Xenon Racer is far from the racing game we all expected. It is quite entertaining, but unfortunately at a technical level we can see a very simple graphic level, abundant popping, an irregular AI and very long load times that condemn it to ostracism.

It’s not often we recommend you play a Nintendo Switch game on a different platform, but there’s simply no way we could advise you to pick this up right now in its current state. There’s every chance the developer could provide substantial support to patch Xenon Racer into a more playable state, but as of writing it’s a game that doesn't warrant that full price tag. With a layer of extra blurring when playing in handheld mode, and that sense of breakneck speed reduced substantially by the sheer drop in frames when racing, you’re forced to endure a racer that simply can't justify its own existence on Switch. Add in poor controls and input lag and it's clear that Xenon Racer needed a little more time in the garage.

Xenon Racer doesn’t have anything that makes it particularly unique, so even the best port would still be mediocre. The one way it truly manages to go above and beyond is by doing its best to hide its shoddy port right up to its pre-rendered gameplay footage in the intro that was clearly recorded on a different system. If you’re in a desperate fix for a new racing game there are worse options than Xenon Racer, but make sure you pick it up on another system, because even the added portability on Switch can’t make this version worth the cost of admission.