Late Shift is a throwback to the "interactive films" of the early CD-ROM era in the mid-nineties. Like those early titles, this one too isn't exactly a game, as the interactivity is on the level of a DVD menu (only with a timer). But if you look at Late Shift for what it is, rather than what it isn't, it certainly has its value. Firstly, the cinematography is pretty, the story quite gripping and the acting rather good. You are faced with a number of choices, many of which may alter the progression of the story in big and often unexpected ways. The total running time of all the videos is just over 4 hours, so there should be plenty of permutations available - I completed the 'game' three times and always saw something new. The story lasts a little over an hour, which seems just about right. On the flip side, there's no chapter selection after you complete the story once, forcing you to always start over, and the videos are unskippable (including the 6 minutes of end credits) - that could get quite annoying on replays. The audio sometimes cuts off at the seams between two videos, which is odd, but not too bad. Oh, and I found it strange that a 'game' consisting mostly of MP4 files has no native Linux version. Overall, an interesting experiment that is worth checking out, but certainly not something that's going to catch on with mass audiences.
I wrote a full review explaining all my problems with this game, but alas GOG only allows for 2000 characters. Check the full text at pastebin.com/9T9rysDD, if you like. For now, let’s just say that the story is boring, the character’s unlikeable, the environments are confusing and lack variety, the combat’s shallow and the puzzles are repetitive. Overall, the game comes across as ambitious, but pretentious.
