2K Games has shown a lot of love to the Nintendo Switch this past month by releasing three different collections of games on the platform. While Borderlands and Bioshock were both first-person shooters that made the transition over well the one who’s transition was a bit more intriguing for how it would turn out is the XCOM 2 Collection. The real-time strategy game from Firaxis Games has made it over thanks to Virtuos but is this port worthy of adding to your Switch library?
The interesting thing about XCOM 2 on the Switch is that this is a game that had problems on the other platforms it’s available on. That alone could be reason to worry about how this taxing game will run on the Switch. Worry not though as after spending a considerable amount of time with it I can say that this is yet another very well-done port by Virtuos. For those who don’t know the XCOM 2 Collection includes the base game along with all the downloadable content that was released for it. The War of the Chosen expansion was a pretty great one in and of itself, so you are getting a pretty meaty package here. Still I must mention that you can get this same collection on other platforms at a cheaper price and with better performance so it’s up to you to weigh if having it portably is worth that extra cost.
The story in XCOM 2 picks up with humans having lost Earth to the alien invaders. It’s up to you and your squad to organize guerilla attacks on the alien scum to try and take the planet back from them. One of the best things I like about XCOM is how you can customize your troops to make them feel like characters you actually care about. As you complete missions and kill enemies your squad will gradually level up and you’ll be able to teach them new types of skills making them even greater threats. The stressful thing about this game is that if one of your squad members goes down they are gone forever. There is nothing quite like having a character you’ve spent a lot of time bringing up all the sudden fall in battle due to a misjudgment on your part. This game has hit me in the feels multiple times and I love it for that reason.
So let’s talk about how this game runs on the Switch. The graphics in general are one of the first things that have taken a hit here compared to the other versions. Whether playing in portable mode or docked on my TV I couldn’t help but notice how much lower quality the environments and characters in this version of the game are. This was likely done to help the game run better of which it runs at 30fps. It doesn’t always hold that though as I did encounter drops and stuttering issues during my time playing. Load times are also a bit too long for my liking. The audio work sounds great though whether it be the soundtrack or the sound effects during missions.
XCOM 2 might not look at its best on the Nintendo Switch but having a game like this be portable may be the best way to play it. Being able to pick up the Switch and dive into a quick mission or two makes this a perfect fit for this platform. It feels good to play most of the time and you can get well over a hundred hours of playtime out of this. Some toned-down visuals, long load times, and performance issues are a bummer but if you can get past those you’ll enjoy one of the finest strategy games ever made.
*XCOM 2 Collection is available now on Nintendo Switch. Reviewed on Nintendo Switch. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
XCOM 2 Collection
$49.99
Pros
- All of the great XCOM 2 content in one package
- One of the best strategy games now on Switch
- Very well done port for the most part
Cons
- Has some performance issues
- Graphics have been toned down a lot for the Switch release
- Load times aren't great
