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| See the game in action with my Project X Zone Review |

Although fine dining is nice to have once in a while, there are times when yours truly yearns for a good all-you-can-eat buffet featuring a bevy of dishes. The same can be said about the video game industry, where cross-game mashups fill the role of the gluttonous gaming smorgasbord. I remember playing one such game in 2005, when I managed to snag a copy of Namco X Capcom (with the “X” pronounced as “Cross”) for the Playstation 2 during a trip to Japan.


With characters from series such as Tekken, Street Fighter, Xenosaga and Mega Man, the game was a veritable plate filled with gaming delicacies that might not necessarily go together but generously filled your tummy nonetheless.

Fast forward to the present and we now have a follow up via Nintendo’s 3DS system, Project X Zone. This time, the game sweetens up the pot by also throwing in characters from Sega games, including Fighting Vipers and one of my all-time favorites, the Sakura Wars series. With about 60 or so usable protagonists and more than 200 characters overall, Project X Zone is a veritable love letter to otakus and fans of Japanese gaming IPs. Of course, whether or not you’re one of those fanboys who ends up loving this game or not rests on your gaming palate. For starters, you’ll need to love Japanese role-playing games and not just any JRPG mind you. As a tactical or strategy RPG, Project X Zone shares more with titles such as Fire Emblem: Awakening or Super Robots Wars than, say, dungeon crawlers such as Etrian Odyssey IV or late ’90s- to early 2000s-style JRPGs such as Tales of the Abyss.

That means moving your characters on isometric panels on the field and then playing out one-on-one battles between units. Unlike Fire Emblem or Super Robot Wars, however, Project X Zone opts for more interactive one-on-one battles that play out like a mini-fighting game. Like its predecessor, Namco X Capcom, the game requires players to input a limited number of button combinations that can be chained to build your XP meter and pull off flashy super moves. In addition to the unique moves for each two-man unit, you can also add support moves via a third “solo” unit that can be attached to any team as well as other units in the field you’re in close proximity to. This results in over-the-top, multi-hit smackdowns that can be awesome, hilarious or both. Typically, you’ll also want to time your combos so they juggle enemies and link into multiple continuous hits that raise the amount of experience you get. Exceptions are for enemies that use a shield — sometimes you’ll want to break your combo and make them land on the ground in order to get extra items. Items can also be acquired by accessing breakable stashes in the field and range from healing potions to equippable goodies that raise your stats. As with Super Robots Wars, each unit also has skills that help in battle, whether it be healing oneself, preventing counter attacks or raising the experience earned from defeated enemies.

All that being said, Project X Zone isn’t for everyone. For starters, the gameplay can feel quite repetitive. Like the Dynasty Warriors series, Project X Zone is a game that’s based on mastering one gaming mechanic and pretty much doing it over and over and over. Then for good measure, you do the whole thing all over again. This may be fine for old-school gamers but can get boring real quick for folks who aren’t into this type of gameplay. The second biggest issue is story. Like the mashup storyline of Super Robot Wars, the tale supporting Project X Zone doesn’t make the most sense and is pretty much at its best when channeling its characters’ humorous personalities or habits. Then again, nobody I know who plays these kinds of games — including my Japanese buddies — play them for story. Instead, it’s all about the opportunity to play as beloved characters who may not meet otherwise.

In short, if you need an explanation as to why its fans love this kind of title, then Project X Zone likely isn’t for you. But if you love old-school games, wonderfully animated 2D sprites and are pretty much an otaku at heart, then Project X Zone is the perfect dish for feeding that fanboy hunger.

FINAL RATING: 4 stars out of 5

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Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.