Project X Zone 2 takes place a short while after the last game where we are introduced to our two new starter heroes. Reiji Arisu and Xiamou who are both part of the Shinra, a special unit directly affiliated with the government and created to deal with supernatural phenomena, monsters and such. After we discover that Ouma, an organisation that Shinra has stopped several times in the past is causing problems, Reiji and Xiamou make it their mission to stop them and along the way, come across more than a few familiar faces.
The story progresses in stages where you have characters conversing about a subject, enemies appear and then those who were initially against each other will team up, for example; Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin, the very dysfunctional Mishima family. Once the map is cleared of enemies, you are given time to save, buy items such as health and weapons from the shop, and make any customisations to the characters you have.
It’s a game where it basically puts together characters from different games and tries to tie them all together to make one universe that makes complete sense. You can expect characters from big franchises such as Capcom’s Resident Evil, Street Fighter and Mega man; Nintendo’s Fire Emblem and Xenoblade Chronicles; Bandai Namco’s Tekken and Tales of Vesperia or Sega’s Space Channel 5, Shenmue and Shinobi series making for one diverse cast of personalities. There are even more than those I’ve mentioned, some which you will see during the opening intro and some you will come across as you play the game.
The gameplay is turn based and consists of you strategically taking down the opposing force as efficiently as possible. Each character has their own strengths and these can be further customised in the main menu with items collected during the story. Some characters differ not only in their customisations, but also how much area they can cover in one turn. In most cases, you can attack the enemy from a reasonable distance, however for some you need to get up close before initiating an attack. Another interesting mechanic is being able to team up to create stronger attacks and this is done by attacking an enemy with a team mate close by. What this allows you to do is call on that team mate during the attack phase to squeeze out that extra damage, something I found very useful; especially when going up against those with a high amount of HP.
Depending on who you are controlling, you have a couple of options when it comes to advancing on the enemy. In regular RPG’s, attacking from behind will always cause the most damage and if you can do it, definitely go for it however watch out for it yourself.
I never got the chance to play the previous game, however after playing Project X Zone 2; I’m actually upset at myself for having missed it. I enjoy games that make me want to think and this has that in bundles. Luckily the events they mention from other games I’ve actually played, so it was pretty cool to see how the other characters fitted together into that one universe. One thing I will mention is that it didn’t feel seem too difficult to out think the enemy and in most cases I would just need to split the team apart and bring it back together to take down the boss.
If you like the idea of having some of your favourite characters, fighting and talking to each other; something that would never usually happen, then yes Project X Zone 2 is for you. As far as this game is concerned, it is one shared universe. If you enjoy turn based combat on top of that, well what are you waiting for?
