Say you have several groups of good friends. Work friends, neighbourhood friends, online friends; each group great in their own way. You throw a shindig to get them all together. Why? It doesn’t matter, as long as everybody gets together and has a good time. That’s Project X Zone 2.
Top GIF from the Japanese version of the game, because I stole it from Richard.
It’s also the original Project X Zone, for that matter. The 2012 tactical role-playing game brought together characters from Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom in a flashy, funny, almost completely nonsensical battle for the fate of all realities. I’m guessing the same thing is happening in the sequel? I’m several hours into last week’s 3DS release and I’ve no idea. And I don’t really care. I just want to see three generations of Tekken’s Mishima clan arguing about which one of them is going to kill the other two while Morrigan from Darkstalkers summons Phoenix Wright to attack demons.
I’ve exactly the same feelings for Project X Zone 2 as I did for the first, which makes sense as not a whole lot has changed. The cross-dimensional storyline, as many excuses to bring together characters from different intellectual properties, doesn’t make much sense. There are gold chains popping up in various places, dimensional rifts are appearing in the world. Characters from different dimensions and time periods are hanging out together, now and then kicking the arse of enemies of similar origin.
It’s not the game’s narrative that’s important here. It’s the interactions between characters who shouldn’t be interacting. It’s “What would happen if Goro Majima from the Yakuza series met Morrigan and Demitri from Darkstalkers?”
It’s obvious from the start of the game that Project X Zone 2 is built around these quirky character interactions. An early stage features every ninja in the game’s roster, from Strider to Virtua Fighter‘s Kage-Maru. They just keep popping out of this dimensional gate and talking about time nonsense and it’s a beautiful moment. It’s one of many, so far.
There are new characters and fresh interactions, but otherwise not a lot has changed. Combat is still an each timed-button pressing affair with plenty of opportunities to pile on with support characters. I will say that playing on a New 3DS is recommended, as the 3D effects during fights are quite lovely, with layers upon layers of spectacular sprites doing incredible things.
Let’s see, what else is new?
Nintendo joins the fray this time around, with a pair of Fire Emblem Awakening characters (and one from Xenoblade) making this the easiest Fire Emblem game ever.
If seeing these displaced characters interacting fills you with joy, then this is a game worth playing. Without those moments Project X Zone 2 would be a relatively easy, mildly boring tactical role-playing game with a stupid plot. If you want depth, there might be another 3DS game coming out soon that’s more your speed. If you want goofiness and spectacle, then welcome to the party.
Comments
7 responses to “Project X Zone 2 Is A Stupid Fun Party With All Of Your Friends”
It’s so amazing, I’m glad this franchise is a thing.
I love the explanation they give to how Phoenix Wright can contribute in this game. Magic everywhere! Plus they’ve really made the battle animations much better this time around.
I’m still unsure of the combat system on this game ? it appears to be similar to the original tales of phantasia (side scroller action) but at times looks like a turn based FF system ?
Can someone confirm ?
It’s got a grid based “tactical” system which allows you to position your units and pair them up for support during combat though it’s mostly just “move to enemy and attack”. You get a few resource (basically MP accrued as you fight or through items) based options when an enemy attacks to mitigate or counter damage but it’s mostly just for setting up your combos.
Combat itself is a simpler TOP style combat system whereby you get up to four attacks that you pop off in a sequence and with a little bit of timing you can do more damage and keep the combo going. You can also earn a couple of extra attacks and you have a super attack that uses the game’s equivalent to MP if you have enough. You also have support characters that can let you do cross attacks (A damage multiplier) and if you were near someone on the grid then they can also be called in. It’s all timing based and can get pretty crazy like a Marvel vs. Capcom match.
it just looks so much like the first one which even though there was so much joy from all the different franchises, just got really grindy and samey 1/2 through, the only thing that actually kept me going in the first game was to see who else i could unlock and use. but even that got stale. its sitting unfinished in my shelf and i have no desire to go back to it. if there were some more RPG elements in tuning the characters, it would be more enjoyable. but im gonna pass on X zone 2 unless someone can convince me its vastly different form the first.
I had the same problem. I got halfway through and thought “Surely it must be wrapping up soon right?” A quick flick through a chapter list online later and “No.” says the game, “You get another 20 – 30 hours of endless enemies and a combat system that isn’t complex enough to make that interesting.” It was a great idea but battles are far too long for me to stay interested.
I disagree. There’s no development, no reason to care about the character beyond fan service. I could have saved money by getting Project X Zone 1 as this is just refried bootay!