It seems like an odd omission, especially as this is a direct sequel to that game and follows on the story after the invasion. Whilst The Bioshock Collection contains all three games and The Borderlands Legacy Collection includes all but the most recent game this collection is missing the X-COM game from 2012. The first thing I noticed about this particular collection is that it is missing a game. If one truly wishes to experience XCOM 2 at its best, look elsewhere.It seems every publisher wants to get in on the Switch action these days and 2K is no different, with it recently releasing three collections on Nintendo’s hybrid platform The Bioshock Collection, The Borderlands Legacy Collection and last but not least, The X-COM 2 Collection, with them handing over the jobs of X-COM 2 and Bioshock to porting specialists Virtuos, whose work includes the Switch ports of Dark Souls and The Outer Worlds. I managed to complete it, but I have no desire to experience it on the Switch again. As my campaign went on, however, my patience grew thin. It’s a testament to XCOM 2’s design that despite all the problems I’ve just mentioned, it still manages to captivate you should you have the patience. Together, it makes the XCOM 2 Collection a significant downgrade from other ports of the game. These are but a few of the issues I encountered.
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And despite the visuals being downgraded to make XCOM 2 work on the Switch, slow loading textures are prevalent. The menu will often fail to move or change despite repeated button presses. Fire animations will disappear, leaving you wondering why your soldier is burning despite no sign of a source. Enemies sometimes spawn beneath the ground. XCOM 2 Collection – Review Screenshot Provided by Take-Two InteractiveĮxacerbating these pacing issues are the bugs. This is on top of the frequent hitching and stuttering that occurs at all levels, be it in battle or on your ship. This tendency continues to grow in scope the further into a campaign you are, as battles become more and more complicated. Multiple times in a battle, often in the same turn, characters will wait for multiple seconds after an order is issued before acting, drawing out combat to a tedious length. Loading a save or beginning a mission will result in load times that feel agonizingly slow, and I’ve thought the game has crashed on more than one occasion before jolting back to life during this time. Some of these are present in the other console versions of XCOM 2, but it feels magnified here. The momentum of each mission, coupled with the superb encounter design, random as it is, makes you want to play it again and again - usually, that is.īecause what brings down this Switch port is a vast number of technical problems.
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Rarely does a mission pass without the sense that you’re getting by with the skin of your teeth, and this rush is enticing. XCOM 2 Collection – Review Screenshot Provided by Take-Two InteractiveĪt the best of times, this means that XCOM 2 is a suspenseful tactics game where it feels like everything could make or break from a single action. And you’ll need it, because you’ll be thrown headlong into conflict with an array of aliens that will crush you quickly. Ranging from rescuing civilians in a makeshift refuge in a forest, to taking out an enemy general in a city, battles are tactically deep, with numerous strategies, builds, and combinations to take advantage of. Beginning with your squad in concealment, you’ll prep your soldiers for an ambush in order to achieve an objective.
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The other half of the game, and the one that creates the most problems for the Switch port, is the turn-based battles. The changing scope of missions and the somewhat randomized nature of every new playthrough means that from a strategic point of view, XCOM 2 shines. You can never do everything, so you must prioritize your projects and orders to try and keep the resistance alive another day. There’s a timer ticking down to remind you of how far away you are from disaster, and the resulting tension is one of the primary draws of XCOM.
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The first is the strategic layer, through which you make contact with new regions, search for supplies and people, and otherwise plan out your research and upgrades in order to get the edge on the enemy. XCOM 2 is divided into two distinct segments, one of which unfortunately drags down the other. XCOM 2 Collection – Review Screenshot Provided by Take-Two Interactive