XCOM 2 Collection

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

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. 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. 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).

For 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. 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. However, their dominant presence has led to a dystopian police state, countless disappearances, and dark plans for the unwitting populace. 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… you.

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. 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.

Graphically, XCOM 2 is the roughest of 2K Games’ trio of Switch “Collections” released in May of 2020. 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. And the character models here are fairly ugly too. All of this despite the fact that this isn’t an especially visually-impressive game to begin with. One wonders why there’s such a huge difference in quality between the visuals in this game and the visuals in the Borderlands games 2K released on Switch at roughly the same time, despite that First-Person Shooters tend to be far more demanding than Strategy-RPGs. Still, XCOM is never a series that has relied on its graphics, and for the most part it does little to interfere with the gameplay here.

That gameplay has garnered this series a loyal fanbase, but it also makes this a frustrating and intimidating game for newcomers, not just because of its highly technical nature, but because of how it often seems to stack the deck in favor of your enemies. When you wander into view of enemies, they get a free turn of movement, and while you can set up your own troops to fire at enemies that walk into their field of vision, they’ll do this regardless of whether or not they have a good shot, and they can only do this once per turn, meaning the scampering of enemies at the edges of the battlefield can leave them defenseless for the next enemy that walks right up next to them.

However, the most maligned element of the XCOM games is of course its random number generator, which seems to frequently lead to situations where multiple characters have a clear shot that should easily down an enemy, yet the roll of the digital dice comes up snake eyes all around, followed by that same enemy unloading at one of your troops who you placed behind full cover, resulting in a clean hit and one of your soldiers downed.

The defense of this is of course that even a 98% chance of success can lead to a 2% failure rate, but that’s little comfort when those 2% failures seem to crop up 50% of the time, and all the planning and strategic positioning in the world can do little when you have a stroke of bad luck or your enemies get lucky despite completely disregarding cover, strategy, or even common sense.

Something else to bear in mind – I should also mention that if you’re looking to buy the physical version of XCOM 2 Collection, be warned that the physical version of the game requires a massive 24GB download (compared to 24.4GB if you get the digital version), so be sure to have a lot of room on your MicroSDXC card, regardless of which version of the game you get.

It feels strange to say, but there are multiple other XCOM-style Strategy-RPGs on the Nintendo Switch that are better than XCOM 2. In particular, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, the Valkyria Chronicles games, and Hard West all offer satisfying gameplay in the same genre without making the player feel cheated by an uneven battlefield and an unforgiving random number generator. On top of that, XCOM 2 suffers from numerous graphical problems on the Nintendo Switch, and doesn’t take advantage of its unique features. The result is a game that, while not bad, is really a game I can only recommend to die-hard fans of the genre looking to play one of its more noteworthy games on the go.

tl;dr – XCOM 2 Collection contains the Strategy-RPG XCOM along with all its expansion and DLC content. However, while this is a game in one of the most distinguished series in the genre, the gameplay here is unforgiving and frequently frustrating, and the Nintendo Switch port has numerous graphical issues that mar the experience. It’s still a game genre fans should give a look at, but there are numerous other games in the genre on the Nintendo Switch that are far more enjoyable.

Grade: C+

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