Remember that opening scene in the second X-Men movie where Nightcrawler teleports his way through the White House, knocking out armed guards left and right as he swiftly punctures the barriers between public spaces and the president of the United States? Mr. Shifty is a lot like that. The title character even maintains Kurt Wagner's trademark colour scheme, sashaying around in a blue trenchcoat while a red baseball cap draws the eye to his noggin.
The similarities are staggering, yet we live in a world where we've not had a great Nightcrawler game, so you can't hold it against developer Team Shifty for beating Marvel to the punch. And what a beating it is! In terms of gaming inspirations, Mr. Shifty is a clear spiritual successor to Hotline Miami, yet it's the rare imitator that brings enough of its own ideas that the final product feels fresh.
Like Hotline Miami, Mr. Shifty is a top-down action game about an assassin breaking into a series of organised crime lairs where you eliminate throngs of goons before they know what hit them. Where Mr. Shifty differentiates itself from Dennaton's cult classic is with its super powers and dynamic environments. The ability to instantaneously teleport a few feet away is enough to make every other game's "evade" button green with envy, as you reappear behind an unsuspecting foe or apparate behind cover.
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