XCOM 2 (4K/UltraWide/Steam Controller) - PC Master Race Reality Check
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Michael checks his PC Master Race Reality Checklist turn by turn in order to get to know, wether Firaxis delivered a worthy PC exclusive XCOM.
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Picture of the Steam Controller profile: http://i.imgur.com/zBsItXD.png
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Script:
It’s time for a new PC Master Race Reality Check. This one is interesting, because Firaxis moved the XCOM-series from being console centric to a PC exclusive for the time being. But did they think about 4K, ultra wide aspect ratios, the right controls, or the Steam Controller? Let’s find out and turn to XCOM 2.
The game is running quite well in UHD/4K at maximum detail settings on our test system. The only thing we recommend is dialing down the anti aliasing which will be predefined at a very demanding 8 times MSAA cutting framerates by half or more. With graphics cards like the GTX 970 or the R9 390 the high setting at 1440p sets the bar for playable framerates.
By enabling Framerate Smoothing players are getting a nice option to balance out fps-spikes. It locks the maximum frames per second close to the current refresh rate of the monitor, for example at 60 or 144.
We find that a framerate of 45 should be a minimum for a precise feeling for mouse inputs. As we are looking at a turn based strategy game here and not a twitch shooter playing the game in 90fps and beyond on a 144Hz monitor is nice but far from necessary.
The game is running on a highly modified version of the Unreal Engine 3.5 and is very adaptable. The differences between the minimal and the maximum settings are easily visible. On our test system framerates from 15 to 150 were possible depending on the graphical details. Changing any of the settings does not require a restart of the game and the higher resolution textures are streaming in realtime.
The ultra wide support for the game is pretty much bare bones. Story sequences are only available as 16:9 videos, so they will have black borders on the sides. The different field of view does not add much to the playing experience, it might even get into the way of spotting important information around the characters.
The PC was the primary development platform for XCOM 2. That’s why Firaxis didn’t include Controller support this time around for classic Gamepads. Although the new more complex controls with mouse and keyboard work very well and much better than in the first XCOM, we would have liked to see them including the traditional controls as well. Especially as the game still relies on turning the camera around in 45 degree angles without any form of a free mouse look.
That’s why we had to rely on the Steam Controller exclusively for playing on our couch. As of now Firaxis doesn’t deliver an official profile which is unfortunate to see, as their support had been pretty good for Civilization 5. It doesn’t take too long though to configure a personalized profile thats working quite well for the game. Especially looking around the map is easy and fun with the steam controller. Don’t forget to map the first 8 keyboard numbers to your action buttons though.
And there you have it. All in all XCOM 2 is a solid experience on the PC. As long as you own a Steam Controller you can even have a good time on the couch with it. We presume most of us will stick to the mouse and keyboard combo for this one though as the complexity ramps up rather quickly. Ah, and just in case you didn’t know: Unlike its predecessor, XCOM 2 is installed along the UDK and the creators level editor for full mod support. We are already looking forward to checking out the steam workshop on a regular basis in 2016 for this one.
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