Game Review: Moe Waifu H Genius

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

I've made it a point to review plenty of those games from time to time here at A-to-J, as you never really know when one is going to surprise you. For those that don't know what I'm referring to, I mean the ecchi (Read: Hentai) titles that seem to be sneaking onto consoles in ever increasing numbers these days. Today we're going to be looking at Moe Waifu H Genius, a game that's out now on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. We're going to be taking a look at the Nintendo Switch version today, but I'm sure it'll be an accurate representation of all the versions. Let's not waste any more time with intros, it's time to dive in!

Moe Waifu H Genius doesn't have any sort of story, nor does it even give names or simple bios to the girls featured in its art. There actually isn't a whole lot of gameplay to discuss either. Rather than go for a simple match-three formula, or even a slide puzzle format, Moe Waifu H Genius is a sequence repeat game. If you've ever played the electronic game Simon, then you more or less know what to expect here. There are five girls who represent stages, each with three sub-levels/costumes each. You have to play through each of the sequence puzzles in order to unlock each subsequent character or costume. This means that the entire game must be completed in order, but that's fine as the difficulty of the sequences ramps up as the game goes on. I wish there was more to discuss when it comes to this one, but there really isn't. The art is all still images, the "voice acting" consists of one or two repeated lines, and the art isn't even as risqué as one would expect from a title like this. You can't even see said art very well most of the time, as it's usually obscured during gameplay, and the game's gallery only displays it within a set frame that you can't even zoom in on. Lack of depth aside, I'm going to give describing its gameplay as best I can.

Each sequence puzzle in Moe Waifu H Genius uses the face and shoulder buttons on your controller. No button is ever repeated in a single sequence, and there are usually only six or seven buttons for you to remember. Each button is represented by a fantasy-style symbol that isn't based on any of the actual buttons on whatever controller you’re using. This means that it's best to remember what each symbol location represents, rather than memorize the symbols themselves. You're only given fifteen seconds to re-enter the puzzle sequence, but I doubt you'll ever need that long to do so. A single mistake counts as a "loss", and these are tallied up in the main screen. Besides those losses being an unsightly blemish on your records, there is no real penalty for getting a sequence wrong. Sequences start out simple, only using two or more of the face buttons, but eventually move on to longer sequences. Later stages even obscure the button layout in the repeat section in some way. Considering that you have to do the sequence from memory no matter what, I never understood what obscuring the on-screen button symbols was meant to do. It's all a rather simple game, and the only difficulty I ever truly noticed came from sequences sometimes not being very clear when they were first shown, or the last two sequences at the end of the game that require you to input sequences in reverse. Despite those slight increases in difficulty, I managed to beat the game without a single loss, and you can expect to do so too if you're careful.

I mentioned earlier that the art in Moe Waifu H Genius isn't all that risqué, and that's probably the biggest problem with this game. While I'm not one who personally cares about seeing only the greatest of ecchi art at all times, the title of the game promises something that I don't think it ever delivers on. Not only is there very little variation on the art itself, but the characters all have that "how to draw anime" look to them. It's hard to care about these characters when the art isn't very good, but I will admit that my thoughts on the quality of the art are subjective. No matter how you look at it though, the reward really isn't there, and I can easily see many potential players feeling like the game pulled a bait and switch on them. Visuals aren't the only issue with the presentation I found though, as there is very little to the game at all. The title screen reuses art you'll find in-game, the backgrounds are the very definition of simplistic, the options found in the menus are minimal, and I'm willing to bet that the music was taken from a stock sound library. There really aren't many redeeming qualities to this game, and the wonky art just makes the whole experience feel rather pointless.

At the time of this writing, Moe Waifu H Genius has a standard price tag of $4.99, and is currently on sale for $3.99. This might not sound like a bad price point, and indeed some might still find it palatable still, but I don't know if it's worth even that. I was able to fully beat the game in less than 30 minutes, and there is literally no reason why I would ever pick it up again. This feels like some sort of asset flip, but I'm not really sure how. I know that this is part of a series, but I don’t think it reuses art between them. I guess it's just the simple vibe that the game gives off. It's almost as if the developers didn't care, as there is only the minimum of effort put into this release. They couldn't even be bothered to give something as simple as names and bios.

I honestly can't recommend this game at all. There isn't enough ecchi content to pick it up for the lols, and the gameplay is just not good. There will always be some people who pick these kinds of games up for the novelty, but I don't know if this one even scratches that itch. I'm not going to stop playing games like this by any means, but Moe Waifu H Genius did sour me on the genre just a little bit. There are upcoming releases in this series though, so maybe I'll be back sooner than I think... Until then, see you in the next one!

Check Out Moe Waifu H Genius on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/moe-waifu-h-genius-switch/

---

​Story: N/A
Gameplay: C-
Graphics: C
Music/Sound: C
Value: C-

Overall: C-

Pros:
+ This is a sequence repeating game that at least works on a simple level.
+ There are five anime girls here, complete with three outfits each, for those who simply want that kind of thing.
+ Since there is no direct fail state, you can power through this one really quickly.
+ It's low price makes the monetary sting hurt a bit less if you simply must have it.

Cons:
- There isn't a whole lot of game here. I beat in less than 30 minutes, and you probably will too.
- Even for a sequence repeat game, this feels rather simplistic in execution.
- Though subjective, I found the art to be of rather poor quality.
- No matter what you think of the art, it really isn't as risqué as the game's title implies.
- The music is repetitive and there isn't any voice acting outside of one or two repeated quips.
- There's no reason to play it again after you complete it, perhaps making purchasing it feel a bit of a waste.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

---