iShifting from Calibre Games is a fun puzzle / object management game. In it you play Charlie, assembly line worker drone. Charlie’s job involves directing the flow of parts on the conveyor belt to their appropriate location so that items can be assembled. As Charlie gets better at his job the speed with which items must be assembled, the speed of the assembly line, and the number of items increases. As long as Charlie can keep up with the pace and perform all his tasks in the allotted time he’ll continue to progress.
iShifting’s interface is simple and easy to understand. In each level there is one or more items that require assembly. They are connected by conveyor belt to a part supply area in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Parts appear one at a time and are color coded. Each assembly item is color coded as well and you must direct the part to one of the appropriately colored boxes. Parts are directed to the appropriate box using a swiping motion at each conveyor belt intersection. Directing a colored part to the wrong box will not immediately fail you out of the level but does count against your final score for the level.
Levels are only failed once the allotted time period has expired. As long as all items are assembled in the allotted time frame you progress to the next level. Completely a level in the allotted time frame with the least amount of errors provides the highest score. Individual items are fully assembled when the color on the top of the box is replaced with a picture and the level is complete when all items are assembled.
Although I really enjoyed playing iShifting, there was one shortcoming in the reviewed release. Social gaming is an item I keep coming back to in review after review. The iPhone platform was made for social gaming and with OpenFeint available, integrating this kind of functionality shouldn’t even be a second thought. Although true multiplayer doesn’t translate well to this genre, competition through social gaming is a must.
iShifting is an interesting, fun game that requires some additional tweaking to make it great. Hopefully a future release will address this issue. iShifting is a fun game that just requires a little further assembly.
The Good:
- Easy to learn interface
- Challenging game play
- Leveling keeps game challenging
The Not So Good:
- No social gaming functionality
Reviewed by: Erin Peterson
Price: $1.99 (iTunes Store)
Reviewed Version 1.0
Size: 13.9 MB
Seller: Calibre Desenvolvimento de Software LTDA