Project X Zone 2

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Project X Zone 2, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2016, is actually the third game in a series that follows the Japan-only PlayStation 2 game Namco X Capcom, as well as the series’ second title, Project X Zone, also on Nintendo 3DS. Like the prior game, this is a Turn-Based Strategy-RPG that brings various Namco Bandai, Capcom, and Sega characters together in a fanservice-heavy crossover game, with this entry in the series following the prior game’s plot, changing up the character roster, and even adding in a few Nintendo characters from the Fire Emblem and Xenoblade franchises.

As before, the fanservice is a large part of the attraction to the game here, and if you’re not delighted by the idea of Chun Li and Xiaoyu from Street Fighter and Tekken being supported by Ryo from Shenmue while tag-teaming enemies with Chrom and Lucina from Fire Emblem… well, if that doesn’t interest you, then this game may not be for you. Of course, as with any formula like this, your mileage may vary based on just how many of these game franchises and their characters you’re familiar with.

Once again, the story here is absurd and difficult to take seriously, centering on multi-dimensional portals that enable the game’s multi-franchise crossover to even be possible. One early conversation involving seemingly every ninja in each game company’s backlog highlights just how absurd this game’s premise is, and how it’s clearly an excuse to have a setpiece battle where Strider Hiryu teams up with Shinobi’s Hotsuma, Nightshade’s Hibana, Soul Calibur’s Natsu, and Virtua Fighter’s Kage-Maru to fight Strider villain Solo and an army of mook ninjas. But of course they first have to work out how they all may somehow know of each other and what time they all belong to and whether they can trust one another and… ugh. So much time spent with the game’s mediocre fanfic-style story when it’s pretty clear the audience for this game just wants to get to the fighting team-up action.

Also in line with the prior game, the visuals here use fairly simple 3D graphics with fairly well-animated 2D images for the various characters, with an anime-style opening video and animated cutscenes during special attacks. It’s nothing impressive, but it gets the job done. Likewise, the action is backed by synthesized music, much of it derived from the themes of the various games these characters hail from. Again, nothing truly excellent, but it all fits well enough. Finally, much of the dialogue is voiced (in Japanese), which also works well enough.

As with everything else here, the gameplay hasn’t changed much from the previous game either. It’s still too linear, it still features a Turn-Based Strategy-RPG gameplay with a fighting game-inspired combat system that’s both needlessly confusing and also somewhat shallow, focusing on massive combos using multiple characters.

That’s not to say there are no improvements here – players can now decide the order they move their characters rather than being pushed to use them in a predetermined order, attacks are enhanced based on the direction the enemy is facing, there’s a new Fighting Game-style “cancel” that can be used to get even more hits in in battle, and a few other minor changes here and there. The interface is also more traditional (and as such, easier to read), and the player’s introduction to the game’s various mechanics is much clearer this time around too.

In the end, Project X Zone 2 is an improvement over the previous game, but it is a marginal improvement, and one that still has many of the prior game’s issues. This is a Strategy-RPG that you will likely enjoy if you love the characters featured in the game, but otherwise one you may want to skip in favor of other better Strategy-RPG titles available to you. Project X Zone 2 is still a decent Strategy-RPG, but it’s not a truly great one.

tl;dr – Project X Zone 2 is a Strategy-RPG that combines various characters from popular Capcom, Namco Bandai, Sega, and Nintendo franchises. There are multiple small gameplay improvements throughout this game, but overall it suffers from many of the same issues that held back its predecessor – namely, a terrible contrived story, and shallow and chaotic gameplay. It’s still a decent entry in the genre, but with so many better options in the genre, your main reason for getting this is because of the characters, not the gameplay.

Grade: C+

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