Shiftlings

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. PlayStation Universe
    Mar 27, 2015
    79
    With its comical vibe and challenging levels, Shiftlings is a must for everyone who likes a descent puzzle platformer every now and then. The controls can be mighty frustrating at times, but playing the game in co-op is boatloads of fun and this alone makes Shiftlings worth its price.
  2. Push Square
    Mar 20, 2015
    70
    Shiftlings is a fun, quirky title that may surprise those who decide to give it a go.
  3. Gamer.no
    Mar 16, 2015
    70
    Shiftlings is a brilliant co-op puzzle game from Norway. The game let’s the players control two characters – one small and one big – through the very well designed and often challenging maps Shiftlings offers. The players can swap size at any time, and must combine gravity and the different sizes to overcome challenges. Shiftlings is hilarious with a friend, but lose a lot of its charm and fun if you’re on your own.
  5. PlaySense
    Mar 23, 2015
    65
    The good? It's quite colourful, accessible and a lot of fun in co-op. The bad? It's a bit repetitive and cheap in the humour department. The ugly? Irrelevant.
  6. LaPS4
    Mar 19, 2015
    62
    Shiftlings is a visual pleasure, although the gameplay mechanics end up being repetitive quickly. Even when it offers a good amount of playable levels, it may end up boring you sooner than expected.
  7. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    May 26, 2015
    60
    They aimed for The Truman Show and hit Dumb & Dumber. For diehard puzzlers only. [May 2015, p79]
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  8. DarkStation
    Mar 30, 2015
    60
    At no point in the game is there a solid hour of uninterrupted fun.
  9. IGN Spain
    Mar 20, 2015
    60
    Despite its original mechanics, its own smartphone formula becomes boring quickly.
  10. Gamestyle
    Mar 18, 2015
    60
    Unfortunately this is the equivalent of getting all six numbers on the lottery, but on two separate tickets. You win a bit of money, but you were so close to the jackpot!
  11. Vandal
    Mar 14, 2015
    60
    More situations and deeper gameplay might have helped this game, since its appeal wears out faster than expected. Still, taking into account its price, it does deliver a good amount of content.
  12. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Mar 10, 2015
    60
    While it doesn’t do anything vastly new for the genre and treads the ground of repetition that puzzle games like to, Shiftlings is a solid puzzle based platformer for both solo and co-op players.
  13. Twinfinite
    Mar 9, 2015
    60
    Shiftlings is a fun game. It’s rare when a game can nail fart humor and also have it be completely in context. The puzzles are fun, and there is really some fantastic level design that never gets in the way of the game. Unfortunately all of this may be hard to realize when all you can see is a sometimes frustrating single player experience.
    All this publication's reviews
  14. GameCritics
    Jun 30, 2015
    50
    As a whole, Shiftlings is a good concept that falls down in the execution thanks to a lack of a clear identity, potty humor and poor physics. Although I had some good moments with it during the course of play, it feels a bit too mixed to recommend.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 18
  3. Negative: 6 out of 18
  1. SuperkenGaming
    Mar 11, 2015
    8
    Shiftlings
    A puzzle game that will have you pulling your hair.
    There isn’t much of a story here, an alien drinks some block hola cola, gets    Shiftlings
    A puzzle game that will have you pulling your hair.
    There isn’t much of a story here, an alien drinks some block hola cola, gets gas, and you pass the gas back and forth between your partner who is connected by a hose for an intergalactic game show.
    This is just a puzzle game, an obstacle course, something to play to challenge yourself more so than to experience.
    There are 5 worlds in total, 10 levels in each world all progressively getting harder.
    At the end of each world there is a boss level which is just like the other 9, but with moving parts.
    The puzzles are very trial and error, and for the most part are forgiving.
    You can try as long as you want to figure a level out,
    I consider this stage of the game a testing the waters portion. While you are also testing the waters you can grab collectibles for even more challenge, but the collectibles highlight the greatest problem and frustration with this game.
    For a puzzle game, solutions rely far too often on physical character timing rather than problem solving and environmental timing.
    Too often I felt like I had to get lucky to grab certain collectibles.
    Going through this game for the 30 hours it took me to be the first platinum obtainer in the universe, made me feel more lucky than it did smart.
    I never felt like I was clever when I finally got a collectible that I was button mashing for 40 minutes to get.
    The sole problem with this game is that you are rewarded for figuring things out with frustration to execute it, really bringing down the enjoyment level.
    The characters themselves handle great though, it definitely takes some time getting used to switching characters and switching back and forth between using 1 character and 2 simultaneously.
    This never becomes frustrating, but does take practice.
    After you have finished the 10 levels in 1 world, you unlock the next world and you also unlock time trials and leaders boards which to me is really when the fun kicks in, for selfish trophy hunting reasons, id prefer that time trials unlocked as soon as you beat the level so you can master each with repetition, but its not too big of a deal to go back after you have defeated the worlds boss.
    You can also play co op locally and online…
    As you can guess in a game all about timing and puzzles, playing with someone else can do more harm for your sanity than good, not to mention the potential leg, so play with a friend at your own risk.
    Overall I enjoyed my time with shiftlings, if there is a shiftlings 2 I can only hope that they focus more on problem solving than throwing in luck elements.
    I want to feel challenged, not frustrated.
    For what it is Puzzle Platformer 8/10
    Overall 8/10    … Full Review »
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