Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is a flawed, but mostly enjoyable game. So it makes sense that with Nintendo being more open to 3rd Party games than they have been in recent years, the game get its shot on the Switch. It certainly might make some Japanese fans happy, as it’d give them a choice on what to play. Previously the game was only available to them on PS4. The game’s Switch release was announced earlier this year. And now the game officially has a Western release date. It will be blasting its way on Nintendo’s latest console on September 22.
It’s certainly good that fans of the game will be able to enjoy it on the go. And the Switch version even comes with a decent list of new features not technically present on other versions. The joycons will allow for local multiplayer, for example. And while the previous iterations of the game did allow for local multiplayer in a way, it was clearly an afterthought. There wasn’t even any split screen function. This game would presumably have that in place. There will also be motion control functionality, as well as ad-hoc multiplayer. The one downside seems to be that the graphics took a hit to allow for on-the-go play. Though this will likely not deter too many fans, as good graphics do not necessarily a good game make.
Xenoverse 2 was, in many ways, a vast improvement over its predecessor. Smoother fighting, more character customization options, a drastic (and much needed) scaling down of RNG, it’s just better. It still has its faults. The ally AI has clearly been given a lobotomy. Meanwhile, the enemy AI is, at times, far too competent, to the point of being grossly unfair. There’s no shortage of translation errors to mock. The list goes on. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely any of the game’s balancing issues will be fixed with this new release. Not unless the other versions of the game get a massive patch around the time to fix a lot of the issues that have players complaining.
There’s also the matter of DLC packs that have been released since the game’s launch, a year ago. Bandai continues to support the game with these. In fact, the most recent two introduced Dragon Ball Super’s Future Trunks arc to the game, adding such characters as Zamasu, Goku Black, and Vegito Blue. There’s been no word on whether the existing DLC packs will make their way to the Switch Release.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 was originally released on PS4, XBox One, and PC on October 28th, 2016.
