Nintendo Switch 2 Review - It's A Switch, Too
The successor to one of Nintendo's most popular pieces of hardware is a refined, premium version of what lots of gamers already loved
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Somewhat frustratingly, the Switch 2 launched just after Nintendo introduced a new Virtual Game Card system. This is purported to streamline the method of sharing a single game across multiple consoles in your household, but the set-up process is mildly frustrating. The major use-case for sharing a game is to let my children play on the non-primary Switch, and having to fetch both Switch systems to initiate sharing was an annoying hurdle. I've also now had to unlink two Switch consoles to link my Switch 2 to another original Switch, so the options for a multi-Switch household seem limited. This is all optional, though, and you could just turn on license checks instead, if that option is a better fit for your household.
Have a chat
If Nintendo has offered one major software update as the marquee feature for Switch 2, it's GameChat. After a half-hearted effort at social hooks managed through the Nintendo mobile app on the original Switch, this represents a built-in option for talking with friends, including the theoretically whizbang option to see your friends' games in addition to hearing their voices.
While the feature looked rough in Nintendo's own debut footage, and it certainly is slightly choppy in practice, I've been pleasantly surprised with GameChat. The system-level integration means it's very quick and snappy to turn options on and off, letting you toggle any mixture of camera, microphone, and screen sharing. The Switch never felt like a very sociable console to me--and thanks to its friends list continuing to rely on Friend Codes, the Switch 2 might not either--but this is a step in the right direction. The ability to quickly start up a chat with a buddy and simply have it running in the background as we team up or even play separate games is a nice feature.
The camera functionality works well too, whether grabbing your surroundings and filtering out the background by default in the system-level chat or focusing in on your face for an icon that will follow your player around in Mario Kart World. The Screen Sharing feature lets you view up to three friends' screens simultaneously in paneled windows, letting you peek in on their progress in whatever game they're playing, even if it's not the same as yours. While certainly not clear as day, this actually ran reasonably well. After a brief several seconds where a friend's game appeared an odd, sickly green, it suddenly looked normal, and viewing it full-screen let me watch their play session in more detail. The video feed doesn't run as well as your own game running on native hardware, of course, but as a way to quickly peek in on your friends' games it actually works, even in less than ideal conditions like hotel Wi-Fi.
Along with the ease of use for toggling the various chat functions, there are also little touches that help flesh out the experience. You can use a text-to-speech function that, in my testing, worked well and captured the words on both ends of the conversation. You can highlight a game your friend is playing and hop right into its page on the Nintendo eShop, which may help discoverability.
That ease of use does make it stand out when finding small hiccups that don't work exactly the way you'd think. The GameChat menu does not shortcut to the Friends menu, so to add a new friend, you need to back out into the Home menu entirely and add a friend the way you always would--only after that are you able to invite them to a GameChat. The placement of the GameChat button is also a little confusing, since it's so close to the much-more-often-used Home button. I've definitely pressed Home when I meant to press GameChat, and vice-versa, more than once. This will probably just be a matter of adjustment, and Nintendo did make the buttons different shapes to help your fingers learn the difference, but mine haven't yet.
Switch hitter
Over the last several consoles, Nintendo has been the scrappy underdog. Its experimental approach was an apparent way to compensate for the fact that it was getting outpaced in hardware by the likes of PlayStation and Xbox. The Wii Remote controller, the 3DS's glasses-free 3D feature, and even the original Switch's hybrid console-handheld approach were all borne out of an attempt to take on the juggernauts without matching their power. But now, the Switch is one of Nintendo's most successful pieces of hardware of all time. For the first time in a long time, the rest of the industry is following Nintendo's lead--as evidenced by the emergence and growing popularity of handheld PCs and re-exploration of handheld gaming by Sony and Microsoft.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Nintendo is a little less daring this time around. The Switch 2 is fully a successor to the original Switch, with many of the same high highs and low lows of the original. It does feel like a more premium piece of hardware, and some thoughtful improvements like the magnetic Joy-Cons and GameChat are nice to have. But as always with Nintendo hardware, the real treat is Nintendo's own software. Thanks to its increased horsepower, the Nintendo Switch 2 should be able to reasonably handle high-end third-party games like Cyberpunk 2077 alongside Nintendo's exclusives like Mario Kart World. That's a major advantage that its competitors can't match, and more than reason enough to make me a happy Switch 2 owner.
This story originally appeared on: GameSpot - Author:UK GAG
