Bit Shifter

Bit Shifter captures all the rights feels when it comes to gaming. From the moment I started playing Bit Shifter, my mind felt like it was playing a classic N64 game but on my PC. It should be noted I mean that in the most praising of terms. The graphics, the gameplay, the controls, all feel wonderful and fun in this hybrid of Action/Strategy game. The mission is simple, clean out the virus by battling your way across the battlefield using soldiers, turrets, and other power ups such as bombs. Your soldiers clean the virus but cannot defend themselves, which leaves only you and towers to defend them. Needless to say Bit Shifter is a game that constantly keeps you busy. You're always fighting a battle on multiple encroaching fronts, this is what makes the game exciting and difficult. Throw in some bonus levels such as a collectathon and occasional boss fights and this game captures everything I would want in a game. It should be noted that for an Early Access game, Bit Shifter is very well put together and hardly has any bugs to speak of. This means the game has more room to grow in the features department, adding hopefully a little bit more complexity. Maybe different ship types, deeper customization, multiplayer, soldier types, more enemies, more powers. These idea would take already a great game and bring it up even higher. That being said, if you bought the game now and it never changed, that would be perfectly okay. The game is simple to grasp and becomes exciting and hectic fairly quickly. So if you are in the market for some fun, quick action that has a good mix of retro and modern designs. Check out Bit Shifter. I made a video preview to show off some of the features and gameplay of this game! https://youtu.be/hQoZMYzw-6Y I hope you enjoy! Martyr

At the time of this writing I've only played Bit Shifter for 2.5 hours, but I've already seen enough to know that I'll be putting a lot of time into this little gem. In fact the only reason I'm not playing at the moment is because I feel compelled to tell all of my fellow gamers about it. Bit Shifter is an Early Access game, and having been bitten badly by an early access game once before in which the devs just walked away from it unfinished without having done much at all with it, I was somewhat hesitant about signing up for another one. But the price is low enough that I decided to give early access another try. I'm glad I did. Bit Shifter has the feel of an already finished, well polished game, and therefore I can only assume that they've introduced it as an early access game out of an abundance of caution. Thus far I have not encountered any bugs or even as much as a hiccup. In my experience, that's pretty unusual even for finished AAA games from big name studios. Admittedly I've only been playing for 2.5 hours, and there's still plenty of room for a bug to show up somewhere, but I take pride in writing honest and factual reviews, and if any significant problems pop up, I won't hesitate to amend my review, though to be fair I always notify the devs and give them a reasonable amount of time to fix it before writing it up. Essentially, the more hours past 2.5 I get without amending the review, the safer you can feel about the game and the game devs’ willingness to fix problems. Let's get down to the nitty gritty of what this game is about, and what makes it fun. Bit Shifter takes place in a cartoon world representing a computer. Even the clouds floating by overhead are circuit boards! If the game is nothing else, it is one giant Easter egg packed full to bursting with more Easter eggs, many of which are puns or word play on their original meaning. The computer world you play in is under attack by viruses (viri?), and the defence of the computer world is up to you and a gigantic armada of flying saucers similar to yours except... a rather explosive event right at the beginning wipes out the Armada... soooo... the defence of your computer world is up to you alone. Your job is a difficult one. Not only must you destroy the viruses, but you must do so before they spread far enough to enter your world's body of water which is named (what else could it be?) the Bit Stream. Fortunately you don't have to fight the viruses entirely alone. Your flying saucer, named (wait for it...) Scandisk can carry tiny soldiers called "Bits". How many Bits can your ship carry? How many would it take in order to take a byte out of a virus in a computer world? Eight bits make a byte, so eight! Obviously. So you fly over to the virus and do what Scandisk was notorious for. Drop bits! Learning how to use Scandisk and its weaponry, and the world around you could not be easier. It's built right into the story line. The first few maps are dedicated to it, and you are given enough time at the introduction of each new button/key press or concept to become proficient at it without waiting so long to introduce new concepts that it becomes boring. It's a tour d'force on how to teach new users how to play a game, so much so that it would be wise for developers even at the largest studios to take note of and learn from it. The game also boasts a broad range of difficulty settings beginning with a setting that a crippled snail could defeat, on up to a difficulty level which would challenge any professional gamer well versed in flight sims or outer space combat games. This is proving to be very useful to me not only because I'm a crippled snail, but also because I'm learning how to use a new controller (a Steam Controller) which is much more sensitive than my old one. As I become more proficient with the new controller I'll be able to increase the difficulty, even in the middle of a level during an intense fire fight if I want more of a challenge. I've only scratched the surface with this review. I'll close by saying that it's really amazing to me that this is an early access game put together by a two man indy development team, especially at its price point. It is excellent value for money not only because of its almost infinite replay value, but also for reasons too numerous to list. It's obvious that this game is a labour of love for its two very talented developers; else it could not be what it is. Happy Gamming! (And don't pass this one by)

So Bit Shifter, Plastic Games first game they have ever made. How well does it hold up? Surprisingly well actually, for an early access game anyhow. So what is bit shifter. Well, imagine a world where everything is a pc part, program or tech pun(Reboot if you will). Now imaging you are a firefighting drop ship constantly flying around dealing with varius "fires" in the form of a Virus. On a base level, this seems very very simple, but it's really not. See your ship itself is faily poor at dealing with these fires, but some of the equipment you carry with you are exceptional at dealing with this fire. One of those are little robots called bits that are exceptional at cleaning up the fire. Bit Shifter is a game of pacing and resource management more so than anything. Anticipating where virus will spread to and stopping it before it makes you lose the level(by reaching a massive river of data). Having your bitsa at the right place at the right time as well as having the right gear is very important. So, what's wrong or needs fixed? Well, the options menu is a bit on the lacking side. The game supports a wide array of resulotion options as well as draw distance, but nothing else. However it does have a colorblind mode, which I'm sure folks will appreciate. Maybe add more video options down the line would be nice. There is also some kind of window minimizing UI bug in the game currently, but it only really occurs at the end of stages or when messing with options. The team is currently trying to fix it. The sound track is hit or miss, it doesn't personally bother me but techno/dubstep like beats is not everyones flavor of tea. Personal mileage may vary. The game has entirely rebind-able keyboard controls and to its credit they work exceptionally well. However the only game pad it seems to support right now is the 360 pad, which is not rebind-able. The game also does not seem to support Logitech game pads at the moment as both of mine had an absolute fit when using them IE buttons not working and the analog stick suddenly becoming the fire control. I would like to see more gamepad controls in the future, possibly more supported gamepads since I have dainty little girl hands and hate the over-sized behemoth that is the 360 pad with every fiber of my being. So other nitpicks; the game looks fairly dated, but that is to be expected since well, indie game. The game looks like it would easily run on someones phone or a late ps1/early ps2 game. It doesn't really bother me since I review far uglier games on a daily basis and the graphics are at least very clean. They don't get in the way of you doing your job and glitches are infrequent(such as bits walking through buildings for example). My biggest problem with the game is the lack of variety in enemies. The enemy that you will encounter the most are these little robot octorocks (at least that's what I call them) That spawn along the the path the virus takes/will take and attempt to shoot you down. On some stages these alone will be the bane of your existence, especially when in clusters of 4 or more. Other times not so much. They don't shoot all that fast, you can strafe slower than molasses on a cold day and still dodge most of their fire and the damage they do when harassing your bits is pitiful; almost to the point where you can cheese them entirely by just fire and forgetting your bits, then swooping in and refiring them when they are damaged. The game could definitely use some air to air harassment, say a corrupted scandisk(your ships name, told you it was punny) that attacks you on sight and harasses your bits. Making bis a little less godly might help as well since they can take an absolute mauling and still do their job incredibly well, often cleaning up large chunks of virus before the Stormtrooper aimlike octorocks eventually knock them over. My other minor problem is the game is on the short side, 20 stages and 1 boss stage which clocks in at around 3 hours on normal and maybe 5 to 8 hours on the hardest difficulty depending on personal operator headspace. So is it worth your time and money is the real question. Well, yes. Personally the novel idea alone nearly carries the whole game in itself. The game is not perfect by any means, but it doesn't have to be. Fast paced gameplay, varied levels, personal gear loadouts and collectible stuff for the super completionist out there all make for an enjoyable is a bit short experience. I will say this though, it's a damn solid first try by this development team and easily light years ahead of all the zombie apocalypse crafting survival "we buy/steal our assets!" crap that SOMEHOW keeps getting through greenlight ahead of far more novel and original games. The developer has also stated they are planning on adding more content to the game and I'm intrigued as to where the game will go from here, but even now, it's a very solid first try. Ps: I did a video review which you can find here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPwywbzFaZE however be warned that I am very thorough with my reviews and may take a bit longer on the options menu than most.

hasn't been updated in years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKWk47heDc "Oi Virus, Leave my Bits alone" An interesting blend of the action, flight and strategy game genres where you try to fight off a virus infecting your computer from the inside. The game has a very retro/Tron feel to it. You play as Flash Bios, a scandisk pilot who must transport Bits (small virus fighing programs) around the computers circuits to fight the virus infection while at the same time protecting the bits for enemy programs and preventing the main data stream from becoming infected. There can also remove system bugs which work as both currency and a level up mechanic allowing you to upgrade your ship and also repurpose some parts of the system to create new bonuses such as bombs and health packs. Overall a very fun game and well polished considering it is in early access, The only downfall I can see at the present is while in early access you only have access to one zone (21 levels) with the remainiung 2 zones (40+ more levels) coming later in early access. + Very well polished for an Early Access game + Circuit board level layouts allow you to see how the virus will spread + Simple intuitive controls (Apart from raise and lower height) - Only 1 Zone currently available

Update 6/22/2018: In my original review, I wrote: "I hope this game does well, and that they'll keep improving it." ...What happened? Where did the development go? I really really really really wanted this game. It was great, I just couldn't run it very well at all. I don't want to let this game go. :( _________________ (Original review) ----------------------------- I was a beta Tester for this game, and it was a fun experience. ((Review is biased toward having mainly played on the highest difficulty. I find it to be too early to list issues, when really I didn't have that much of a problem with the game.)) I did the highest difficulty setting on all but two levels, and I couldn't really make par time. This game requires a bit of attentiveness that I lack during game play, and so I found myself surprised at times by the Virus. I'd be fighting the Virus on one side of the map, beating it really well, only to have the Virus Warning go off on the opposite side of the map. The "Virus Warning" is an alarm sound that comes up with an icon, one that appears at the location the Virus will infect the Data Stream at. If the Virus spreads to the Data Stream, it's game over. So, I'd quickly go over to the warning location, and fend off the Virus. Me doing this when I get the Virus Warning at the location I was originally at. I had to really learn how to zigzag my strategy, and keep bursts short. The game has unlockable lore which is amusing. It has some explanations of different Logic Gates, in accordance to an electronic/robotic society. I hope this game does well, and that they'll keep improving it. I had done mainly the highest difficulty, so my perspective is one of the game being intense. On the lower difficulties, the arcade factor of this game really stands out, and is less strategy demanding. I had only upgraded my Weapon Power, and my favorite strategy was to only get the Turrets. I enjoy abusing minor features, and that's simply my play style. I don't need to upgrade my shields if I simply better my dodging ability. So, I went for killing enemies in less hits. That's it on my end.

Bit Shifter - чудова екшн стратегія. Пропоную розробнику додати колекційні картки,і дещо пофіксити баги. Дякую за те,що гра в ранньому доступі,тому що е ще що доробити. Рекомендую!

Bit Shifter is a fun and challenging action/strategy game within the genre of "hey, I'm part of a computer system, fighting the virus" category. You are "Flash Bios", a pilot that must fight the virus in a series of increasingly harder missions while flying a "scandisc" (ship), with the primary goal of preventing the virus from reaching the main data stream. One of your primary resources are your deployable "bits" that fight the virus on the battleground of the circuit board while you fight using a growing arsenal of other tools aboard your ship while supporting and defending your bits. Many games that came through greenlight have a good concept, but even after evolving never reach beyond "amateur" quality. Bit Shifter easily exceeds that status, having solid core gameplay elements and the relatively well polished feel that is causing some players to mention their favorite N64 or Playstation games. Plastic Games started with a goal closer to the retro look and feel of 16 bit gaming. The current state has gone beyond that look, but still maintains a somewhat retro look and feel. I have not completed the game, and may eventually update my review with a simple list of pros and cons, but so far it's just been a fun pastime. As the game is still in early access I will post a couple of other constructive observations. For one, the music is alright, but I would enjoy some options. The controls work well for me, but as a mouse and keyboard player I am not entirely comfortable with flying my ship in the default settings. Most notably I would recommend players resetting the up (space bar) and down (Q) keybinds. I sometimes experience a slight but noticeable "hang" in the loading screens before a mission, and the developer quickly responded to my bug report to indicate that they are aware of this. It has not been a game killer at all. I have completed 17 missions thus far during several game sessions, and on one occasion the screen did hang and crashed me to desktop, but this has never occurred within an actual mission, where I've yet to have any issues. I have so far found the game play to be relatively simple in depth, but as I said, good action/strat fun of an old school type, and I've already played this game longer than most any green light graduate. Well done Plastic Games, keep up the good work!

Հետաքրքիր խաղ Indi - Strategy ոճի մեջ Early Access փուլում է , բայց շատ լավ սարքած խաղ է Խորհուրդ եմ տալիս գնել =)

Hey everyone and this is my review about the game! This is a Action 3D spaceship (Semi-Tower defence) game. [h1]Interface/Menu/Settings[/h1] You can choose to play between a mouse or a controller. There is Mouse and controller Sensitivity. But controller not recommended. There is a Master Volume slidebar. There is a Game Volume slidebar. There is a Music Volume Slidebar. You can play the game on fullscreen or windowed mode. There are many resolution sizes and some sizes for windows mode. There is 5 difficulty settings. There is a track of your own stats. There is a small ingame tutorial/intruction. There is mission select to re-play the levels and complete the challenges. [h1]About the game.[/h1] You play in a Semi "3D" Spaceship world. You are in a spaceship and you deploy units to slowly remove the enemy virus. Once an area has been secured, you will have to pick up your units back into ur spaceship and proceed to the next area. You will receive a notification once an unit is done in an area. Units could be destroyed by enemy turrets and picking them up will repair them. You can protect your units by destroying enemy turrets. You can also shoot the red area's to remove the virus but sending units will be alot faster and better. Enemy turrets always prioritize you over your units, Even if they have recently attacked one of your units, They will always change target and focus on you. Your units will not attack turrets and will only focus on removing the virus. There are collectables, You will unlock and become a bit stronger if you are collecting them. You will encounter shops station later on and you are able to buy items here. You are only able to buy 1 item and than this shop will be a deploy station. Which means you will only get the item that you have purchased in this station. You can buy an item with Bug coins. No indicator when you are close to death. (Hardly visible). Your ship Regen overtime. Have a minimap on the right bottom corner. Okay music. Okay art. Okay Graphics (N64 Style). No restart level button. Bonus Levels to grind bug coins. For some reason the hitbox doesn't feel great whenever i hit an enemy. It could be just be me. Different crosshair would be better. Has some collectables, picking them up will unlock new things. Units are instant repaired, would be better if it is overtime. (like they need 3 seconds to be active again) Has some challenges and you are unable to see your challenge back once you are in a mission. [h1]Other things.[/h1] Weird minor bug. Whenever im clicking to switch to controller. The mouse cursor is going all the way to the right side. Has Local co-op Potential. ------------------- I Give this game a 7/10