Line #9 VideoGame/LateShift


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2933135_image.jpg]]
2
3	You're a night watchman working at the local parking garage, it's pretty boring work and tonight is just as slow as ever. Best to just sit back and study while the hours tick away... until you notice something come up on the monitor. You investigate and before you know it you're being held at gunpoint by a gang of thieves intent on knocking over an auction house... and they need your help. So begins ''Late Shift'', a 2017 InteractiveMovie done entirely in live action that casts the players as protagonist Matt Thompson. Developed by [=CtrlMovie=] and published by Creator/WalesInteractive, it serves as a throwback to the full-motion video games of the 1990s.
4
5	Do you help the thieves with their job in exchange for a cut of the profits? Do you try to alert the police and bring them to justice? Are you willing to stick your neck out for other people or be a greedy bastard and only look out for yourself? A lot can happen with a single choice and players change the story with their decisions. Of course, its much better to experience the game firsthand rather than read about. It's available on Platform/XboxOne, Platform/PlayStation4 and Platform/{{Steam}}, so pick your poison and get on with your night.
6	----
7	!!''Late Shift'' provides examples of the following tropes:
8	* ActuallyIAmHim: Matt sneaks into the auction house to find out some important information and gets caught by a man who works there. He claims the man's colleague let him in and blurts out a name he overheard the receptionist say: Mr. Quinn. The man tells him to wait and then leaves. [[AllThereInTheScript The credits reveal]] that the man Matt spoke to ''was'' Mr. Quinn [[spoiler:which explains why he calls security on Matt.]]
9	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: May-Ling claims the Tchois want to reacquire a porcelain bowl that has been in their possession for over a thousand years. During the auction, the bowl is claimed to be of late Ming construction. The late Ming period is typically considered to be around the time the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in 1580, far shorter than the thousand years May-Ling describes. Even then, it assumes the Tchois had the bowl the entire time.
10	* AssholeVictim: May-Ling's crew, Jeff included. None of them are nice guys and are perfectly willing to kill Matt after the job is done, regardless how well he performs. [[spoiler:Suffice to say, no tears are shed when they all die in the crash.]]
11	* {{Auction}}: The first stage of the heist involves participating in an auction.
12	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Samuel Parr, who sets the entire plot in motion and manipulates every side of the conflict.]]
13	* BilingualBonus: Sebastien calls Matt "whore" and "shithead" in French.
14	* CharacterDevelopment: Matt begins the story as an ordinary man caught up in events out of his control, but as the story goes on, he becomes more courageous, bold, and clever at thinking on his feet [[spoiler:and if the player manages to achieve the GoldenEnding, Matt becomes so clever he's able to fool a criminal mastermind into getting himself punished while Matt himself walks away with the money and his new girlfriend.]]
15	* ChekhovsGunman: Elodie seems to have no connection to the main plot until [[spoiler:Matt goes to the hospital and it turns out she works there. She either helps Matt find Sebastien or refuses to help depending on the player's actions.]]
16	* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:Matt suffers this at the hands of the Chinese triad when they find out the cup he helped steal is a fake.]] How long this goes on for depends on player choices.
17	* CrypticBackgroundReference: Matt overhears Dr. Brent say, "...the way he saturates it with his ego". This bit of dialogue is never explained and plays no role in the plot whatsoever.
18	* DependingOnTheWriter: ''You'' are effectively the writer and decide how Matt behaves. The can mean that Matt's motivations and actions are entirely different between playthroughs (or ''within'' playthroughs).
19	* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:This happens in every ending apart from the GoldenEnding. May-Ling is either killed or captured by the Tchois and Matt either dies, gets arrested or sells out to Parr for a million pounds. In the GoldenEnding, Matt and May-Ling walk off together.]]
20	* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:After recovering the real cup, Matt has the option of abandoning May-Ling to the triad and keeping it for himself.]] The movie will give the player a few chances to back out of this, unlike almost every other choice in the game. [[spoiler:Sticking to your decision to shaft May-Ling gets you a bad ending.]]
21	* DirtyOldMan: The old man in the hospital sneaks in porn mags in his newspaper since he isn't allowed to get on the internet. [[spoiler:This is what makes Matt realize how the real cup was switched out at the auction house.]]
22	* TheDulcineaEffect: Ultimately up to the player, but rescuing the woman Matt just met a few hours ago is the only way to [[spoiler:get the GoldenEnding.]]
23	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After all of the crap Matt is put through, it's possible to walk away with May-Ling and a ton of cash at the end of the movie. It's fairly hard to achieve, but definitely worth it.]]
24	* EurekaMoment: If you choose to play it cool when a thug on the street accosts Matt, he'll briefly choke Matt before backing off to avoid the police, [[spoiler:which reminds Matt of the man the thieves choked out earlier during the heist, and Matt then realizes that before being choked the man had been fiddling with the cabinet--so ''he'' must have been the one who switched the cups.]]
25	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Jeff has no problem with kidnapping and theft but notes that he's "not a murderer and doesn't intend to start now".
26	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The whole story just takes one night, and a few hours of the morning after.
27	* FaceHeelTurn: Very possible depending on your choices, since you can make Matt either a cowardly pacifist or prone to violence. Particularly evident with [[spoiler:using the golf club to destroy Parr's valuables and potentially shooting him]], which may not match at all with how you played Matt earlier.
28	* FallGuy: In one of the bad endings, [[spoiler:the Tchoi crime family murders May-Ling and frames Matt for it.]]
29	* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:The initial gang believes their offscreen contact--who hired them for this particular heist--is an employee of Mr. Woe. But when Matt and May-Ling try to deliver the goods and collect their pay, Woe knows nothing about the heist and and doesn't want the Ming cup. Turns out the contact was actually working for the real BigBad, Samuel Parr, and lying about his employer to divert suspicion.]]
30	* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler:Matt]] getting his thumbs crushed in a torture device. How bad it gets depends on what the player says during the interrogation.
31	* GoldenEnding: [[spoiler:Requires that the player return the cup to the triad while also exposing Parr as the guy who tried to screw everyone. Merely returning the cup or trying to save yourself leads to a BitterSweetEnding or a DownerEnding.]]
32	* GolfClubbing: Matt uses a golf club briefly during one of the endings where he [[spoiler:[[InterrogationByVandalism smashes Samuel Parr's valuables]] to get him to reveal the location of the cup.]] In another ending, [[spoiler:Samuel Parr does this to Matt himself after smashing the cup and dooming May-Ling.]] Ouch.
33	* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:May-Ling is quick to warm up to Matt and eventually becomes his love interest after the two become the only members of the team that survive the car crash.]]
34	%%* HospitalHottie: Elodie.
35	* JapaneseRanguage: A waiter at the Chinese restaurant has some trouble with L's and R's: "Memory... crearing..." It's likely he's deliberately exaggerating his accent, considering how much he [[ObfuscatingStupidity plays stupid]] in the rest of the scene.
36	* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Jeff. He kidnaps Matt at gunpoint and drags Matt into the heist. However, Jeff does explain that he isn't a murderer and he seems like a nice guy to Matt if he follows Jeff's orders during the heist. When the heist is done however, Jeff then seems fine with silencing Matt regardless of how well he followed Jeff's orders.
37	* KarmaHoudini:
38	** Regardless of the outcome, [[spoiler:the Tchois are never punished for their crimes (unless not getting the cup back counts as punishment).]]
39	** While Matt and May-Ling can avoid punishment for their heist, Matt can inexplicably avoid any legal repercussions if you [[spoiler:have multiple witnesses through a botched heist or get interrogated by the police (and get broken out), then choose any of the endings where you aren't apprehended, especially "The Bribe"]].
40	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Matt says "Oh come on!" if the player disagrees with him about selfishness at the very beginning. He later notes that "indecision has consequences" if the player does nothing.
41	%%* MacGuffin: The priceless Ming Dynasty cup.
42	* MeaningfulLook: The look May-Ling gives Matt when she first meets him suggests an instant attraction.
43	* MockGuffin: [[spoiler:The Ming Dynasty cup stolen in the initial heist, turns out to be just a forgery. The last act involves Matt finding the real cup by confronting the person who made the swap.]]
44	* MultipleEndings: Things can go poorly or smoothly depending on the choices made and many actions lead to {{Bittersweet\|Ending}} or straight up {{Downer Ending}}s.
45	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: If Matt decides to do the right thing and [[spoiler:attempt to ruin the heist or contact the police, the game will punish the player for it, including having him arrested.]] Fortunately, neither action has particularly long-term consequences afterwards.
46	* ParkingGarage: Matt works at a parking garage at the beginning of the film. The plot kicks off when he gets kidnapped and roped into a heist by a car thief at gunpoint.
47	* PlotHole: How did Matt learn about [[spoiler:the secret compartment in the chest? It's stated during the auction as {{foreshadowing}}, but when Matt interrogates Sebastien at the hospital, Sebastien tells it to Matt as new information and makes him promise not to reveal that he learned about it from him. If you skip the visit to Sebastien, Matt still knows about it in "The Delivery" ending.]]
48	* PoliceAreUseless: Try to bring the cup to the police, and Matt will promptly get arrested, with the officers not only blowing off his (true) story of what happened, but accusing him of being part of the robbery from the very beginning and just chickening out, hence him going to the police. All this without so much as a background check on the guy or viewing the security footage of the parking garage he claims to work at, and [[{{Jerkass}} while essentially mocking him to his face the whole time]]. You can't help but feel glad when [[spoiler:the Tchois intercept his transport and take him away]].
49	* ReplacementGoldfish: At first it seems that Elodie, the young woman who asks Matt for the keys to the Maserati, will be Matt's LoveInterest. [[spoiler:This doesn't happen because, no matter what the player does, she doesn't get the Maserati and May-Ling becomes the love interest for the rest of the game.]]
50	* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Matt, who uses statistics and game theory to make his decisions, represents Enlightenment. May-Ling, who values intuition and trusts her gut feelings, represents Romanticism.
51	* SadisticChoice: This comes up a lot, such as choosing what type of instrument of torture you want used on you or whether or not to abandon someone else to save yourself.
52	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: [[spoiler:Matt has the option of rejecting Parr's bribe and alerting the Tchois to his involvement in the robbery. This still isn't enough to save May-Ling, unfortunately.]]
53	* SellOut: [[spoiler:In one of the endings, Matt agrees to let Parr get off scot-free in exchange for a million pounds. He notes that, "Newton was right about gravity. It's easier to go down than it is to go up. All you have to do is sell your soul".]]
54	* ShoutOut: The opening scene, where Matt either catches or misses his train depending on the player's choice, is likely a nod to the film ''Film/SlidingDoors''. Unlike the film, however, whether or not Matt catches the train has no effect on the rest of the plot.
55	* SirSwearsALot: Matt is fond of saying the F-word. He says it in almost every scene, even in front of the old lady sitting next to him at the auction.
56	* StupidCrooks: Lee's EstablishingCharacterMoment immediately paints him in a bad light. He rappels into the car park and (determinant on player action or inaction) injures his hand so that he cannot drive (also leaving evidence on the scene with his blood), potentially scares Elodie (leaving a witness) and then kidnaps Matt all while planning to shoot him at various points. His conspirators berate him for his idiocy and willingly let Matt take half his share as Lee's being an idiot and potentially jeopardised the operation.
57	* TemptingFate: Matt's boss notes that it should be "a nice quiet night".
58	* TookALevelInBadass: Matt gradually becomes a stronger protagonist as the story goes on, [[spoiler:and if you get the GoldenEnding he's able to earn himself a completely happy ending using only his wits.]]
59	%%* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: They serve as the main villains for most of the story.
60	* TriggerHappy: Lee is very eager to shoot Matt. [[spoiler:Fortunately, he's killed off before he gets the chance.]]
61	* UnexplainedRecovery: Shortly after being subjected to [[{{fingore}} finger torture]], and then a brief scene where he punches a guy and hurts his hand further in the process, [[spoiler:Matt]] suddenly has no blood or bruises on his hand and no difficulty handling weapons. (It seems to be a PlotHole as a result of the torture story branch reusing the same footage from the no-torture branch.)
62	* VillainousRescue: If you take the cup to the police, [[spoiler:Matt will be arrested for the theft and is on his way to prison when the Tchois bust him out of the transport. After that, while he has to work for it, he can get off scot free even without the GoldenEnding thanks to their interference.]]
63	%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler:Samuel Parr.]]
64	* WhamEpisode: The [[spoiler:car crash scene]] that occurs roughly a third of the way through the movie. Up until that point, it was a pretty standard heist movie. Afterwards, the whole thing takes a noticeably darker turn with [[spoiler:everyone of the main characters save for Matt and May-Ling dying and the two finding out that the cup they worked so hard to steal was actually a fake.]] After that both characters face intense torture and interrogation and must [[spoiler:find the real Ming Dynasty cup]] before the triad has them both executed.

Context VideoGame / LateShift