Shape Shifter Review

Shape Shifter slowly but surely ratchets up the multitasking puzzle action until your brain simply seizes up.

Shape Shifter is proof positive that simplicity and difficulty are not mutually exclusive traits in a video game. This arbitrarily circus-themed puzzle game hones in on your pattern-recognition skills with a laserlike focus, and then just hammers on them until you can actually feel your brain grinding to a halt. Rows of empty patterns lazily scroll across the screen horizontally, while a row of shapes that will fill those empty spaces sits at the bottom of the screen, waiting to be dragged and dropped in. Once you fill in all the shapes in a row, then the row disappears.

It all seems simple enough at first, but as you progress, the rows multiply and begin to rotate in random directions. Also, the shapes start looking more and more similar. There is no set goal, per se; there's simply the challenge of seeing how long you can last before the game breaks you over its knee, and until you have that burning urge to get your name that much higher on the Shape Shifter online leaderboard.

The Good

  • Simple, elegant design
  • Difficulty increases at a good rate
  • Expert players can start off at higher levels
  • Somewhat seedy circus sideshow feel is well-executed

The Bad

  • Not much to differentiate the two gameplay modes

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