helpless and at the mercy of the god-author Tony, who is nice BUT a little sadistic as you can tell in his puzzle games and others.

BUT hey, you get a sweet trophy at the end of the game, so those hardships and trials (along with the sadistic fun you get from it) is surely worth it.

Alright, I'm not trying to say that Shift is the best of the best when it comes to puzzle games...nah it's NOT perfect far from it. It has its share of problems. There are a couple of glitches that can plague your otherwise great time when you are near an edge or moving a door. Also, there is one level where you can get stuck and you cannot hit restart or throw yourself into some spikes to start over. I'm not sure if this is intentional, BUT hey, that's one more thing to keep an eye on (which for me, makes the game exciting).

Overall, even with the imperfections, Shift is one of those puzzle games that will inject pure doses of fun in your boring afternoon.