The Biggest Game Project on this Planet

Side-Log: Namco x Capcom

For the record, that little 'x' is pronounced as "cross".

Once in a while, I am actually able to do a review on a game that HASN'T been reviewed everywhere else yet, so you can consider this somewhat of an exclusive, even though the game's been released for 7 months now.

So, Namco x Capcom then. Don't you just LOVE Cross-overs?
No? Well, you're right.
Although the idea of having SNK characters fighting it out against Capcom characters was still good, and made sense in some way, it has spawned a veritable SLEW of crossover games, mostly Capcom related, and this is only one in a long long line.
First there was X-men vs. Streetfighter, then there was Marvel vs. Capcom, SNK vs. Capcom, The United States vs. Capcom, Oprah vs. Capcom, Capcom vs. Capcom and finally Capcom vs. Sexual Harassment, which is still pending results.

First there were rumors Capcom was going to team up with/against Sammy to create a Street Fighter vs. Guilty Gear crossover, but (sadly) this never happened.
So Capcom moved on into territory that did not actually made sense, and Namco x Capcom was born.
At least, up to this point, they had restricted themselves to fighting games, but now they decided to make a huge Mascot-a-thon that had little to do with anything anymore, and what's even worse, they decided to leave the actual production of the game to Namco, meaning you don't even have to expect good gameplay either.
Rather than spawning a Tekken vs. Street Fighter game, which would've been......weird....this game is Namco's attempt at Tactical RPGs, which makes me go "Why don't you try to get more orthodox games to be fun FIRST!?".

I won't hide the fact that I don't like Namco games that much. That's not to say that they're bad, because they usually aren't, but they're never really good either.
The game's design has been left to Monolith Soft, always closely involved with Namco, and previously responsible for the "Love it or Hate it" Xenosaga series and the "Love it or Be An Idiot" Baten Kaitos series. And honestly, Baten Kaitos is the only REALLY good thing they ever did, and Namco x Capcom didn't change anything about that.

Anyway, like I said, the game is a kind of Tactical RPG, meaning you have to move units around grid-based stages, and you have to get your characters as close as possible to the enemies to be able to attack them. As a tactical RPG it's really not very interesting. There's very little variety in tasks, you're facing "Destroy all Enemies" scenarios almost every time, only occasionally interrupted by "Beat the Boss Character". Sometimes there are some enemy characters that you are not supposed to kill, adding a very minor challenge, and most times there are specific characters in your own party that are not allowed to die, adding yet another minuscule difficulty element.
As it is though, the game is exceedingly easy, and I don't even know what the Game Over screen looks like. I think I was halfway through the game when a single character died for the first time, and I laughed at him.
A real tactical or strategical element is nowhere to be found, and fans of the genre are likely to be disappointed by this title. Especially if you're used to Final Fantasy Tactics, this game is absolutely laughable.

The real distinguishing feature though, are the battles themselves. Once one of your troops attacks an enemy character, the game cuts to the battle mode, which is interesting. Each character has 5 moves and 1 Super Combo at his disposal, which can be freely used. Every attack is performed by pushing the O button alone, or in combination with a directional button. Perform all 5 possible attacks in a row, and you'll get a small HP or MP recovery bonus.
At the bottom of the screen, there's a SPECIAL gauge, which fills up as you pummel your enemy. When the gauge reaches 100%, you can pull off a special combo, and do some serious damage. All moves are of course trademark skills of the character in question, which is nice because of the recognition and everything.
Each character has a Branch level, which decides how many times he/she gets to attack. By succesfully chaining moves together, extra damage and extra Branch points can be earned and blahblahblah.

If you've been a close reader of this wonderful blog you'll know that I recently finished this game after a whopping 81:30 hours, and sadly, the above is ALL there is to this game.
The biggest problem is the incredible monotonousness. There are 45 chapters, and a couple of Prologues, and they are ALL pretty much the same. Battle Arenas are not very interesting, you keep fighting the same enemies and bosses over and over and over again, until you finally dispose of them in an incredibly anti-climactic battle in one of the last chapters, and there are basically NO surprises along the road.
The reason for clocking in at 81 hours is that, before long, battles start taking HOURS to complete. New enemies will keep appearing and appearing, and 2 hour battles soon become nothing out of the ordinary. You'd expect some variety and change of pace, but there is none.

Add to that the fact that there is a LOT of dialogue, most of which is totally useless and only meant as "comic relief" and you really don't know why you're bothering in the first place.
Strangely, the dialogue is only really narrated at extremely erratic intervals. You can be in the middle of a conversation, and then suddenly a couple of lines will feature real voice acting, only to completely disappear a couple of lines later, EVEN if the character in question is still talking. Either don't bother, or do it properly, you assholes!

The fact that this style of game and especially the sense of humor are VERY Japanese means that there is VERY little chance of this game ever getting translated and released in the West, but don't worry, cos you're not missing out on anything.

Now I hear you asking: "Why the HELL did you bother to finish this game then, playing for more than 80 HOURS!? And it's not even really part of the Project! LOSER!"

And you'd be right, because I don't know either.
The fact of the matter is, and I've heard this from everyone who's played it, despite its many many shortcomings, this game is strangely addictive.
Really.
I found it EXTREMELY hard to put down, even after a 2 hour battle, I wanted to see what was going to happen next, even though nothing actually ever happened.

I guess the battles are kinda fun, with all those trademark moves, and their complete over-the-topness, but most importantly, it's Namco x Capcom.
This game is completely Mascot Driven, to an almost disgusting degree.
It's filled to the brim with familiar Namco and Capcom characters, and THAT is exactly the strength of this game, because it caters for a VERY wide target audience.
Everyone is going to find some characters they recognize or like, unless they've never played any games before, in which case you really shouldn't bother, cos this game is not going to get you interested in Gaming either.

But all the famous Mascots have been handled REALLY well.
They all have their most recognisable and coolest moves, most characters even have their original voice actors (most Street Figher characters actually sound like in the old game, and then there are characters from recent Namco games, like KOS-MOS, Momo, Shion etc. who are obviously voiced by their respective actors), and more importantly, they behave like they are supposed to.
They have the same quotes, the same way of speaking, the same personality and are therefore ultimately recognisable. In other words, all characters have been treated very respectfully, so all fans should be pleased.

In that respect, the game is more and more enjoyable, depending on how much of a veteran gamer you are. Street Fighter, Tekken, SoulCalibur, Megaman etc. are likely to ring bells, but also expect characters from lesser known titles like Genpei Toumaden, Druaga's Tower, Ghouls and Ghosts and some obscure stuff even I had never heard of.
There are some weird choices as well though. I don't see why they chose to include characters from Dino Crisis or Gun Survivor, where Resident Evil would've made more sense, seeing as how the RE games ARE popular. Also, why did they choose for the Megaman from the Legends series, whereas the Megamans from ALL other Megaman series are WAY cooler.

But I complain like an old geezer. The fact is that there is a LOT of recognition in here, which is just cool for gamers who've been around for awhile.
All characters are part of their own story, and there are a lot of events referring to other games, which are pretty cool if you know what they're about.
Problem is, many of these sub-stories have no conclusion, presumably because you're supposed to know the games they come from, or whatever. It can be very unsatisfying if you're not familiar with any of them, cos there are a lot of loose ends that are not tied up.

So to make a long story short, if you're a video game Buff, you're likely to enjoy this, if just for all those mascottes in one game together, but if you're not, there's little here to enjoy, especially if you're a Tactical RPG fan, because this game is ridiculously simple.
An 8-.

posted by Ingen! @ 6:42 PM