Late Shift

I recently went on another purchasing spree using the True Achievements wish list function that highlights games that go on sale. Late Shift popped up on one of these so I thought I would get it and play it in ten years time. However, I then decided to ask my friends to randomly select some of my easier games so I will actually play and complete them. Late Shift was the first game to be selected in this way.

Late Shift is a bit of a strange game. I read a review before playing it which made it seem like a Tell Tale style game and to some degree it is. It plays like a TV episode of some sort where you make decisions as Matt, some student guy with an obsession with the word ‘mate,’ who is working at some hotel car park as the night watchman. A guy breaks in to the car park to steal a car and Matt ends up going along for the ride at gun point.

The review boasts seven different outcomes based on the decisions you make, and I put this to the test early on. When the robber has you at gun point you can run away or choose to drive him out of there. However, both of these choices result in the same outcome and there is no way of avoiding actually getting involved in the game’s story... even though this could quite easily have been accommodated as one of the endings.

Some of acting in this was quite funny and didn’t make a lot of sense if you change your mind about stuff half way through playthroughs. As an example, if you start by going against the robber’s scheme, Matt will be a shaky mess for most of it. However, as soon as you get stuck on having to go along with them, his comfort levels with his situation seem to skyrocket. He also becomes much more adaptable to the life or death situations he’s faced with automatically.

In essence, my biggest issue with the game is the fact that the seven different endings are basically decided by two decisions you make, and this is the same criticism I have of TellTale for the most part. At least there are different endings for Late Shift though.

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 20 Achievements

I completed the game in only a few hours on the same day so it doesn’t take long to do and you can abuse the above two decision points to reach all seven endings in as little as two full playthroughs.

There isn’t much to the gameplay elements and the majority of achievements are earning via making choices as certain points in the game. Make a decision a certain way and you will get an achievement – choose differently and you won’t. You only need to know when these choices occur.

There are individual achievements for each ending and two cumulative achievements for watching all the endings.

The last achievement I unlocked was for finding all the main chapters and this is actually a really good achievement as the game requires you to see all of its content if you want to unlock them all.

Downloadable Content – N/A

Late Shift was an enjoyable experience that didn’t outstay its welcome. Despite Matt’s inability to use a different greeting other than ‘mate,’ I did find myself wanting the characters my decisions influenced to do well, to the point where my last playthough ensured the best outcome.

The only issue I really had was the occasional frame rate drops which I experienced at certain choice junctures. It’s kind of bad though as most of the game is cutscenes so these should have been flawless.