Genre: RPG
Developer: Monolith Soft
Publisher: Nintendo

The cynic will point out the obvious: the Switch can't really handle Xenoblade Chronicles 2; in handheld mode particularly, the resolution frequently drops all the way down to an astonishing 368p! But as that shock vaporizes, the fantastic scenery art, which mixes the organic with the surreal, establishes itself as the game's driving force. The over-the-top, barely-clothed, giant-breasted characters aside, the almost "Valkyria Chronicles"-like celshaded designs are perhaps the best from any JRPG ever; this reviewer almost fell over at how cool Morag is!

The hideous, Japanese-rapping-guy abomination that was Hiroyuki Sawano's "Xenoblade Chronicles X" approach has been abandoned, paving the way for the return of one of gaming music's legends, Yasunori Mitsuda. And the change mostly pays dividends; some of the tracks-- "listen, another cliched fantastical alien-like purple jungle song"-- are either forgettable entirely, or don't do much to generate mood. But then out of the blue, the player will hit areas like Mor Ardain, with music that's among the best the genre has ever produced. The game's largely UK-centric voice cast is fantastic, with Catrin-Mai Huw's (Nia) thick Welsh accent proving best of a strong group.

In many ways, the "Xenoblade Chronicles" series has always felt like "JRPG v2.0", and never moreso than here, where this reviewer was real-time blown off cliffs, had to literally run from battles to escape, and was forced to weigh between grabbing potions and dealing damage. The battle engine is the best in the entire history of JRPGs, with an eclectic and exciting, yet accessible, mix of mechanics which the player can juggle and maximize in a remarkably flexible number of ways. The only fly in the ointment is that the game's mapping feature takes some adapting to, and the series' designers insist on continuing to have absurdly high-level creates flying about, unexpectedly one-shotting the player right in the middle of some other battle.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is so good that it deserves to be mentioned in the top ten or so JRPGs of all-time-- and that's no exaggeration: the outstanding graphics direction, the best-ever battle system, gripping story, and absolutely remarkable cast of highly memorably and likeable characters are a feat. The game opens with a dreadful host of annoying side quests, including the obligatory "play hide and seek with us"-- but interestingly, that dire beginning betrays the rest of the game, which is nominally open-world but not side-quest, busy-work filled. The only real things holding the title back are due to a-- let's be honest-- dismal showing by the Switch hardware, and the fact that the game is absurdly long for anyone who has kids or a full-time job. Other than that, the Monolith Soft team has a Titan to climb if they want to top this release with a third title! And Nintendo's young Switch library has its first real gem.