Blacksad: Under The Skin is an enjoyable detective game and the gritty noir story is very gripping. You care what happens to your cat-man detective and you’ll want to get to the bottom of the crime. All the other characters in the game are interesting and varied and the fact they are animals makes things a bit more entertaining. But the controls when moving Blacksad are so slow and clunky that they let the game down a tad, ruining the will to explore the world fully.

While there’s a plethora of technical issues, I’m hoping these will eventually get fixed, as aside from the bugs, Blacksad is very well written, contains a ton of twists and turns and takes place in a fantastic 50’s noir backdrop. I admit, Blacksad is generally more interesting because of its anthropomorphic characters, but it surprisingly doesn’t feel out of place or odd once you get sucked into its dark world.

It’s a shame the graphics don’t look as sharp as they should on Xbox One X, but it’s a small issue in an otherwise unique game.

It’s unfortunate that Blacksad: Under the Skin fell prey to these foibles because it offers a story worth seeing to the end, even if a lack of optimization gets in the way. With a little more technical polish, these great characters in a great setting will be able to shine.

Blacksad: Under the Skin is a true adaptation of the comic album series created by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido but delivers an overall frustrating experience due to technical issues.

It might take a while to find your footing with Blacksad, but that's okay. The characters are charming and the story is interesting as well. Unfortunately the game doesn't control that well and the graphics are disappointing as well.

Blacksad: Under the Skin holds promise, and it makes good on a few ideas. The noir storytelling is appropriately entertaining, and the gameplay manages to hold up, even if it doesn’t strive for much. However, the inconsistent graphics and terrible performance mar what would otherwise be a solid little adventure.