Game developer Fishing Cactus and publisher Zallag have teamed together to bring Shift Extended to the PS3. Did this quirky iPhone game make a successful shift to the PS3, or did it just extend itself poorly? Find out by reading our review after the jump.
Armor Games originally created Shift as a web based Flash game. It was ported to the iPhone in 2009 and now has been ported to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable as a mini title. The price tag is $3.99 and the download size is only 8 MB. This new release has quite a bit more content than its PC and iPhone relatives, so don’t think you’ve already beat it.
There is no real story to the game . You are a test subject and have to navigate through a series of puzzles in order to reach a door that is your exit. In order to reach that door, you’ll have to invert the room from black to white, and navigate on same colored platforms. You play as a human figure who is either white or black, depending on how you are inverted.
The controls are simple and work well on both the PSP and the PS3’s controller. X allows you to jump while the shoulder buttons are used to invert the colors. Directional movement is controlled by the D-Pad. When the colors are inverted, the screen is also rotated 180 degrees so up is now down, and down is now up.
The puzzles are well thought out, and start out a little too easy. They do get a little harder as you progress along, and there are 120 levels in all. Some puzzles require you to pick up items in order to unlock new paths on a level, and this adds to the complexity of the puzzles. There are also some levels with moving platforms, and timing your jumps accordingly is crucial. These platforms can crush you as well, so they are not always your friend. You’ll come across spikes occasionally, and just the slightest touch will turn you into a blood splash, so be cautious around them.
You will probably go through all of the levels in a few hours. There is a scoreboard and your time and score for each puzzle is saved. You can always go back to a previous puzzle to try to improve on your time, so the game does have some replayability to it.
Shift Extended is a fun little game, with some innovative techniques that aren’t used very often in puzzle games. The puzzles could have been more challenging, but the game is still worth the small price tag.
If you are looking for a small game to take with you on the go, or to play on your PS3, Shift Extended is a great way to kill some time. What more can you ask for from a PSN Mini?
