gShift

This is a 3D rendered low poly 2D physics/puzzle platformer with a simple gravity moving mechanism. The game works in 4K which is unusual for a platformer. The problem is not really with the lightweight but acceptable graphics, the problem is the controls are terrible and sluggish. Platformers absolutely must have an extremely responsive, pleasant control scheme or they are terrible to play. A bit of playtesting might have picked that up.

2.d platform oynanış kısmı çok kötü farklı yapacaz diye batırmışlar

For a visual representation/more in-depth review since all of my notes won't fit here, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZRI_TJRyec GShift is like being in a romantic relationship. At the start you’re having a good time, you don’t notice too many negative aspects about the other person, and overall you’re hopeful that it’s gonna work out in the end. Down the road however, you start to become more critical, more is revealed about both of you as time progresses, frustrating situations may arise that need direct attention, and overall you’re either more or less hopeful that it’s gonna work out in the end. At its base level this 2.5D platformer has you collecting 3 orbs to use in a teleporter exit, starring a main character that looks like JaK from Jak and Daxter, contains a good concept for a game once you learn the controls, and has tutorials spread through-out the game to learn as you progress. It’s one of those puzzle games where you can’t figure it out on the first try and have to learn from your mistakes in order to progress further. Overall it’s a fun game with some aspects to criticise. The maps that you traverse are learned over this span of where objectives are, which creates the attempt to get there as one of being very difficult. Of these 9 territories, each highlight a different setting, a new form of audible enjoyment, and integrate a new element that may hinder and/or help your advancement. At the very beginning of each territory, a computer simulation introduces you to one of the 8 elements: Moving blocks, Spawners, Killers, Pumpers, Negators, Faders, Spinners, and Teleporters. Moving blocks are triggered when you activate a switch, Spawners breathe life into invisible blocks once collected, Killers are landmines, Pumpers switch the gravity in one direction, Negators lock your shifting abilities, Faders are bipolar, Spinners act like the cameraman’s merry go round, and Teleporters are like toothbrushes...they don’t need an introduction. All of these territories make very clear the slow progression of both the levels themselves, due to multiple deaths in singular levels, which does add up over time, the variation of the settings with how diverse they are regarding choice of color palette, tone, elements, how the developers slowly integrated those new elements as you slowly progressed, and how much of an unintentional rage game it is. It’s not an intentional rage game however, because the intent of Gshift isn’t gauged as a time waster to anger, annoy, and frustrate the consumer of that content for the enjoyment and the benefit of the creator. Games like Getting Over It would be classified as intentional, due to it’s janky controls, near impossible jumps, no checkpoints, narrator intentionally mentally jabbing at you, and a literal quote from the game: “A game I made For a certain kind of person...To hurt them” While Gshift doesn’t have checkpoints, and they’re both platformers, at least Gshift’s trailer doesn’t convey intentional pain The longer Gshift is played, the more breaks you have to take due to how easily it is to lose your level progress. There even came a point in the savanna world were it just became not fun anymore, which was the downhill point where it really releases your frustration. Even the music itself slowly morphed into that of a constant dripping faucet which leads you to listen to your own music or podcasts because the songs get so repetitive, and only ever changes when you switch territories. ( While the music in each territory did eventually sound bothersome due to frustration, for the most part, Caleb Zovar did a good job at accentuating or making the overall surroundings come to life in the form of the soundtrack.) Considering it took alot of determination to finish this game, some criticisms have arisen along the way. While a lot of them are extremely nitpicky, there’s one main concern...the story. Now don’t get me wrong, I criticize not the story itself, but the presentation of said story. It’s tough to pay attention to any of the exposition on first playthrough because your too busy reading the instructions on how to play the game. The exposition should have been occasionally in the actual levels, that way you have the ability to do both the tutorials AND have an understanding of the storyline, but doing so at the same exact time, while attempting to press the right keys, make the right moves, and learn about a new element each time, is way too much to process at once. Other criticisms that don’t relate to the story are not as important but are still noteworthy: You can’t turn music down or off, which is a basic option that isn’t available. While the map is revealed as you progress, the background of map should be blurred, since there is too much going on that distracts from the map itself. A weird point countdown thing in the top left corner, which while not a good indicator as to what it actually does and what it effects in-game, the developer himself stated that it was an “arbitrary point system”. The Text in the tutorial looks like it was made with snapchat, which while not a huge deal, I thought it was kinda funny how similar it looks. In Aquatic, it’s hard to see red lasers with that backdrop, since part of the background is red. In Arctic 1, special blocks don’t change with the environment, for example there’s no snow on those specific blocks even though it’s snowing. In Arctic 2 there’s a glitch where you can’t shift gravity on one of the moving blocks: you’re still able to finish the level but it’s still obnoxious. While looking at the overarching map, some of the maps are easier to detect the orbs simply due to color scheme. Overall the game contains smooth animation, but when you press the down arrow, the animation is a bit jittery. Last of all, the end scene looks like the game literally froze. Despite those criticisms, gShift is a good indie game. It’s challenging, colorful, dynamic, and for only a dollar, you get a long puzzle game that’s got a good story. It’s one of those games that despite how frustrating it can be, it can reveal alot about you. Such an example could be that this game is a metaphor for life. It’s hard, and you may mess up...but when you do mess up you analyze the situation, figure out what went wrong, and use what you learned to move on, hopefully becoming better from it. One could learn that he or she could be easily frustrated and tend to take it out on others when he or she knows they shouldn't. They may learn that just taking a step back helps, knowing that they’re not perfect, and they’ll never be...but that’s ok...because, deep down, they want to improve, and be better people, then they previously were.

I rate it G out of G