Download Games Roundup
Ares! Alt! Shift! Domination! Trine!
Shift: Extended
- PSN Minis - £3.49
- :Shift: and :Shift 2: previously released on iOS - £0.59 each.
Yeah, we know this has been out on iDevices for ages, and uh-huh, we do realise it's much cheaper. In Shift: Extended's defence, though, this isn't your average lifeless port, but a new version boasting a few more features for your cash.
As usual, you have to guide a generic test subject trapped in a two-tone fashion experiment. Fed up with endless Ska revivals, he vows to escape to a world of colour by flipping his test chambers between black and white.
In his world, switching between the two amounts to changing between solid ground and air, so you quickly slip between dimensions to find a route to the exit. But with 120 chambers to negotiate before freedom awaits, victory is a long way off.
Once the basics are established the game throws up plenty of additional hazards to factor in, such as insta-death spikes, chequered areas, converters and trapdoors. With the usual plethora of switches to activate and keys to collect, it soon becomes an all-consuming affair that's mightily tough to put down.
Shift: Extended also has one of those insidious background tunes that probably provide a soundtrack to your dreams for the next 17 years. Just don't play it on the train without headphones - you don't want innocent bystanders suffering the same fate.
8/10
Modern Combat: Domination
- PSN - £6.29
In case the world doesn't have enough multiplayer military shooters in it, Gameloft has elected to fill that yawning gulf in our empty lives. Lucky us.
Sadly for fans of weary cynicism, the hilariously generic-sounding Modern Combat is far more credible than you might imagine. For less than the price of a posh burger you can tuck into 16-player matches across five maps, over six modes, comprised of the usual Deathmatch, Demolition, Capture and Escort styles we all know and love.
If you battle the tumbleweed and can actually get an online match going then there's plenty to unlock, with a level cap of 72, and 13 weapons and the usual assortment of attachments. Bot matches provide a bit of competition if you can't make up the numbers, or you can slope off and learn the maps in the meantime. And guess what? It's pretty solid stuff. Apparently budget shooters don't have to be terrible.
The biggest shock, though, is the standard of visuals, with detailed maps, decent animation and respectable character models that more than hold their own against full price titles - never mind bargain basement offerings. Don't bother with Move controls, though, unless you enjoy a feeling like you're playing with your feet.
Apart from offering about as much innovation as a can of beans, Modern Combat does a perfectly good job of providing a no-frills alternative. A few more of these and the big boys will be casting a few nervous glances in the direction of the download sector.
7/10