Review – Green Game: TimeSwapper

Green Game: Timeswapper is an impressive puzzle action title that is as steeped in Steampunk lore as it is in time manipulation mechanics. Or, at least, that is what iFun4all would like for us to think. The reality is a stone’s throw away from the description.

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This is a sequel, of sorts, to the just as poorly named Red Game without a Great Name. What you truly have, at its core, is a simple iOS mobile style puzzle game. Your job is to get a mechanical bird from point A to point B. There are no stick, trigger, or button mechanics at all as it’s 100% touch screen. Even the menu option screen is all entirely touchscreen. This does feel odd and out of place on a Switch device where many people prefer the dual thumb sticks, d-pad, and buttons. Like any other mobile puzzle game, the difficulty is in obtaining full stars for each level. You don’t get this by beating a time limit, but by literally getting three stars. Between point A and B, you can manipulate the world enough to get all three stars before finishing a level.

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To give props where it’s due, Green Game: TimeSwapper actually has a beautifully rendered silhouette art style in a “steampunk” world of gears and cogs. The layers of green creating depth against the striking black silhouettes reminds me very much of Limbo. Your mechanical hero is released with a swipe of the finger and you then guide him through a series of increasingly difficult levels. You do this by further swiping left and right to manipulate objects such as air flow, stream direction, and object density. Think of an invisible lever that you alter by either having it point left, right, or down. If you swipe too fast, instead of going left to down, you go left to right and die. If you move too slowly, then you don’t alter the environment fast enough and you die. The difficulty ramps up with the addition of obstacles and other items like time slowing capsules. The lounge club jazz music is a pro at first, but becomes a bit too limited later on. It eventually got to the point that I simply turned the music down as I attempted to perfect each level.

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So while the back of the box discusses a Steampunk action puzzler that deals with time manipulation, the reality is a finger swipe mobile puzzler. Rather than manipulating time you’re mostly just turning on/off or aiming the direction of air streams. Rather than action puzzler, you are simply a bird that does nothing but fly straight. Even the puzzles are more about timing than figuring anything out. But hey, there are cogs in the background and the bird is mechanical so Steampunk is vaguely accurate.

Graphics: 7.0

A beautifully rendered silhouette art style in a “steampunk” world of gears and cogs.

Gameplay: 3.0

Swipe left, swipe right, repeat. That’s about it.

Sound: 6.0

Cool jazz soundtrack that becomes too repetitive.

Fun Factor: 2.0

Another mobile port to Nintendo’s Switch console. Nothing special to see here.

Final Verdict: 4.0

Reviewed on Switch.
Green Game: Timeswapper is available now on Switch, PC and PS Vita

A copy of Green Game: TimeSwapper was provided by the publisher.