That�s... that�s Tron and Frank West and Hsien-Ko beating the hell out of a Reaverbot.
I suppose I shouldn�t be that shocked, since... well, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 exists and allows
almost that very scene to play out. But... then it�s a Tactical RPG. And I�m not
shocked by that, either, as the 3DS has quickly become the bastion of my favorite genre. But...
then, Vashyron from Resonance of Fate launches a support attack up and over Haken and Kaguya
from Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier, before being further supported by Dante and
Demitri, and it stops being a tactical RPG and becomes some kinda weird juggle-centric
action crazyness. And, permeating it all, a thick layer of metacontextual hijinks, callbacks,
and nerdy references. I�d call it TJ�s Brain: the Game, but that�d also include
copping to a level of creepy euphemism-laden ogling typically reserved for bad harem comedies.
I realize this would normally be Strange Anime License Friday... but considering that we�re
blending, by my count, no fewer than 13 franchises with anime components in some form or another,
I think it qualifies.
Much like its 2006 Japan-only predecessor Namco X Capcom, everything in damn near every
franchise in three of the world�s largest publishers has gone wibbly-wobbly. Interdimensional
rifts are popping up everywhere, leading to folks getting lost in the Willamette Mall
or Makaimura when they were tryin� to get to Roppongi or Shibuya. Man. Between this,
Devil Survivor, and The World Ends With You, anyone would be justified in avoiding Tokyo
at all costs. Our obligatory original-IP characters, vis this detective ninja dude and his combat-cheerleader
pupil, investigate the disturbance and cross paths with hero after displaced hero, searching
for a fix to the madness and a way back home. But �Back Home� usually means �through
a field of villains,� in this case the chaos-propagating Ouma syndicate and their hordes of chumps.
And when I say hordes, I MEAN IT. Some battles put you up against around fifty enemy units,
with more - and potentially a drastic shift in objective - coming partway through the
skirmish. You can spend well over an hour on each fight, just sawing through foes. But
it�s not just point, click, damage, next... there�s action to be done.
Yes, instead of just swinging a sword or shooting a gun, you�re getting in there and beatin�
crap up on a more intimate level. Each of your units on the map is actually a pair of
fighters, supported by a third character equipped to that unit and, potentially, an adjacent
ally-pair. Once battle begins, your goal is to dish out as much damage as possible, by
combining your standard techniques (controlled by a directional input plus the A button)
with your ally calls (on the L and R triggers) to juggle the bejeezus out of whatever you�re
fighting. Each hit charges your XP gauge (not to be confused with EXP, though it usually
is); hit Y when it�s at 100% or better and shit gets REALLY shiny. (And in 3D, to boot!)
Your success in battle is entirely based on your timing, as well as the synergy in attack
location between all parties taking place in the affair. Fortunately, rather than just
going by happenstance, your intermission status screen offers a combat simulator against a
customizable opponent, so you can experiment and find optimally synergistic combinations
without having to enter a 90-minute slobberknocker.
Project X Zone is by no means an �accessible� game. You need to have a solid grasp of timing
and the patience to mow through a whole tomb of zombies in one crack (until some scantily-clad
hellion shows up and drops even more in your lap). You need a fairly high tolerance for
sexual innuendo and/or exploitative camera angles and poses, �cuz... well, Morrigan�s
in the game, and she�s rather tame by comparison to most. An encyclopedic knowledge of most
or all of these franchises helps, but even then there are many references made to events
in Namco X Capcom, like how Tron gained familiarity with the science of the Xenosaga series. But
it somehow manages to be goofy, and thoroughly entertaining, while introducing a hardcore
action element to the tactical RPG genre. My only piddling gripes are the exclusion
of certain characters, made all the egregious by the size of the final roster anyway (or
just because I wanted a Klonoa/Sonic team), as well as the rather shallow difficulty curve
if you�ve got any experience in tactical or fighting gaming. These go alongside my
primary gripe, that I�m now forced to acknowledge a post-Camelot Shining Force game. And frankly,
I think it�s worth it.