see deal Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Nintendo Switch $59.99 on Gamestop

Some people don't like the art style of Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Loading

“ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 balances a mood between colorful exuberance and grimdark treachery.

Loading

Loading

“ The basics of combat are familiar and there's quite a lot of depth to it when it gets in motion.

Loading

“ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks like yet another hit for Nintendo.

In the few minutes before that moment, I might as well have been watching an expertly made anime about a young man named Rex, who ekes out his existence as a salvager on a cloud-covered sea while living on the back on dragon-like "Titan." Barely had the opening credits slipped past, and I found I already cared about the duo. For that matter, I admired the way the anime art style gave Rex's expressions a semblance of life that 3D animation still often lacks. Those opening moments were enough to prove that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is doing right by its story-based approach after the relatively unsatisfying exploration-based Xenoblade Chronicles X.If you're new and a little worried that a name like "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" suggests that you'll need to be versed in tomes' worth of dense JRPG lore to get what's going on here, don't be. Nods to the series' past abound, but this is a new story stuffed with new characters and settings, as though Nintendo were aware that the new audiences the popular Switch is bringing in might jump in cold.Never once does Xenoblade Chronicles 2 assume you already know any of this stuff, and in fact, the many tutorial messages that pop up in the first few hours can look a little daunting. It helps that they're usually written in what seems to be the same pip-pip British inflection used by Rex's English voice actor and that they come in piecemeal succession as the need arises, but there's still a lot information to process.Fortunately, this is one of those gameplay systems that looks hopefully complex when you spell it out, but makes sense quickly once you're in the thick of the action. That's especially true of the combat, which centers on a unique relationship between "Drivers" and "Blades." Essentially, Drivers are the real warriors--the members of the three-person team you bring with you into battle. Their Blades, though, are companions who are basically living weapons and allow for devastating special abilities.The basics of combat are familiar: you approach and enemy and start whaling on them with auto-attacks, which then build resources to trigger up to three "arts" (or actions) mapped to your action buttons. Positioning is important, as some skills work better depending on whether you're in front of or behind an enemy. It's a generally appealing setup that puts the action somewhere between real-time action and traditional turn-based JRPG combat.So far I see the great strength of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as being the way it skillfully combines all these exploration based elements with a story I'm eager to see through to the end. I may change my mind a bit by the time I write my full review sometime later this month, but as of right now, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks like yet another hit for Nintendo in what's become an almost supernaturally good year for the company.

Leif Johnson is a contributing editor to IGN who writes about games from a remote ranch in South Texas. You can chat him up on Twitter at @ leifjohnson