The Switch is a truly marvellous machine. The first ever hybrid console, it's the handheld capability of the system that makes it so irresistible. Its versatility and convenience are such that even when a game is technically better on the more powerful home consoles, we'll often wait for the Switch version just to take it away with us. And so many games fit the Switch like a glove, thanks to smart, sensible adaptation to the system's limitations, or cleverly altered mechanics in order to account for what the Switch does best. Genesis Noir, sadly, is not one of them.
When your interface is an analogue stick and face buttons, it feels extremely awkward to be asked - for example - to individually pull every petal out of a dandelion. This requires the cursor to be placed on each petal in turn, the A button to be pressed and held, and the analogue stick pulled away. Is this difficult? No. Is it intuitive? Absolutely not.
Ditto a section almost immediately afterwards in which the parallax-esque landscape must be "tuned in" by grabbing a dial at the bottom of the screen and dragging it left and right. It feels designed for a mouse, or for touch control - which the Switch can do - but there is no such touch support here. Bizarre clashes of interface, task and input crop out throughout Genesis Noir, enough to make us wonder why even port it to a system so clearly unsuited for the experience.
We know why, really. We all know why. Because the Switch is perpetually hot right now. But it doesn't have a great time with this game at all. It chugs, it struggles. Your character routinely gets caught on geometry that doesn't even seem to exist, with controls that sometimes simply stop responding for seconds at a time. Sound goes out of synch, or drops entirely. The camera will shudder and shake, breaking the game's spell routinely. It's deeply frustrating that the game's flaws all seem to stem from its Switch port.
It's a beautiful game, in theory. The art direction is often stunning, calling to mind old UPA cartoons and 1950s animated PSAs in its tale that cleverly welds the creation of the universe as we know it (hence "Genesis") with a jazz-infused film noir style detective story (hence, er, "Noir"). What this amounts to in gameplay terms is... not a whole lot of consistency.
Essentially you're following the game's linear narrative, occasionally taking part in what are essentially a series of mini games. None of them are exactly awful, but they certainly don't do much to stand out, with a few early ones including the planting of seeds (that, again, is unintuitive in its control scheme) which lead to a series of small and impossible-to-fail challenges seeing you encouraging said ovules to grow up and out. You're mostly tinkering with things rather than engaging with any game-length systems, with nothing really given time to mature as a mechanic. Which is fine, because the gameplay isn't the focus here.
An interactive movie, then, and just barely. It's a pretty enjoyable movie, though, with a real flair to its direction. Sequences play out with impressively dynamic motion, framed brilliantly and drawn with enormous skill. The tremendous and memorable music adds a great deal to the experience and it's difficult not to get swept up in the emotion and energy of the cutscenes.
However, it's not ideal when gameplay feels like an obstacle between you and the next bit you'll get to passively view. Particularly when the viewing is as compromised as it is here compared to the PC and Xbox versions. And no, it's not usually a great idea to compare next-gen hardware to the Switch as it's a bit of a waste of time - of course it won't look or perform the same, how could it? - but we can't shake the feeling that when visual fidelity is one of the core aspects of your game (as in Genesis Noir), it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to port it to a system that can't really do it the justice it needs and deserves.
Conclusion
Here's the thing, and it's a bit of a kick in the pants. Genesis Noir is a very cool, very interesting and exceptionally well-presented game. It tells its esoteric story in an effective, exciting way with a litany of memorable visuals, fantastic artwork and a genuinely brilliant soundtrack. And, unfortunately, we simply can't recommend playing this compromised, ill-fitting, arduous and glitchy Switch port in the slightest. Maybe it's just us, but knowing we could be experiencing the spectacle of this clearly brilliant piece of art in a much higher resolution, at much greater fidelity, and with an order of magnitude less frantically wriggling the left analogue stick because we're convinced the game has broken is just a sobering reason to ask why we would even bother if this version isn't your only option. Even if you do only have a Switch, we'd recommend waiting until you have something else. This is a game that deserves better.
Comments 28
Never heard of this game. Will check it out in other platforms.
That's me sticking to the Series X version then
One to play on PC then 😂
Will grab it on Xbox as its free on Gamepass and I can play portable in bed via Remote Play
This looks like one of those games where it's better to just watch someone stream it.
There are way too many “cinematic experiences” already.
Oh no! Had this on my Switch wishlist for monitoring purposes. That's a shame.
Thanks for the revw.
It is quite a buggy game at times but I don't really see other issues with the Switch version. Odd review.
Played it for a while on Gamepass. Boring 2€ smartphone wanna-be-art-game. Don't understand how such a game can be messed up on switch ...
"Mostly a passive movie-like experience"....like 70% of PS games 😅
@BananaMetallurgica More like abominable framerate like 90% of Switch games.
Also, you obviously have never played a PS4.
@Ambassador_Kong you're right: 50% movie-like experience and 50% shooter with dark themes
@BananaMetallurgica
No accounting for taste I suppose.
@TheFullAndy i'm not talking about taste. i never said that those games sucks
@BananaMetallurgica
Yeah, that's my point.
@TheFullAndy sorry, i don't understand what you're trying to tell me
@BananaMetallurgica
Let's just say we disagree on the quality of said games.
@TheFullAndy yes, sure. i love japanese games...i buy nintendo for that. but you are talking about taste, not me. i never said that PS games sucks.
@BananaMetallurgica
That's fair enough.
@BananaMetallurgica The Nintendo defense force needs to upgrade their talking points. Shooters aren't nearly as common as they used to be and, unless your talking about David Cage, there are very few playable movies on the market.
To be honest, there is more diversity on the PS4 than on the Switch.
@Ambassador_Kong no there isn't
I've written to Fellow Traveller asking for a refund. this port is abysmal and unplayable, which is so disappointing as I pre-ordered this knowing how cool and unique it is on other platforms. rubbish effort
To me, this game sounds designed for touch controls, yet they released it on a console that supports them without featuring them? Strange. Also strange that this doesn't appear to have a mobile port
@Ambassador_Kong To be even more honest, you sound just as defensive.
I agree with the PS4 having more diversity overall, however, it's been on the market 3 and a half years longer.
@BananaMetallurgica wow I haven’t seen anyone pull out that tired old meme since the PS3. It’s like when people say all Nintendo has is Mario and Zelda, it’s just not true and never was.
Anyway shame about this port, sadly I’ve already bought it so might wait for news on a patch before playing.
I finished this the other day and apart from a couple of bugs where things didn’t trigger but otherwise ran great on Xbox. Where it comes with Game Pass. Anyway, good game and I hope they do the Switch version justice at some point.
Having beat the game on GamePass as well I came here just to say this game is a beautiful, aurally-delightful janky mess on Series X as well.
Multiple soft locks, multiple puzzles where I thought I was doing something wrong, only to look up guides and realize I was doing things correctly just the game was not accepting my inputs. Easily a dozen+ forced restarts to continue progression.
Aesthetic marvel, broken game play, bugs and not 'fun' in a classical sense.
Still worth checking out.
I got stuck right at the beginning, because à button prompt telling me to do something doesn't actually do ANYTHING. I don't know if it's a glitch or mislabelled. But I don't care enough to restart. Shame cause I really wanted to like this
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