Shift: Flash Online Casual Game Review
An Appraisal of Browser Based Flash Game Shift by Armor Games
Sep 17, 2008
Published by leading UK online game company Armor Games, the free browser based game Shift introduces the novel premise of a black-and-white world that can be turned upside-down and inside-out at the press of a button.
Since founding Armor Games, Daniel McNeely and the Armor Games staff have developed hundreds of free to play Flash titles, available at the Armor Games website. The Shift game series represents their imaginative approach to Flash game design.
How to Play Flash Puzzle Game Shift
Initially, there seems little to differentiate Shift from the thousands of other Flash platform games available on the internet. The player uses the cursor keys to navigate left and right and the space bar to jump obstacles such as small walls and spike traps, while collecting keys to reach the exit of each self-enclosed level.
However, during the quick introductory levels, the shift concept that gives the game its name is introduced. By pressing the shift key, the game level is turned on its head, and the player's character is flipped to the reverse side of the surface he is standing on. This change in perception allows access to previously unattainable areas of the level, and, after the first two tutorial screens, becomes the essential element to solving each stage. The gameplay literally revolves around intelligent application of the shift key.
The level design is generally excellent, with some stages appearing deceptively simple, while others are complex enough that they demand a few seconds of consideration before attempting them. Unfortunately, there are levels that have slight design flaws that can lead a player to becoming trapped and unable to reach the exit. Fortunately, the pause menu accounts for this problem, and includes a “restart level” button.
The game difficulty increases quickly, but this is necessary, as the game itself is rather short. Repeated play improves the ability to think in terms of the invertible nature of the game terrain, and if there is one criticism that could be levelled at Shift, it is that the game could do with additional levels to create more of a challenge to a persistent player.
By necessity, the colour palette of the game is limited to black-and-white. However, the simple outlines that comprise the game graphics are more than adequate. Anything flashier in this Flash game would simply distract and detract from the gameplay.
Outstanding Ingame Music
The comic-book stylistics are complimented by an outstanding soundtrack that, with its silhouettes, ambiguous terrain and oddly cinematic music, gives the game a certain film noir flavour. The music is the only sound used or indeed needed in the game, and fails to irritate even after hours of play.
Shift is one of those rare finds: an entirely original well-executed casual game developed with Flash. The quality of its production and the obvious thought that has gone into not just the level design, the graphics or the music but the game as a consistent whole makes Shift a joy to play. The scope of the shift concept deserves a more expansive budget, and a bigger release than a mainstream casual venue, as the polish of the production and the compulsively playable premise of Shift currently overshadows anything in the same league.
To play Armor Games Shift, Click Here.
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