With the announcement of Trials Rising (the newest entry in the criminally underrated Trials franchise) came the announcement of a day and date Switch version. While media concerning the port has been scarce in the lead up to launch and the bizarre omission of the platform from the Closed Beta had some of the Trials community concerned, the currently available Open Beta (that runs until Monday, the day before the game officially releases...) has given us our first chance to get hands on with the Switch version and it's bad.
Let's start with some handheld footage...
Now a screenshot comparison using the docked mode on Switch...
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch (docked)
For starters, the game operates at 30 FPS and still struggles to maintain that at times while all other platforms (and every previous game in the franchise) is running at a smooth 60 FPS. Next up, the visuals are incredibly pared back. Environment details are removed outright, fog is introduced to obscure the backgrounds of certain levels and the image quality is quite soft. There is also a considerable amount of texture pop-in and the occasional loading stutter which, in a time trial based game, is pretty unforgivable.
Coming off the heels of the disappointing and bug laden Switch ports of Ubisoft's South Park titles, the poor quality of this port has me concerned about Ubisoft's output on the system in the future. I for one would love to see what Steep looked like before its apparent stealth cancellation. In any event though, be aware of the quality of the port that you're getting if you plan on picking up the Switch version of Trials Rising when it releases this coming Tuesday.
Let's start with some handheld footage...
Now a screenshot comparison using the docked mode on Switch...
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch (docked)
For starters, the game operates at 30 FPS and still struggles to maintain that at times while all other platforms (and every previous game in the franchise) is running at a smooth 60 FPS. Next up, the visuals are incredibly pared back. Environment details are removed outright, fog is introduced to obscure the backgrounds of certain levels and the image quality is quite soft. There is also a considerable amount of texture pop-in and the occasional loading stutter which, in a time trial based game, is pretty unforgivable.
Coming off the heels of the disappointing and bug laden Switch ports of Ubisoft's South Park titles, the poor quality of this port has me concerned about Ubisoft's output on the system in the future. I for one would love to see what Steep looked like before its apparent stealth cancellation. In any event though, be aware of the quality of the port that you're getting if you plan on picking up the Switch version of Trials Rising when it releases this coming Tuesday.
Last edited: