Hot line Mi ami: Mr Shifty out today
Blink and you'll hit it
“Top-down puncher Hotline Miami had brutality and baseball bats, but you know what it didn’t have? Teleportation.”
↑ That is how I imagine most videogames are created. Just one man in a tie who is approached by developers like an oracle and who says: "do X but with Y." Mr Shifty [official site] is about smashing through crowds of people while using a blink-like teleporting skill to dodge bullets and blows. It’s out today and, like its masked mate from the 80s, it’s all viewed from above. It looks hectic, but you can see that for yourself in the trailer below.
As the cap-wearing hero you’re setting off to break into “the world’s most secure facility”. As you can see, you’ll mostly be punching people in the head, but on top of your ability to warp around there’s also a slow motion effect when you dodge bullets with precision. Meanwhile your foes will have the advantage of guns, numbers and explosive do-hickeys. I think this GIF of Shifty blinking through walls multiple times best demonstrates the idea.
I never made it through all of Hotline Miami or any of the second. It was too hard and made me feel weak and lonely. It’s possible the developers at Team Shifty have made something slightly more forgiving than Dennaton’s murderfest. I imagine superpowers come in handy when you’re about to be machine-gunned.
It’s out today and is £10.99/$14.99 on Steam.