Tony Comley

The Switch has the best game library of any console. If the only thing it could play was Xenoblade Chronicles then that would still be true. Each battle feels like writing four work emails while crashing a BMX into a pond and the music will fix your childhood. The definitive edition includes some very smart retooling of the original’s quirks. Character models are rebuilt and look much more vibrant and alive. Lighting has been reworked in a way that boosts the atmosphere but preserves the art style and new textures and geometry achieve the same. The seldom mentioned star of the show though is the new battle UI: Success in battle relies on being able to quickly read which direction an enemy is facing in relation to your character. On the Wii it was sometimes very hard to parse that kind of visual information while fighting several enemies in the dark that have no clear front or back and which are all spinning and dashing in and out of camera view. The Switch version’s UI tells you when you’re positioned correctly and also the cool down timer on each skill can now be read out of the corner of your eye. It all adds up to the difference between a cult game and a universal one. But really the essential quality of this game is hard to describe. There’s something of Ghibli about it’s art style and music. The UK voice acting comes across as appropriately goofy and earnest, which lends the game a humble charm that juxtaposes beautifully with the grand melodramatic landscapes. What I’m trying to say is that it’s really great and you should play it.