

All of this despite the fact that this isn't an especially visually-impressive game to begin with.

And the character models here are fairly ugly too.

This is a game that features some nasty pop-in, shuddering framerates, and ugly aliasing, particularly in cutscenes but in gameplay and home base menus as well. Graphically, XCOM 2 is the roughest of 2K Games' trio of Switch “Collections” released in May of 2020. For the most part, players should be able to get the gist of what's going on even if this is their first entry in the series, but fans of the series are more likely to fully absorb everything that's going on here. While the game still largely assumes the player is familiar with the series' story, the 20 year gap does mean that both the protagonist and the player are being thrust into a world that is at least somewhat unfamiliar to them. In the midst of all of this, the resistance continues in the shadows, and the game begins with a rescue operation retrieving the captured commander of their forces. However, their dominant presence has led to a dystopian police state, countless disappearances, and dark plans for the unwitting populace. In XCOM 2, which follows 20 years after the “bad ending” of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the aliens have succeeded in invading Earth, and the civilian population has been made to believe these invaders are peaceful beneficiaries. XCOM 2, originally released in 2016 on multiple platforms, came to the Nintendo Switch in 2020 in this Collection that contains the game's War of the Chosen expansion as well as all of the DLC released for the game (though it offers nothing new or unique for Nintendo Switch owners, which is a shame as this game could have really made use of the touchscreen).įor those unfamiliar with the series, the XCOM games depict an alien invasion story that pits a guerilla resistance group against hostile alien forces who have taken control of Earth. While the XCOM series dates back to 1994, XCOM 2 is actually the second numbered game in the franchise's reboot series, which began in 2012 with the game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The XCOM series of Strategy-RPGs has long been one of the standard-bearers of the genre, with many of the games I've reviewed in this genre being labeled as XCOM-style Strategy-RPGs, signifying a style of gameplay where the degree of success of attacks is determined by line-of-sight and cover.
