Namco x Capcom

"A crossover of a different nature..."

Namco X Capcom? Where the hell did this game come from? Seriously, I had no idea that such a game had even been conceived of, let alone was released until I checked my favorite import site and found it on their new release list. Being the Capcom whore that I am, I ordered the game without even really knowing what type of game it was (though I was quite sure it wasn't a fighting game). When the game arrived the next day, I tore it open, popped it in the Playstation 2, and was instantly drawn in...

The year is 20XX (a time in which a surprising number of things seems to happen, incidentally) and a strange sickness has begun to spread through the Shibuya area of Japan. Two agents, Arisu Reiji and Xiaomu, from a special group known as Shinra are sent to investigate. While on assignment, the two encounter several otherworldly beings- some friendly, some hostile- from different time periods and different worlds. This heralds what could be the destruction of the planet, so Arisu Reiji and Xiaomu begin teaming up with the various good guys from both Capcom and Namco to combat the threat. In the big picture, I'm sure I missed several crucial plot points, but it didn't matter much to me since Japanese isn't a native language and I didn't know what I was missing anyway.

Since this is a cross-over of two companies with rich histories steeped in 2D, it should really come as no surprise that Namco X Capcom is a wonderfully colorful sprite-based game. Since the game is filled with over a hundred familiar faces from both camps, it's refreshing to see not only new artwork for many characters (Morrigan finally gets a facelift!) but kinda cool that several icons from 3D games (such as the Tekken combatants) get 2D overhauls. The animation is superb, particularly the special attacks, in which the screen can get filled with all kinds of spritetacular razzle-dazzle. But the thing that brought a tear to my eye was the opening animation sequence, which is just an orgy of badassness and the sole reason I felt my purchase was justified.

Surprisingly, the sound is equally as impressive as the graphics. It seems almost pointless to talk about audio effects in any game, since, except in some really bad extreme cases, there is a very finite number of sounds one can possibly conceive of to put in a game. Therefore, I will simply state that the sound effects do the job and move on. Since all the voice acting is in Japanese, there's really no point in offering my opinion here. It sounds good to me, but since I only know bits of words here and there, it may, in fact, be crap and I don't know. So really all I can talk about is the music. And wow, is the soundtrack a work of art- Remixed versions of nearly all your favorite Namco or Capcom songs are crammed into this game and they actually don't suck! It's almost a walk down memory lane to hear many of these staple tunes redone and used in so many dramatic ways.

Despite the language barrier, the game is fairly simple and straightforward- Move your characters around a grid-style battlefield, engaging the enemy with attacks and special moves. You have something called Active Points to spend each turn. Active Points allow your character to move, wait or attack. Ideally, you'll want to move your characters next to an enemy, then unleash a series of attacks (controlled with a combination of the circle button plus the directional pad). You may also choose to unleash your Super Move which is similar to the Capcom series of fighters in which each hit you take or dish out builds a meter that, once full, gives you access to a more powerful attack. At first this may seem a tad repetitious, but as your characters level up, they can access to new moves (or variations of existing moves) thus creating a deeper game the more time you put in to it. Overall the gameplay excited me a great deal (though it not the first game to have done a strategy RPG like this) and left me not caring that I didn't fully grasp the story.

One that that stands out design-wise is the staggering length of the game. Many stages are upwards of three hours in length, and with over fifty of them to play through, the game becomes a serious time sink. This may seem like a bad thing, but you do have the option of saving your progress mid-mission, so you aren't forced to play a stage out from start to finish. Another cool thing is how the teams interact with each other- Special moves and unique powers tend to compliment each other, thus making for some interesting battles once you know what you are doing. The game gets a tad on the easy side once you're roughly halfway through it as your characters becomes ridiculously overpowered. I didn't mind this as much, because it really let me play around with the game and have more fun with it. The only negative that really stands out is the inability to create your own teams. While I understand the game would become too easy should certain characters pair with others, it would have at least been a nice unlockable feature.

All you have to do is beat the game to get all the unlockable goodies it has to offer- Expert Mode, Music Theater and Casino. That's it. No hidden characters, no extra missions, and no secret moves. Of course, it was wishful thinking on my part that perhaps some sort of basic 2D VS fighting game be unlocked, but alas, not even an electronic sausage. Oh well, here's hoping Capcom gets a crack at it and make Capcom X Namco: Fighter's Clash.

Despite the overall excellence of this game, I find it very difficult to recommend it to all but the most hardcore of Capcom or Namco fans; The entire game is in Japanese and very text-heavy at that, so the more casual fans may be turned off by this. It's a shame that this game (hopefully to become a series) isn't coming to our shores. If you do decide to take the plunge, there are more than enough resources online to get you through the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/09

Game Release: Namco x Capcom (JP, 05/26/05)