Review by Gianluca “DottorKillex” Arena
A direct follow-up to what is considered by many to be the manifesto of how to make a title based on fan service, Project X Zone 2 arrives, like its predecessor, exclusively on Nintendo 3DS, expanding the already exaggerated roster of superstars from the most popular franchises. famous by Sega, Capcom and Bandai Namco (with a sprinkle of Nintendo, this time) and refines the role-playing mechanics, in an attempt to repeat the unexpected success that the first chapter received in the West two and a half years ago.
How far has the restyling carried out by the guys from Monolith Software gone?
Mixed salad
If the prequel had already signaled itself for a bizarre plot, which kept the large cast of characters together with great difficulty, this time things have not improved too much, although the dialogues between the heroes (and the anti-heroes) are decidedly more accurate: it will be the subtitling española, will be the commitment of the writers of Monolith Software, but I found many of the curtains, introductory and otherwise, tastier than in the past.
If you take a step back, however, and try to analyze the plot as a whole, the results are far from satisfactory: having said that we would not want to find ourselves in the shoes of the development team, forced to invent a story from scratch. that there may be a semblance of credibility, the recourse to temporal tears and the eternal conflict between the two megacorporations of Shinra (the good ones) and Ouma (the bad ones) starts to feel a bit stale.
On the other hand, the temporal paradoxes seem the only plausible justification for a cross over that includes dozens of characters (the milestone of one hundred is not too far) from different sagas, and often very distant as the date of publication. Project X Zone 2, however, manages to be forgiven if you look at the roster: nowhere else will you be able to witness a dialogue between Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza), Morrigan (Darkstalkers) Alex Kidd (Alex Kidd in Miracle World), Dante (Devil May Cry) and Heihachi Mishima (Tekken).
And that is enough for you.
Pros and cons of the past
The changes made to the fights did not affect the critical fields, except that concerning the duration of certain battles, frankly exaggerated, especially on a portable console: now the enemy reinforcements, however present, do not flood the screen just when you thought of being the winners of a skirmish, and the average duration of the fights benefited.
For the rest, the strengths and weaknesses of the production remain substantially unchanged compared to the previous chapter: if, on the one hand, aspects such as the management of troops between one map and the other have been improved, the possibility of hitting enemies from the side or from behind to inflict greater damage or to keep the most powerful moves for the toughest opponents, through a system that enhances them when they are not used, on the other hand the tactical depth remains even lower than the average of the strategic role-playing games present on 3DS.
The biggest knot, then, not only hasn't come to a head, but has become even more tangled: I'm talking about the difficulty of the game, already very accommodating previously and here further lowered due to the new moves available to the player, who will have something to worry about only during the last two missions.
The intention of the development team, probably, was to produce an SRPG that would break down the entry barriers that discourage newbies, so as to widen the public from a niche of enthusiasts to a much wider slice: in this perspective, Project X Zone 2 can be said to be a success, but those who have tried their hand at similar games for some time will find a minimum of challenge only when the game is over, embarking on the New Game Plus mode.
The style of play makes the product attractive even (if not above all) to lovers of two-dimensional fighting games, which should be numerous among the fans of the three publishers represented in the game: the phases of engagement of the enemy, based on combos, juggling and combinations of Keys are not only back, but they have increased in number, offering an even wider roster of lethal sequences for hapless foes.
At the end of the day, therefore, the latest Monolith effort is aimed at three very specific targets: the neophytes of the genre, who will find us an excellent entry point in the genre, the fans of the series involved, who will feel in an otaku paradise, and those who like two-dimensional fighting games, who might appreciate the variant on the theme and the very bizarre story, in some ways similar to the one that accompanies many beat'em'ups.
Visual improvements
Nothing to say regarding the graphic restyling of the game, evidently improved compared to the predecessor: despite the visualization of the encounters with an isometric view it does not scream a miracle, once the enemy has been engaged, the definition and the set of animations of the two-dimensional sprites are excellent invoice, as well as the cutscenes between combos and when the third party character is called into action.
In short, we see that the three houses represented have made the history of video games (especially in two dimensions), and Monolith was good at paying homage to them and giving homogeneity to a cast that includes characters from very different sagas, which debuted in videogame eras light years away.
The amount of content is, once again, exorbitant, if it is true that the main campaign takes several tens of hours and that, once at the bottom, the New Game Plus is unlocked, the only one to offer an ounce of challenge for the players. savvy users.
Final gloss for the soundtrack, which recycles motifs already heard but also adds many new ones (in addition to all those of the corresponding sagas), and for the dubbing, in the original language with subtitles in español, reflecting the great attention of the publisher towards the our market, which rewarded the 2013 chapter with good sales.
Final comment
The fun that springs from Project X Zone 2 is largely due to a stellar cast, very well-kept dialogues full of references to the otaku culture and a combat system that chooses the path of simplicity of approach and spectacularity, at the expense of depth and level of challenge.
To the picture must be added a very good technical component and subtitles in español, always welcome.
Under these conditions, the latest Monolith effort is worth the purchase price, thanks also to a generous amount of content: only, do not wait to find yourself in front of a valid alternative to Fire Emblem in terms of game dynamics and tactical virtuosity.
