The wait is over!….Kinda. While you may not be able to get your hands on the full game yet, the Project X Zone demo is finally in the North American 3DS E-Shop. I gotta say, playing the demo makes me want to play the full version even more! It’s fun to see the Sega, Capcom and Bandai characters interacting. Even Opa-Opa and Space Harrier make a cameo! As far as Sega franchises represented in the demo go, you’ll see characters from Sakura Wars, Valkyria Chronicles 3 and Space Channel 5. The game itself is a grid based turn style RPG with cool, interactive attacks including Marvel vs. Capcom-like 3rd character support. While the game is translated into English text, the voices are purely Japanese. But heck, a lot of folks like it that way.
Note this is demo A. Which means, like Europe, a second demo should be coming soon.
Project X Zone will be available in American stores on June 25th.
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It was pretty cool! Though I really wish there was a proper tutorial.
After playing around with the Project X Zone demo for a few moments, here were my thoughts…Sega, Namco, and Capcom represent 3 of the top 5 or 6 developers of the Arcade, 8-bit & 16-bit eras. Listen to just some of their legendary titles: Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Mega Man, Strider, Final Fight, and Street Fighter.
There are 2 things all those games have in common: action and excitement. So what happens when these 3 titanic masters of action and excitement come together for one game? We get a game in arguably the slowest, least exciting genre in the history of gaming: turn-based RPG.
I could hardly contain myself as I moved a statue-like character across a grid towards a statue-like villain. Then, I was even more blown away to discover that once I engaged one of these villains, I was transported to a dimension where every single attack is mapped to a single button and the villain does not respond to any of them.
Adding to my amazement, was the fact that most of the game is wrapped up in a graphical package that could’ve been accomplished on the Game Boy Color. Honestly, I can think of a few GBC games that were look-wise, though not color-wise, superior to this game.
And to top it all off, maybe a whole 8-10% of the huge cast of characters will be recognizable to a Western gamer who was playing these companies’ games during their prime years back in the 80s & 90s. These unfamiliar characters make the nonsensical story even more enjoyable, if you can believe it.
I need E3 to arrive quickly and bearing many new titles so my faith in modern gaming can be restored
There are legitimate gameplay complaints but the graphics ones I don’t understand at all.
In any case, the triumvirate of Sega, Namco Bandai and Capcom sit on tons of amazing franchises. Project X Zone is fine but isn’t enough for me; I need to see these three companies meet again.
I never say things that are unfair, though I sometimes say things that are unclear. My complaints about Project X Zone’s graphics are more to do with design choices than the graphics themselves. The up-close “fighting” segments have very pretty looking sprites and mesmerizing light effects. But that is only a small part of the game. The grid-based overworld is done in an isometric perspective with undetailed, 8-bit looking characters. It’s caught somewhere between retro and modern and it just doesn’t look very good.
What would fans REALLY want to see from a collaboration like this? I can only speak for Western gamers, but I believe a turn-based RPG with mindless, one-button attacks would be at the very bottom of the list. My #1 choice would be a 32-bit side-scrolling adventure that incorporated these titans’ vast army of characters in various ways. Or a fully 3D Mega Man Legends-type game. I’d have even taken a casual Animal Crossing-like, everyday life sim game. I’d mention a fighting game, but with crossover fighters like SSB and PSASBR coming out around the same time, that would’ve stirred up too much controversy.
It’s true that life is short. And a measurable chunk of ours was used up on this dream collaboration that could’ve been so much more. But it’s also true that tomorrow always brings the promise of greater things. And by tomorrow, I mean a week from now in L.A.
The sprites lack detail, or at least could be more fleshed out, but the animation on them is very good. The model representation on teams in the overworld actually looks good IMO, and makes sense conceptually–somewhat chibi looking marker to represent the team. I just don’t like the in-battle sprite art, and the art indicator for the teams (the picture displayed next to the name of a team) as much.
As far as what I would have wanted, I would’ve taken:
-this game, but with a much more fleshed out battle system. I love the team concept in theory, but it’s extremely restricting when coming up with attacks and it impacted the flexibility of the battle system.
-a fighting game, possibly featuring single combatants or teams of two at max (i.e. Marvel Vs Capcom 1)
A traditional adventure RPG would not work featuring three companies because there are too many franchises to represent, it will inevitably cause disappointment. It’s possible to do an RPG featuring characters from one company, but at best you could probably get 5 or 6 characters per company without the game feeling bloated and already creating issues with balance and moveset diversity.
A side-scroller, in of itself, would struggle to get traction as a crossover IMO, as much as I don’t mind it. Think of it like my response to this game: I don’t mind that it was an SRPG but I realize that not a lot of people are into it. I would probably try out this side scroller but it may feel limited. Your Mega Man Legends styled game sounds very interesting however. 3D roaming gives a bigger sense of freedom and more opportunity for characters to be distinguished, and catered to their abilities. God Eater, Soul Calibur characters would probably suffer in a 2D context.
I do think that this concept of bringing together Namco Bandai, Sega, and Capcom needs to be revisited again.