The 3DO Company - Shifters (2002, GOTY, 2nd Place)

 

Developer: The 3DO Company
Console: PS2
Game Release Date: 2002-06-17

Bootleg Release Date: 2020-12-28
Composer: Barry Blum
Ripper: SnowBlue

Run Start: 2020-02-??
Run End: 2020-04-07

My 2nd place GOTY for 2020 is Shifters, for the PS2. Before I even start I should briefly go over the many, many issues with the game. From game breaking glitches, menu lag, unclear quests, quests that break, music not playing at parts, boss fights being near impossible and enemies running into walls this is not a well programmed game. I don't like using databases for judging but if you look at Metacritic this game has low ratings. At the time of writing 37 metascore and a 5.9 user score. 
So how did this even win then? We will get to that. 

Years ago, circa 2006-7 or so I had Warriors of Might and Magic for the PS2. I don't remember where I got it, but I remember being terrified by it. The game had no horror elements in it but the small things like the sound of skeletons, the shadow, water creatures in the level and the mystery behind the game scared and wondered me. Eventually I beat it and that was that for the next 14 or so years. I've been looking for games like it for a long time, never cared for that isometric style so all the other Might and Magic games were ignored (except Dark Messiah). I don't know exactly when but while researching stuff I came upon the fact that game had a sequel. How I had never heard of this until now I have no idea. At the start of this year I started a run of it, emulated on the PCSX2. I later got a physical copy and continued from there.

Shifters is a 3rd-person adventure game (with dungeon crawling elements). The story picks up where Warriors left off. Alleron has been summoned to the castle as it has come under attack by an army of beastmen. Alleron tries to get to the throne room to determine what's going on. It may have been a very basic plot, but it did have some oddities and quirks in it. Plot quirks like the final boss forcing steampunk technological advancement upon the kingdom or the villains arguing that turning the army of humans into beasts is pointless since they're already loyal. Sorry, character names are being withheld for possible spoilers (plus it's been months since I played it, I forgot most of the characters names). 

As you progress through the story you engage in a war with an old enemy and go all over the continent in pursuit. As noted on the case you experience three diverse environments: medieval, Arabian and steampunk. It undersells itself and through Shifters you deal with extensive Egyptian-like palaces, Lovecraftian ruins that predate humanity, ruins of alien civilizations, steampunk towers filled with wizards and demons, magical grottos frozen with snow, Arabian towns riddled with plague and more. Just going over that I realize now just how much they jammed into this game. It's a little cheesy at parts but levels like Older Than Man make up for it in aesthetics. With PCSX2's up-scaled resolution it really accentuates the models. The banner above the blog right now has a screenshot of Shifters. And it looks awesome. They got the palace looking like some vaporwave castle from Broken Reality. 

Gameplay-wise it's identical to Warriors. Really janky combat, awkward running around as both you and the enemy have issues fighting, enemies that can double-team you killing extremely fast, a platforming section above poison with the strangest jumping mechanics I have seen and camera issues wherein neither the enemy or you know where each other are. I know a lot of this sounds negative, but I loved the shit out of it. It reminded me so much of playing through Warriors and that feeling of mystery and fear from broken enemies. 

Unlike Warriors, Shifters introduces a new gimmick, transformations! As you enter new areas and level up you get the option to put some experience points into transformation. You start off with each basic enemy type per area (a kreegan and mummy for the Egyptian level) and as you level them up you get the option to transform into stronger versions of the enemies from the area. Aside from the one that could stop time and reveal hidden stuff they aren't the most useful. I had a lot of fun transforming and running around as them though. The kreegans in particular had a cool walking (rolling) animation and were skilled in combat. I would switch in an out throughout the levels.

The games difficulty comes in its limitations and glitches. Things like tough controls, enemies ganging up on you or stuff in quests not spawning were the main challenges I faced. Despite all the issues I still enjoyed my run of the game and would do it again. The only glitch that really pissed me off was in the desert levels a quest broke rendering it impossible to complete. Ah well, just something extra I can do should I do another run. 

Unlike MKF which has a compiled soundtrack, Shifters is all originally composed. Composition was done by Barry Blum. He is the owner of the VGM company Sound Pop Audio, member of the rock band Last Call Troubadours and been composing since the early 90s. 

The soundtrack for Shifters features many different genres depending on the area. The first couple levels feature a cinematic classical and fantasy-themed tracks showing a sense of urgency. The 'Arabian' levels have combinations of regional music from the area and dark ambient (for the ruinous levels). The final levels have a more somber and depressive tone but still seeped in fantasy music. The notable exceptions are the boss music and the steampunk battle theme. The latter, titled 'Power Struggle' is this industrial metal ballad. Completely unexpected. 

So despite all the glitches, errors and problems with the game how did Shifters even place 2nd? FFS, it beat out Nier: Gestalt and MKF for 2nd (although MKF isn't finished so let's ignore that one for now). What the game failed to do technically it made up for in charm. I went in wanting a sequel to Warriors complete with the mystery, ominous feelings and jank. Shifters went above and beyond to meet all those expectations. And, unlike Nier it had a much better ending. 

Shifters completed a chapter I didn't know existed and ended off the story of Alleron. Aside from Crusaders which doesn't have anything to do with Warriors/Shifters this is it for my runs of Might and Magic. I may, one day do the others but for now I rest. 

Warriors and Shifters desperately need remakes. There's a higher chance for a Warriors remake to happen but as of 2020 nothing has been announced. 3DO disbanded a year after Shifters release so I doubt they'll remake it. But who knows? THQ died and now THQNordic is going around remaking their PS2 classics. Maybe one day we'll see a remake of Warriors/Shifters. This now just leaves one more spot for 2020. My game of the year, 1st place. We'll have to wait until next week to see. 

As per the soul of this blog I ripped the soundtrack and it is available for download below. The cover I used it the one above. The files are in 320kbps and have been tagged + sequenced based on what level they appear. Enjoy!

Download: aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZpbGUvZVF4VW5JQlojRFQ0Y1k2S3VWVTQwei1VTWoxMUhpeTVzS2w1MUtaWjBvazlYbW9Pa2d6OA==
p@ss: goty2ndplace