Project X Zone can offer some solid fan service but the lack of much strategy and story interruptions hamper the expe...
Game Title: Project X Zone
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Monolith Soft, Banpresto
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Genre: Tactical Role Playing Game
Age Rating: Cero: B, ESRB: T for Teen, PEGI: 12+
Release Date: October 12th 2012 (Japan), June 25th 2013 (North America), July 4th 2013 (Australia), July 5th 2013 (Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 7.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
Project X Zone can offer some solid fan service but the lack of much strategy and story interruptions hamper the experience of a solid crossover.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capcom is well known for being involved in the crossover business in video games, from being with the fighting games with Marvel, SNK and Tatsunoko characters to having a duel with Namco's Tekken series. However Japanese devloper Monolith Soft worked on a Tactical RPG for the PlayStation 2 called Namco X Capcom. It brought together heroes from both universes and sadly it was never released outside Japan, at least an unoffical english fan translation has been done for it by TransGen for fans to play. Monolith Soft returns to devlop the next crossover title with not only Namco Bandai and Capcom, but with Sega as well for Project X Zone for the Nintendo 3DS which is a sequal to Namco X Capcom. The title made some great first impressions that can offer some solid fan service.
Project X Zone begins as it cast of reconizable or not heroes being pulled into different worlds via dimensional rifts that leaves each character saying, "What in the Hell just happend and how did they end up here." That's mostly how the plot of the game goes at least for the most part aside from some mystery behind some crystal artifact. The storyline does get in the way of the action constantly when there's characters who just want to place their line in the conversion before a boss says to get on the battles already, however this what I could possibly expect from a crossover game with plenty of characters.
Project X Zone of course features over 50 characters from Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom through 29 game franchises like Street Fighter, Megaman, Virtua Fighter, Resident Evil, Sakura Wars, Tekken, Devil May Cry, Valkyria Chonricles, Tales of Vesperia and many more.
The gameplay in Project X Zone plays much like the Fire Emblem games but mostly like it's PlayStation 2 counterpart but with some improvements to it. It's a Tactical RPG where the game is controlled in a grid where you control your units around each battlefield around. On the map the bottom screen shows the turn order that it goes in while the top screen shows the main gameplay. Each unit is set into a pair of 2 characters, each unit has it's own set of battle skills and support skills that they can use.
The game itself follows as a chapter by chapter progression that starts out with a tutorial that plays during the prolouge stages of the game before you can play the main chapters. After you play through a chapter you're giving a menu where you can view and edit your units and save your progress before moving onto the next chapter. There are about 40 chapters in the game and the game will clock at about over 50 hours of gameplay. The games objectives that you'll have range from taking out all enemies on screen, reaching a spot on the map or slaying down the required enemy to advance to the next fight. As you go on with each chapter the game throws more enemies and more allies to you to stretchen the length of any battle that it needs to.
When it's one of any of your unit's turn you can control the unit around a few blocks with the D-pad or Circle pad to either engage the enemy with the A button, break serveal blocks or pieces of terrain that are in the way with the Y button. You can bring up the field menu with the X button and this allows you to change settings if you wish but most importantly use an item or skill to heal your units if they are injured or have any status effects they have or give that unit a stat or range boost if you have the XP to do so. XP is your skill system in this game and it's not to be confused with tradital experience points which levels your units up and increasing their power.
When you start a battle with the enemy the game goes into a battle screen where it uses somewhat of a fighting game style that has your selected unit going against the targetted monster. In battle you use the A button in combination with either the Circle or D-pad to do an attack while the animations just play out in realtime. Attacks can send the enemies flying and knocked into walls and also you need to time your next attack carefully to deal extra damage so it becomes more rewarding when your attacks are well timed then just button mashing. Using all the attacks in succession gains you a additional attack and also attacks build up an XP bar which allows you to use skills outside of battle and using a special attack when the bar reaches 100% to deal out mega damage that wipes out most enemies and unleash the fan service.
If any of your units are close to each other they can support you in battle with the R button and also there are solo units who will also join as well and they can be placed into any unit you have and solo units can be brought into battle with the L button. When your units, solo and support characters are fighting together a cross symbol appears on the enemy, holding it in it's position which allows for heavy damage. Both support and solo can be summoned at once which can allow for quick and chaotic battles.
When it's the enemy units turn you have a choice where you can use your XP to either defend for minimal damage, go for a full defend blocking all damage or you can go for a counter attack if successful. It works but however during the enemy's turn the game doesn't go into a battle screen which I personally find disappointing aside from a boss does a special attack on your units. Overall the battle system is the best part of the game while the overall storyine and dialouge interruptions will make you ask the game to jut get on with the fight and ask questions later.
While not the best visual overhaul from Namco X Capcom for the PS2 it's graphics almost look more like a DS game then a 3DS game. The envrioments do look cool while the sprites on the map look somewhat decent but however in battle the presentation improves alot. The sprites are more detailed and each attack looks flashy and crisp and also the game looks impressive in with the 3D effect on or off.
As for the soundtrack it consists of remixed tunes from various video games and while it's impressive some others will find it to be either better or nothing compared to their orginal. The sound effects very decent and the game only has the orginal Japanese voice track with English Subtitles. Personally after seeing gameplay clips of a different crossover title called Cross Edge it's probarbly better this way and personally this is what Namco Bandai should do with future Tales of the World titles.
There plenty of fan service to be had with Project X Zone but some of the problems tends to hold some of it back. Fans will enjoy meeting some of your favoraite characters that some people may or may not know about but as far as gameplay goes, it's probarbly better then the PS2 title but the lack of much strategy and story interruptions hamper the experience of a solid crossover.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. Several characters from 29 different video game franchises that people may or may not know about
2. Impressive combat system that offers depth and timing
3. Nice soundtrack remixes and the game looks great with the 3D effect on or off
4. Japanese voice acting with only English subtitles which is for the better
The Bad Points:
1. Storyline gets in the way of the action constantly
2. Battle screen does not appear for the enemies aside from the boss's attacks and there's little strategy involved
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------