Game:

Shifters (2002)

Duration: 15:22

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Shape Shifter (known in Japan as "Shapeshifter: Makai Eiyuuden") is an obscure, uncommon side-scrolling action game with an explorative element, towns, and weapon/armor upgrades in addition to various special abilities. It was developed in 1992 by ICOM Simulations, a company known primarily for their visual adventure games and who was oddly one of the stronger third-party supporters of the TurboGrafx and/or Turbo CD outside Japan, producing several obscure games like "Yo' Bro", "Sherlock Holmes - Consulting Detective", "The Addams Family", "Ghost Manor", "Beyond Shadowgate" (which is a wonderful game and perhaps their greatest Turbo CD release), "Camp California", and "Sherlock Holmes - Consulting Detective Volume 2". The game is sometimes compared to the "Legendary Axe" titles.

The game is about the broken prosperity of Krellion which was upheld by five powerful wizards (known as "The Ring of Five") until the fifth moon on the age of light when a dark prophecy was realised and powerful monsters from the Shadow Realm led by three evil beings of unthinkable power (known as "The Dark Ones") brought great destruction to the land and trapped the wizards. With little hope left for the land and the Summer Equinox approaching, the time is almost near when the Dark Ones will amass enough power to shatter what remains of the barrier between their world and Krellion, at which point they can rule and all will be lost. The silver lining is a lone hero named Lykos who possesses great power, courage, and special powers hidden from within that can be awakened by the Ring of Five, where he can transform into different beasts with amazing, upgradable powers. Because of this ability, they dub Lykos "The Shape Shifter"

Visually and aurally, the game is rather decent with some great parallax scrolling and good audio quality. The game has a fair deal of spoken dialogue with no dialogue boxes and basic menu boxes/icons, making great use of the CD format, but the spoken dialogue and writing is... um... tolerable for like the first or second time you hear it, then painful after that (and this is mentioned because the game is not exactly easy even with the ability to save/load as you have lives). I wish the music didn't change so much between rooms. Gameplay wise, the game is sloppy but fair. The game has awkward controls and puzzling weapon/transformation traits and platforming is very annoying as you slip off ledges if you're too close to an edge (semi-realistic, but annoying nonetheless), but there are a number of opportunities to return to the hub (Treyhelm, the only place you can save) not to mention some enemies drop health and the game has the strange addition of completely healing your character during a solar eclipse. You can (slowly) collect money to buy weapons/armors/upgrades from enemies and obtain jewels, which you need to maintain and utilize transformations. The transformations themselves are pretty cool when powered up.

It's a decent game overall. This is a video of it in action, showing various things: bosses, cheap annoying enemies, eclipses, and ends with purposely getting killed by the guards in Treyhelm who attack you if you're in monster form when you enter. Enjoy.

Basic Format: Super CD-Rom² (Super CD-Rom2)