Namco reveals 8 new characters and gameplay details of Project X Zone for 3DS

In a series of reveals in the newest issue of Famitsu in Japan, Namco has revealed 8 new characters and gameplay details for its crossover strategy RPG Project X Zone for the 3DS.

The new characters include Erica and Gemini from Sega's Sakura Taisen series; Bruno from Sega's Dynamite Deka; Nanbu Kaguya and Haken from Bandai Namco's Super Robot Taisen OG Saga; Valkyrie from Namco's Valkyrie no Bouken; & Chun Li and Morrigan from Capcom's Street Fighter and Darkstalkers.

In addition to the new characters, details were also given about the game's battle system, which take place on a grid-based battlefield and focuses heavily on cooperative attacks between party members:

• Support Attacks call on a nearby party member (around 8 spaces away) to perform a tag-in strike.
• Cross Hit takes place during a Support Attack - if your main character and your support character attack at the same time, it triggers Cross Hit, freezing the enemy and letting you follow up with combos.
• Critical Hits occur after an opponent has been knocked into the air--timing an attack so it hits the opponent just before it lands results in a Critical Hit.
• Characters start out with two or three individual skills, but can eventually gain up to five special abilities - these, too, can be levelled up. The game encourages you to use all of your skills in battle - just farming one ability won't net as much of a bonus as using all five abilities.
• The "XP" bar is the Cross Point Gauge, which goes up as you fight. Performing Cross Hits can push the gauge up to 150%, which you can then expend to perform a special attack.
• Battles will be fully voiced, and you'll get plenty of text commentary from characters before and after fights. Special attacks are cut with fullscreen images of characters for style and impact.