Mr. Shifty

Mr. Shifty is an okay brawler that uses a stylish warping ability as a cool way to get the drop on unsuspecting foes. While it's fun to smack down security goons with quick melee skills, the horrible framerate of the final act will test your patience. If you do endure and manage to drop the final boss, Mr. Shifty doesn't present enough reasons to replay it.

A scrappy underdog of a game that will send you on a short but glorious power trip.

Mr. Shifty's action-packed adventure about a teleporting hero offers a similar adrenaline high as Hotline Miami and Superhot.

A blissfully fluid action game with a compelling twist, let down occasionally by tedious encounters.

Mr. Shifty has a lot of potential, but is marred by technical issues and a dull endgame

While the combat may have some depth and the game is certainly tongue-in-cheek, it just doesn’t present enough new ideas to sustain itself. I think it’s worth a playthrough, but I don’t believe we’ll be talking about Mr. Shitfy for years to come. Just as quickly as Shifty himself enters and leaves a room, so too does this game enter and exit your mind.

Mr. Shifty stands victorious. The carnage was anything but cute, but it sure was satisfying.

We want it to be clear that the version we played for this review was the full Switch eShop release. We've been told that the game runs much smoother on PC in the launch period, so you might want to make that your platform of choice if you want to check this one out – and honestly, you should. There's nothing groundbreaking to be found here, but it's a decent game with interesting ideas that unfortunately aren't fully fleshed out. We just can't fully recommend the Switch version in its initial form, and it's disappointing that this one falls under the category of games released in a sub-par state that leave owners hoping that promised updates will save the day.

Mr. Shifty knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat yet tentatively conserved all the same.

Mr. Shifty is an undeniably fun game, with a neat gimmick to add to the top-down action genre. It is a perfect title to make those in control feel like they are Nightcrawler, and it a great experience that can be enjoyed in short spurts. Some gameplay issues and short length keep it from being a full, must-have type of recommendation, but there is definitely still plenty of intense enjoyment to be had in this release.