Late Shift Critic Reviews

With its entertaining story that you have a surprising amount of control over, definitely a triumph in a genre that is steadily making a revival.

When I first started playing Late Shift, I really thought it would be yet another generic attempt at an interactive experience, much like the "point-and-click" adventures Telltale Games push out every other week. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by this game. Extremely high-quality acting and set pieces pulled me into the world and pushed me to find the right balance in the choices that I made. It always ended in a way I never expected.

A captivating interactive movie, with great production values and a good cast of actors, even if with some technical imperfections like casual video stutters and audio desyncs. It's hard to evaluate it as a real video game, but as an interactive movie it's definitely worth one or more runs.

Was the story exciting and interesting enough to experience it several times? Yes and then some! It tells something that even after a few play-throughs, I was curled up in tension with heartbeat in my ears when I drove the story to previously unseen directions. Lastly, would I recommend Late Shift to hardcore gamers? Yes, because I'm such myself and I could see no reason why someone else would't get thrilled by it. And there you have it. Late Shift is a solid crime thriller where you don't have to just watch people making bad choices because you can make them yourself. Or even some good ones necessary to pull you through the night.

It is difficult to evaluate Late Shift as a video game, considering how little is given to the player in terms of interaction. But its limits are also its main force. If you want to live a real dynamic and well-written movie, where are you going to decide on developments and consequences, the CtrlMovie product is fascinating and unique in its own right.

Even with the issue of repetition hanging over its head, Late Shift remains a remarkable accomplishment and I recomend it without reservation. It’s a solidly entertaining FMV game that surpasses many modern adventure titles, and it kept me hanging on to the plot through every scene, constantly wanting to know if Matt was going to make it out of London alive.

If you want something to do that will hold your interest while you laze around, or a bit of a different experience the next time you go to watch a movie, I highly recommend Late Shift. It has some issues that are a bit jarring, but if you don't let those distract you, it's a great experience overall.

Late Shift blends both videogames and movies worlds as we had never seen before. This thriller will keep us in front of the screen, where we will be able to do and undo at will according to the decisions we make. Due to its multiple storylines and seven endings, replaying it is extremely interesting and amusing. It won’t be this year’s game or movie, but without any doubt, it’s worth giving it a try.

As a game, there’s no real mechanics here aside from choosing between multiple options and selecting them with the ‘A’ button. So, while it may not be interesting in its gameplay, that’s not what it’s setting out to do. Late Shift is attempting to blend two mediums together, something I think they did well, making certain decisions weigh heavily on your conscience, unaware of the ramifications later on. You’ll need to commit some time to see all of what Late Shift has to offer, but finding a new branch to the storyline is exciting, and I’m still trying to find a few of the different endings. It's a game experience where your decisions are yours alone to make. Your decisions are you.

Late Shift uses an awesomely innovative idea in a game that revolves around a young man being pulled into a deadly heist. The lack of normal gameplay elements makes it a very different kind of game, but it's a fun and compelling sprint for anyone who likes a good story. The differences your choices make also affect the story in new and unexpected ways, making it fun to replay the game trying for each of the 17 different endings.

Doubt is understandable given the history of the full motion video game genre, but despite some glaring missteps, Late Shift is a step in the right direction for this presentation style. With a story that changes drastically on the way to many different endings, issues like stuttering after decisions and a hint of less than stellar production value can be somewhat forgiven. Before playing, Late Shift's prospects were met with skepticism, but several playthroughs later we need to see more FMV games that continue to build on the progress this one exemplifies.

And while Late Shift is well shot and proficiently put together, it's worth noting that the game is essentially just making decisions as the action unfolds before you. There's nothing more to it than that, but as far as delivering an interactive movie goes, this is probably about as good as it gets. I've yet to play an example of an FMV game that's as well made as Late Shift, not that I've played many FMV games, mind you. Still, as a compelling interactive, cinematic experience, it might be flawed, but all in all, Late Shift delivers the goods. It just might not bowl you over completely.

In Late Shift we can find great actors that represents the characters and although there are some small failures of performance and the total absence of a language like Spanish, these bad things are nothing if we talk about the good plot and the good amount of hours of that the game can offer us with high replayability.

Late Shift does well to ensure any choices you make impact on the story, either immediately or later on. It really lives or dies by the success of the live-action part though and in truth, my enjoyment varies dependent on the decision making and the subsequent acting out of the following scenes, with only the lead delivering an almost faultless performance.

Late Shift is an enjoyable story and was good enough that I didn’t mind playing it through several times, even with the issues I had with it. If you’re in the mood for a decent story and don’t mind working for it, then give Late Shift a try. It is definitely an enjoyable experience.

The concept behind Late Shift is not necessarily a bad one, but if you're going to design a game around an interactive story, it is crucial the story is actually well done. This isn't the case here, sadly, and is a mess of continuity errors, laughably bad acting, and straight up nonsensical plot points. It doesn't matter which decisions you make, because you're always going to get a bad ending by virtue of having to play the game to get to it. This is a short, entirely forgettable experience that isn't even worth the low price of admission. There is some novelty here because of it being FMV, but with how bad things are, it certainly feels more like FML than anything else.