Late Shift (Xbox One)
Late Shift is a piece of media that has identified itself both as an interactive film and a video game on different occasions, and as the prominence of interactive cinema continues to rise, it may just be that the line between these two will only continue to blur. However, Late Shift has thankfully made things easy for us, as by releasing on PS4 and Xbox One disc formats instead of a more neutral blu-ray, it’s clear that Late Shift is happy to slot into its video game role as a way of getting more attention, and so, we’ll take a look at it together today.
Late Shift’s plot focuses on a young man named Matt who is working at a parking garage while studying for college. A relatively normal fellow, he ends up getting captured and roped into a heist, things quickly spiraling out of control as he goes from an unwilling accomplice to the guy in charge of trying to see things through to completion. The heist has a rather odd focus though, Matt and his captors focusing on trying to steal an unassuming rice bowl from an auction. The plot barely acknowledges the oddness behind the rice bowl being the target, positioning this rather normal piece of dishware as a priceless antique valued highly by a Chinese family called the Tchois who would do anything to get their hands on it. Besides it being valuable to them, we’re not given much reason as to why it is so important and their devotion to it is pretty much an excuse for them to serve as the antagonists of the tale. Vague villains with an unexplained goal isn’t the only area that could use more work, as Matt is a pretty flat main character even as things become more and more serious. We’re told he’s always calculating the odds before acting, and this does contrast with the chaotic situation he’s suddenly roped into, as well as serving as a counterpart to the personality of one of the criminals, a woman named May-Ling. Her impulsive nature is used weakly to justify a romance that buds between her and Matt if your particular plot path swings that way, but she’ll boil down to a damsel in distress whether or not this happens as Matt needs further motivation to see through the situation with the rice bowl. However, while the plot isn’t really captivating as a story, Late Shift is mostly designed as an action thriller. Characters constantly find themselves in make-or-break scenarios that require quick thinking or quick action, the player pulled in by the suspenseful momentum rather than a strong story or characters.
The main reason Late Shift can get away with its interactive film claim though is that it is filmed much like one. The entire story of the game is presented by way of live action footage, but the plot of Late Shift changes depending on which choices are made by the player when they’re prompted for input. It’s likely the action and suspense focus does come from a desire to emphasize the actions of the participating viewer. When Matt finds himself in a dangerous scenario, the player needs to pick the right answer to pull him out, not that there’s really ever a wrong answer. He can be plunged deeper and deeper into trouble though, and it can almost be argued the player is meant to feel like Matt. Dropped into a situation where things keep changing or getting more complicated, the player needs to try and land on their feet by the end of it and will keep facing tough choices they will have to make in a hurry. Each choice has a countdown before one is automatically picked, but there’s usually a few seconds to think it over before solidifying your choice. However, this window might lead to a peculiarity with the game’s animation. All the scenes are filmed in live action, but sometimes things can speed up for a second or two without a clear reason why. It may be trying to attempt to keep things on pace after an answer delay or it may be coping with loading, but it certainly looks strange in an otherwise well filmed product.
The choices you make can guide you to different endings as well as taking you through different scenes to get there. For your first run through of Late Shift, the game makes for a decent bit of interactive entertainment but nothing particularly impactful. It delivers on its suspense well as you don’t know what to expect after making a choice, but the plot is still pretty basic. Perhaps for film fans who haven’t often seen interactive films this may be impressive, but Late Shift comes out after many games have made interactive stories with different outcomes that can nail the tense action while having interesting plots and characters. Late Shift puts its eggs in the basket of the interactivity being what makes it compelling, but while a first ride through is about as long as a movie and could probably serve as a passable cinematic experience, taking a look at how your choices might turn out if made differently can be a bit tedious. There’s no way to skip past scenes you’ve seen before, no fast-forwarding or starting at a different point in the story, and once you’ve finished a run, that run is done and the only way to play again is to start again from the beginning. Still, a different enough experience can be made from basically picking the opposite reactions to how you did things the first go round. You can see the majority of possible game scenes through this method, essentially serving as another decent action thriller with a similar set-up but a different payoff.
Different endings are a bit harder to swing though. Seeing them all involves slogging through the same experience again and again, the choices not truly impacting things enough to make for any more meaningful divergences than what amounts to two major possible paths. Many of the endings are just light variations of each other as well rather than truly unique outcomes, and this comes back to Late Shift’s interactive movie identity. There is no early stop to the Late Shift, meaning that many early choices aren’t going to impact the story as heavily as the player might hope. Late Shift will continuously push the player onto the path necessary to ensure that no one accidentally stumbles into an experience shorter than the expected length of a feature film, and at many points in the story things are essentially funneled down into an outcome that will position things properly for the climaxes on offer. This does ensure that no matter how you choose to play on a first run you will get a story that has a proper conclusion rather than something abrupt or lacking in standout moments, so this is mostly a problem for the player curious about other outcomes rather than one who just wants a single interactive story to watch and participate in. It can make a few moments a little less special if you’re truly trying to break away from the expected course though, the opening of the game especially barefaced in its insistence you participate in the main thread instead of taking the choices it pretends to have as alternate options.
THE VERDICT: As a regular film, Late Shift would be a so-so action thriller that would be a fun watch but wouldn’t really leave much of an impression or a desire to see it again. To try and overcome this, interactive choices attempt to make the plot more interesting than it is, but the rice bowl heist perpetrated by the unwitting protagonist is still the same story, just with a bit of gameplay that makes it seem more involved than it truly is. A few of the endings do stand out from each other, but its by funneling the main story events into similar paths that it reaches those conclusions, making the interactive side a bit less meaningful. A single playthrough of the story is perhaps the best way of playing it as it’s still a decent ride with some suspense enhanced through your input, but its focus on film storytelling makes the game elements feel less meaningful on repeated plays as well as the film elements feeling more tedious since things can’t be sped up.
And so, I give Late Shift for Xbox One…
An OKAY rating. In many ways it seems like Late Shift is more committed to its movie identity than its video game identity, so it pretty much relies on those elements to make it an enjoyable experience. The interactivity is more gimmicky than one might hope, but there is a certain level of commitment to it so it’s not pointless either. The lack of any way to skip ahead more quickly or start at different points in the story is likely meant to emphasize a start-to-finish movie-watching experience, something further supported by the fact the story feels like it has to achieve a certain runtime before it’s willing to end, but the curiosity for choice outcome is sullied by seeing the same events over and over if you pursue the different results, made worse by seeing which choices just snap back to similar outcomes. Late Shift seems like it wants to wow a first-time player rather than bring them back to see the different results, and it has got the needed parts of a crime thriller to keep the ride interesting for a single watch that is made a touch more involved through the choices you make to get to the end.
Late Shift is perhaps built too strongly around its interactive film element, hoping that its multiple choice results can take a plain story and make it gripping. Unfortunately, Late Shift might think it is more revolutionary than it actually is. Having all live action footage might make it impressive from a technological standpoint, my technical tricks aren’t a determiner of quality. Late Shift is, once you look past some impressive weaving of live action footage with multiple outcomes, just an alright thriller with some alright interactivity.