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 Switch eShop it just didn’t seem like a game I would play. Luckily the developers at Team Shifty proved me wrong, for a while. I became addicted to the fast paced, action packed game that is Mr. Shifty. But then something happened, something that brought my addiction to a halt and sobered me up real quick.

Mr. Shifty is a top down, action/adventure game that is quite appealing when you first begin. You’re a gifted criminal that has the ability to teleport. While it’s only a short distance it’s very useful during combat and escaping dangerous situations. You can shift through walls, bullets, people… you get the picture. Your mission here is to break into the world’s most secure facility and steal its most prized possession without getting caught. The whole game takes place in this skyscraper like building and each floor is a different level. Completing that levels objectives and making it to the elevator will allow you to proceed to the next floor.

On your way to the top, you will encounter tons of enemies equipped with guns, grenades, rocket launchers and more. It’s really fun to be able to dodge and shift out of sight, then sneak up behind an enemy for a takedown. Mr. Shifty can punch when attacking enemies but he is also able to take melee weapons from his surroundings and use them. They break after a few swings but they’ll take an enemy out in one hit. Sometimes there are big groups of bad guys that will give Shifty a run for his money, and if you’re hit just once it’s game over. But don’t worry, all you have to do is press A and you will begin from the last door that you came out of. I really appreciated these little checkpoints during the more lengthy levels because there were some points when I would die, a lot.

When it comes to the length of the game and replayability Mr. Shifty is definitely lacking. The game doesn’t last very long and besides the score you get at the end of each level there’s nothing to really “come back” for. There are no online leaderboards or bonus levels. It would have really helped to have something more here. Like something to collect along the way or even a multiplayer mode where players could shift around and fight one on one or wipe out multiple waves of enemies together.

The level design became a little stale after I had visited a few floors. I get that it’s an office setting but there could have been just a little variety. Maybe a boiler room, or a scary abandoned floor or even a giant bathroom would have been better than recycling the same details in each level. Granted you really won’t have time to pay attention to any of this while you’re trying not to die. Aside from that, the song that plays over and over again in the background isn’t great either. So I’m really hoping for Mr. Shiftys sake that he will get to rob a more whimsical, exciting building next time. Like Shanghai Tower or Google headquarters. Boring level detail aside, I was having a lot of fun playing this game. I played it for a week straight, willingly, not even for review purposes. I started talking about how much I liked it on Twitter and I began to receive questions like, “Have they fixed the frame rate issues in that game yet?”, and “Are you having any problems with frame rate?”. I didn’t know what they were talking about at first. It wasn’t until I played the later levels that I realized what all the fuss was about.

The level design became a little stale after I had visited a few floors. I get that it’s an office setting but there could have been just a little variety. Maybe a boiler room, or a scary abandoned floor or even a giant bathroom would have been better than recycling the same details in each level. Granted you really won’t have time to pay attention to any of this while you’re trying not to die. Aside from that, the song that plays over and over again in the background isn’t great either. So I’m really hoping for Mr. Shiftys sake that he will get to rob a more whimsical, exciting building next time. Like Shanghai Tower or Google headquarters. Boring level detail aside, I was having a lot of fun playing this game. I played it for a week straight, willingly, not even for review purposes. I started talking about how much I liked it on Twitter and I began to receive questions like, “Have they fixed the frame rate issues in that game yet?”, and “Are you having any problems with frame rate?”. I didn’t know what they were talking about at first. It wasn’t until I played the later levels that I realized what all the fuss was about.

YES! I definitely had frame rate issues! I noticed the game begin to slow down quite a bit and pretty much take a turn for the worst as I progressed further. It seemed that there are so many enemies spawning and moving around at once that the game just couldn’t handle it. It began to stutter and act a bit glitchy, but I was still able to ( slowly) progress and I made it to the last level in the game. Frame rate issues aside I still wanted to finish it. But the game wouldn’t let me. It stopped me dead in my tracks, mid-level, adrenaline pumping, I was on a roll. Until the screen turned black and an error message appeared. I wasn’t given any reason, it just said “There has been an error” and I was left sitting there wondering what the heck had just happened. I did open it back up after it crashed, just to see if it would open (and it did), but I haven’t played it since.

Any gamer will tell you that dealing with slow frame rates and game crashing is a nightmare. It’s as frustrating as listening to a really scratched up CD when you’re trying to jam to your favorite song. There is hope however, all of this could be fixed with a future update. So hopefully Team Shifty will listen to the players because they have an awesome game here with a lot of potential. If you’re interested in checking it out, Mr. Shifty is available on the Nintendo Switch eshop for $14.99. Kind of steep for a game that doesn’t work right though. Keep your eyes open for review updates and hopefully in the future you can enjoy the game the way it was meant to be enjoyed.