Think that you are having a bad night at work, then you have not seen the world through Matt’s eyes. In this full motion video, choose your path game you play as Matt and make choices in this crime drama that unfolds throughout the night.
General Gameplay
One of the unique features about Late Shift, is that the game is fully like an interactive movie, so the general gameplay is around making choices for the main character Matt. The Game Visuals are very straight forward. As the game is all full motion video from start to finish, the movie quality is very sharp and easy to follow the action in the game. As the game is M – For Mature the game does have live life quality violence and some situations that is more for mature audiences, so parents/guardians please use discretion when playing the game around younger children. The game attention to detail is very well done and for those that are fans of full motion video in games, they will be very happy with the game. The game video presentation is done very well and feels like a Hollywood movie in the style that it was filmed and how it flows with the game itself. The Audio for the game is very well done. The game has full voice acting and with as such the game actors and actresses did a great job on their acting rolls. The game engulfs you within its world and you feel part of the action. From the main character Matt, to all the co-stars the game is a living, breathing, movie. Again, that it is more of a mature title, there is a lot of language used in the game that is equal to a R rated movie. The in-game sound effects that are in the FMV (Full Motion Video) also help tell the story. As the game is a movie in its core the sound effects are more part of the movie then anything else, so there is no need to hear any ques to let you know what to do. The game is in 5.1 surround sound and sounds fantastic, the soundtrack and narrative of the main character come off as a movie through a surround sound or even a regular speaker system. In our playtesting, outside of the mature content, we did not meet any issues that would prevent any one 15 or older from playing the game and hearing the audio. The Controls for Late Shift are very easy to pick up and play. As the game is all about making a choice, you use either the D pad or the left thumb stick to make a choice, and then a button to select it. The controls are made to be simple, so anyone can pick up and play the game without any trouble. As games that are more story driven, the controls are made to be simple, and Late Shift did a great job of making the game accessible for any gamer or non-gamer to play the game. As the game is about making choices, there was no need to do a testing of the controls, but we can say that lots of our non-gamers were able to play the game without any trouble. Also, as the game does not need any special type of controller to play so you should be ok using the default controller.
“What makes Late Shift a fun and easy to play game is that it allows you to be part of the story without any delays in the action on the screen, this makes it a very enjoyable game for story fans”
Family Friendly
To be honest I was not expecting much when we did a play test of Late Shift. As with how history goes, most if not all FMV style of games have bad quality of video, production and gameplay. Well I am happy to say that this game blew my expectations out of the water! Late Shift did something right, they got a story and multiple ending based on what choices that you make. Also, the video work was very well done. One of the great things that the game does well is not miss a beat, in most games in which you must make a choice, the game pauses to allow the gamer to make a choice, where in Late Shift everything flows from one choice to another, so it feels that the “movie” is still going. This makes it a more enjoyable experience as the gamer can see what their choice will do, weather good or bad. Now as with any FMV based game, expect it to be short, from our playtesting we saw about 90 minutes of gameplay, however keep in mind that there are 7 different endings based on what choice that you make, so this adds more replay value to Late Shift. Now is this a family friendly title, well depends on who in your family is playing the game. We would recommend any gamers that is at least 15 years of age to play just because of the game content with language, violence and some kissing, yes kissing but that is all that is seen in the game. Controls wise as only one button and thumb stick is used, most gamers will not have an issue playing the game. The only complaint that we had was that we wished that there was more time to make a choice, but as the game story is fast pace so are last second choices. In our special needs game testing, we did not run into any issues with the game graphics, sound, controls or overall gameplay. What we did notice from our older special needs gamers is that the ones that love story driven games enjoyed Late Shift more than non-story driven game fans. Also, with our gamers with Autism they were more drawn into the game as the different paths led to different parts of the game, they were more engaged with trying to see how things paned out for Matt in the story. Now we would recommend this game to any gamers that love story driven game or looking for a casual game that has a good story to it. Most other gamers will be turned off by the slower pacing of the game, so again see who in your gaming family would like this type of game and pick up a copy. Again, for those that are wondering the good age for a gamer to play this, we would recommend a gamer that is 15 or older, but parents/guardians please use discretion on the game content to make sure that it is right for your gaming family.
Closing
With a great story, full motion video and multiple endings, Late Shift is a must have game for any story driven gamers in your gaming family. However be sure to keep a pen and paper handy to write down what choices that you make so you can get all of the endings.
