Namco x Capcom
 

Has anybody heard of this? I've been playing it since Memorial Day weekend. I usually don't like strategy RPGs because they have become too over-complicated and fall apart with the amount of micro-management present, but I picked this up based on it featuring a whole bunch of classic Namco characters and it's a pretty damn fun game.

Basically, it's a strategy RPG starring characters from Namco and Capcom games. Some of the Capcom cast include characters from Street Fighter, Vampire Savior, Project Justice, Resident Evil, Mega Man, Strider and Ghouls and Ghosts. The Namco side is much more vivid with characters from Tales of Destiny, Klonoa, Tekken and many classic Namco arcade titles like Tower of Druaga, Legend of Valkyrie, Baraduke, Burning Force and Dig Dug. The game is pretty simple of an SRPG, the cool part is that you actually get to control your characters when they attack. When you select a enemy unit it moves to a 2D battle screen where you enter in basic commands to string together attack combos.

I'll admit, the game runs a bit for me on brand recognition, but it does go back to the days of the original Shining Force as far as being a rather basic, but insanely fun strategy RPG. The only problem I have with the game is the pathetic amount of dialogue in the game.. being that the game was made by Monolith, who made Xenosaga, the game is filled with unnecessarily insane amounts of pretentious dialogue. But you can skip over it with the start button (though that also skips character entrances, et.. but oh well).

I'd imagine there's a market for this game in the US, if only for the well-known Capcom cast on this side of the ocean. Some of the old Namco guys may be unknown (though almost all of them were represented in the excellent 5 disc Namco Museum set on PSone) but I'm sure there are people that will buy any games with Street Fighter or Mega Man characters in it based on that alone.

Oh, the opening song for this game is great. I don't like anime-type music usually but this song is just damn catchy. I found out it was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, which explained my affection towards the song.

is it scheduled to come out here?

No, not at the moment.

Its getting rave reviews at GA forums as well! Seems like it could be quite sleeper hit.

How import friendly is it? How much of the voice acting / text / menus are in Engrish?

Everything is in Japanese but the game is REALLY simple. I'd say with a basic menu guide you should be able to enjoy the game without any problems. Skills, items and equipment require a bit more but if you can get yourself to recognize a couple of characters (the kanji for strength and defense, for instance) you'll be able to tell what most of those do easily. Actually the game is pretty easy and you could probably go through it just using HP/MP restores (which actually have HP or MP in the descriptions).

I hope it's released here.