The original Shift was an interesting platform game that used negative space as an entertaining hook, but it came with a few problems that ultimately made it feel unfinished and experimental. Now, Tony of Armor Games has released Shift 2, which is basically the game the first one should have been. It's not enough of a leap forward to warrant the "2" in its name, really, but it refines and expands upon the original concepts to deliver a smoother, more drinkable dose of run/jump/puzzle distraction.
Once again, you take control of a hapless research subject in a monochromatic laboratory filled with spikes and blocky architecture. Move left and right with the arrow keys, jump with [space], and shift between the worlds of black and white with—well, I won't spoil that for you. That's your first puzzle. Shifting flips your hero through the floor beneath her feet, reverses her color, and turns the entire world over. Solid black blocks become empty space, mountains become valleys, pits become towering walls. Your goal in most levels is to untangle the M.C. Escher-esque landscape into a coherent pathway and escape through the inconveniently-placed door.
This time around, you'll have to contend with a few new collectible objects. The keys that rotate large platforms are back, but now you'll encounter lightbulb icons that make otherwise impassable checkerboard bricks disappear from your path. The most impressive new feature is the arrows that alter the direction of gravity, upside-down and 90 degrees. These mean that many levels are actually eight different mazes, if you count both black and white in each of the different cardinal directions. It can get quite complicated, although there are so few levels, it never feels like Shift 2 really explores all the possibilities. But the level design is much more intricate this time around, so even though Shift 2 is a short journey, it works quite a few of your brain muscles during the trip.
The sting of brevity is made much softer by the brilliant inclusion of a fully-operational level editor. You can cobble together any sadistic, trap-filled conglomeration you like, copy the code for your creation in text form, and trade it with your friends—that is to say, us. Unlike the original, Shift 2 operates on a grid-based tile system, so levels are both easy to assemble and reliable.
Moreover, Tony has rounded out the game with achievement medals and the usual sprinkling of elbow-to-the-ribs humor. It's comforting to have the voice of a cruel mastermind accompany you while you play. It makes what would otherwise be a clever but dry adventure ring with personality. Strangely, the cosmopolitan background music of the first game has been dropped in favor of generic ambient techno, but even the author acknowledges that the new score might be annoying enough to turn off. Play your own jazz, I guess.
The glitches that plagued Shift 1 have been mostly ironed out, so all that's left is high-quality platforming fun with hopefully a wave of diabolical levels to come, once fans break open the level editor. Here's hoping another sequel comes along before too long to really shake things up. One can imagine moving platforms, enemies, tubes that work as crawl-spaces in one realm and as climbable poles in the other, all sorts of things. This is a great foundation to build upon.
Walkthrough Guide
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Complete walkthrough
Level 1:
1. Walk right to the door.
Level 2:
1. Walk right to the far side of the hole.
2: Wait until the door is revealed.
3: Walk through it.
Level 3:
1: Shift.
2: Jump left over the pit.
3: Shift.
4: walk in door.
Level 4:
1: Get the key.
2: Climb the stack of doors to jump to the top.
3: Get the key to the left.
4: Get the now revealed key.
5: Walk right to the door.
Level 5:
1: Jump on the other side of the large gap with a platform in the middle.
2: Go to the far right of the screen.
3: Shift.
4: Jump and get the key.
5: Go right into the small depression.
6: Shift.
7: Jump onto the platform in the middle of the gap.
8: run off of the left side of the platform.
9: Shift.
10: Go right until you are on top of the small white box with a key in it.
11: Shift to get the key.
12: Shift.
13: Go left to the bottom.
14: Shift.
15: Drop down to the bottom of the pit.
16: Go to the door.
Level 6:
1: Shift.
2: Jump over the small gap with spikes at the bottom to your right.
3: Shift.
4: Touch the arrow that is pointing left.
5: Shift.
6: Jump over the small gap with spikes at the bottom to your right.
7: Shift.
8: Go to the door.
Level 7:
1: Stand on top of the black space just past the checkerboard pattern.
2: Shift.
3: Move all the way to the right.
4: Shift.
5: Jump to get the light bulb.
6: Shift.
7: Jump to the middle of the white platform over the spikes.
8: Shift.
9: Get the light bulb.
10: Shift.
11: Jump to the far left of the screen.
12: Shift.
13: Go to the door.
Level 8:
1: Go right until you hit the wall.
2: Shift.
3: Go down the pit to the spot right above the light bulb.
4: Shift.
5: Go left down the newly opened hole.
6: Touch the arrow that is pointing to the left, and hold left as soon as you do.
7: Get the light bulb to your left.
8: Touch the arrow pointing upwards, holding right as soon as you do.
9: Continue to hold right until you get the light bulb. 10: Go left to the door.
Level 9:
1: Shift.
2: Jump up and left.
3: Shift.
4: Stand in the right side of the white cross.
5: Shift.
6: repeat steps 2-5 until you are no longer in a cross. 7: Drop to the floor and touch the upwards-facing arrow. 8: Jump to the far right of the screen until you are standing on the right side of a white cross.
9: Shift.
10: Repeat steps 4 and 5.
11: Repeat steps 2-5 until you are in a white cross with an upwards-facing arrow.
12: Touch the arrow.
13: Repeat steps 4 and five.
14: Repeat steps 2-5 until you are in a black cross with an arrow in it.
15: Touch the arrow. 16: Repeat steps 2-7.
17: Shift.
18: go down to the door.
Level 10:
1: Shift.
2: Go as far left as possible, jumping when necessary.
3: Shift.
4: Jump to the right onto the black box.
5: Shift.
6: Touch the arrow that is facing right.
7: Shift.
8: Get the key if still necessary.
9: Move right until you touch the left arrow.
10: Jump off of the left of the black box to touch the upwards-facing arrow.
11: Shift.
12: Move left, making sure to jump over the gap. You should be next to the light bulb.
13: Move down to the right to get the light bulb.
14: Jump on the black ledge to the left.
15: Shift.
16: Fall down the gap.
17: Shift.
18: Move right until you are underneath the up arrow.
19: Jump to touch the up arrow.
20: Move right until you touch the right arrow.
21: Shift.
22: Carefully move right until you fall.
23: Shift.
24: Repeat step 22 to fall to the door.
Level 11:
1: Jump to the far left of the screen.
2: Jump up and right until you are on top of the light bulb.
3: Shift.
4: Shift.
5: Go down to the left.
6: Shift.
7: Go felt until you fall.
8: Shift.
9: Move right.
10: Move left until you get the light bulb.
11: Move right, jumping when necessary, to get the key.
12: If necessary, touch the arrow and then the light bulb.
13: Move right until you touch the up arrow.
14: Jump up and left, as before.
15: Shift.
16: Fall down the gap, getting the light bulb as you fall.
17: Shift.
18: Move right off of the door, and immediately hold left when you start to fall.
19: You will reach the door.
Level 12:
1: Hold right and jump,making sure that you are completely on the ground when you jump.
2: Get the light bulb.
3: Touch the up arrow.
4: Shift.
5: Touch the up arrow.
6: Move all of the way to the left, until you get the key.
7: Move right until you are not standing on a door.
8: Touch the right arrow.
9: Shift.
10: Be careful falling down the pit to your left, since you will have to weave between the spikes. Note: you do not have to touch the opposite wall when avoiding the spikes.
11: You should have landed on the left, now down, arrow.
12: Shift.
13: Jump onto the right arrow, and move left carefully to touch the new right arrow.
14: Touch the left arrow.
15:Jump over the left arrow to touch the up arrow.
16: Shift.
17:Touch the left arrow, and fall to the door.
Level 13:
1: move left until you touch the key.
2: Jump on the new door to get the next key.
3: Repeat step 2.
4: Jump on the new door.
5: Jump onto the spot of black to the right.
6: Shift.
7: Touch the key.
8: Shift.
9: Jump up the doors to the left to get the light bulb at the top left corner of the screen.
10: Shift.
11: Move left, touching all three keys as you go.
12: Shift.
13: Move down to the ground.
14: Move all of the way to the left.
15: Shift.
16: Jump up the doors to touch the key.
17: Jump onto the new door to the right to touch the left arrow.
18: Go to the door at the right.
Level 14:
1: Jump to touch the light bulb, and be careful to land on top of the down arrow.
2: Shift.
3: Shift.
4: Move to the left, and get the key as you fall.
5: Touch the right arrow, and be careful to land on the black ledge without touching any of the spikes.
6: Shift.
7: Move to the left, making sure you land on top of the door.
8: Shift.
9: Touch the up arrow.
10: Move right to the door.
Level 15:
1: Shift.
2: Touch the light bulb.
3: Stand on a white space to the left.
4: Shift.
5: Jump right, landing on the black spot.
6: Shift.
7: Move left carefully until you fall to touch the up arrow, and make sure that you move to the left just before you hit the bottom.
8: Touch the up arrow.
9: Drop down to the right.
10: Shift.
11: Touch the up arrow.
12: Touch the light bulb.
13: If you have not already, touch the up arrow.
14: touch the light bulb, and make sure that you move right with the right timing.
15: Move right until you hit a wall.
16: Touch the up arrow.
17; Move right until you fall, and then hold left.
18: You should touch the left arrow.
19: Touch the light bulb.
20: Stand on the left arrow
21: Shift.
22: Move right to fall to the door.
Here, there is a split.
Ending A:
Level 15a:
1: Move right to the door.
Level 16a:
1: Touch the light bulb.
2: Repeat step 1.
3: Repeat step 1.
4: Repeat step 1. Goodbye!
Ending B:
Level 15b:
1: Move left until the secret tunnel appears.
2:Move right to touch the up arrow.
Level 16b:
1: Get the trophy.
2: Go to the door.
Level 17b:
1: touch the up arrow.
2: Go all the way right, touching the keys as you go.
3: Go all the way left and touch the up arrow.
Walkthroughs are more difficult than I thought.(This is my first time posting one.)
Now for the trophies:
Beat the game:
I think this is obvious.
Jokes on me:
Beat level nine before the time runs out.
Title Trasher:
Click the frowning face that says "Do Not Click" at the top-right of the main title screen.
Speed Runner:
Beat the game in five minutes or less. This is actually fairly easy if you can concentrate.
Appreciation:
Click on "Credits" on the main title screen.
Support the Developers:
Click on "More Games" on the main title screen.
Teh Trophy:
Get the trophy in level 16b.
The cc is the biggest lie that I have ever heard of.
Posted by: newbie
|
March 11, 2008 12:00 AM