Project X Zone 2 Review

Most crossover games exist as fighting games, with Capcom alone having its world famous Marvel VS Capcom series and one offs like Street Fighter X Tekken pitting opposing casts against each other. Namco’s X series was kicked off with Namco X Capcom and later followed up by the first Project X Zone, which added characters from various SEGA products.

Project X Zone 2 initially takes place after the events of the previous game, but before long the plotline carries you through rifts, fractures, and sign portals into new worlds. The story transcending its universes space and time and jumps between the past, the future, gameworlds, and cyberspace.

Golden chains appear to be connecting these different places together, and when the Shinra agents Reiji and Xiaomu begin to investigate, they find that M.Bison of Street Fighter has teamed up with Shinra rivals Ouma. Project X Zone 2 establishes that games like Resident Evil, Yakuza, Tekken, Ace Attorney, and a whole many more, all take place in the same Japan, the same Earth, and goes from there - Phoenix Wright is in Kamurocho to defend Heihachi Mishima in court when the pair bump into Kazuma and Majima, before they all get jumped by B.O.Ws, only to be saved by Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine at the last moment. It’s absolute fanservice nonsense, and it’s great - even if it does sound like the sort of game you and your friends made up in the playground when you were 12.

The story is actually a bit of a joke. M.Bison and Ouma will turn up every once in awhile to remind you that they are up to something nefarious - and that you’re yet another step closer to finding out their plan - but for the most part your unlikely crew is travelling from place to place, game to game, “accidentally” recruiting new members as you try to track down the source of the gold chains. It was the intrigue behind who I’m going to meet next and where we’ll find them that was driving me through the game, more than the story. Arriving at a new location and thinking “Aha! This is the island from Devil May Cry, so Dante’s going to be here!” or “I don’t know this place… Wait, isn’t that the guy from the boxart of… what was it called? Resonance of Fate?” is a lot more fun than it sounds.

Like the games before it, Project X Zone 2 is a tactical RPG in the vein of Fire Emblem and Disgaea. Characters are split into pair (Ryu and Ken) and solo (Axel Stone) roles, which can be mixed and matched to form different trios between battles. How you approach an enemy on the grid is important, as which side you attack it from changes how much bonus damage you deal, and the same goes for them attacking you. By positioning your little groups next to each other or diagonal, you can call one in a support attack when attacking an enemy with the other, but thankfully - with the obscene number of enemies on screen in battles in the tail end of the game - this tactic can’t be used against you.

When attacking an enemy, the game transitions from the isometric grid to a 2D battle screen. Here, you’ll see your pair facing off against your enemy, with button prompts in the corner with the faces of your selected solo teammate and anyone available for support. Rather than mashing punch and kick buttons or just selecting which weapon you want to swing with, you select a named string of moves relating to those characters. The final hit will either launch them skyward or away from you, where they’ll bounce off a wall and spring back towards you. Here’s the interesting part - the entire system is based around juggling.

Each time you initiate combat, you can use three attacks before the game returns to the tactical view. You can use the basic attack string three times, or mix it up as you unlock more moves when you level up. These require a directional input when you push the attack button, and can only be used once per fight; any directional attacks not used in a fight will be more powerful in the next, so choosing to save them is wise. It’s possible to land critical hits by catching an enemy with a new string the moment before they hit the ground. Support and solo attacks allow you to extend your combos, and deal more damage. The XP bar fills up as you land hits, with criticals filling it faster, and when you hit 100% you can unleash a flashy special move (that can also crit if timed correctly).

Outside of combat, there isn’t much else to do in Project X Zone 2. You’re taken to an intermission screen between chapters where you can buy items from shopkeepers that change throughout the game, upgrade attacks, practice in a training mode, or read through the Crosspedia to find out just who the hell Captain Commando or the android KOS-MOS is.

When everything clicks, pulling off three digit combos becomes the norm. That little 3DS screen lights up with sword slashes, bullets, fireballs, and laser beams on a regular basis. Little details too, like Kazuma and Majima’s special attack ending with a kick like the Japanese box art of Yakuza, or the ink splashes during Ryu and Ken’s referencing the art design of Street Fighter IV, are wonderful.

The eye popping fights are one thing, the art in Project X Zone 2 really is stunning. Every character is displayed as a 2D sprite, but the attention to detail and the quality of the artwork combined with 3D backgrounds often hides it. The camera will swing around during battle, the sprites “turning” as it goes, and it amazes me that they aren’t typically animated models. But while each character looks the way they should, they don’t always feel like they should.

With a cast so big, and Project X Zone 2 not being written by each game's original writer, they all sort of blend into one. Save for a couple of characters with distinct turns of phrase and the odd reference to past events, everyone is interchangeable during the conversations. The writing we do have here is always comedic, but aimed towards children or young adults. It often feels like every other line is an innuendo or a blatant dirty comment, typically towards the female characters - I never want to hear the term “bunker-busters” again. Conversations are always on the long side too, with seemingly every character needing to get a word in, and this can grow tedious fast.

Project X Zone 2 holds its roster ahead of its gameplay, pushing you to see who’s around the next corner. The appeal of this game won’t come from the intricacies of the fighting as little has changed since the original Namco X Capcom on the PlayStation 2. The combat is quite fun once you get the hang of the timing, but being the only interactive part of the game, Project X Zone 2 can feel lacking - especially if the conversations start to rub you the wrong way. As a newcomer, I enjoyed the many hours I spent juggling demons and robots between boob jokes, but veterans may be disappointed by the lack of changes.