The 3rd Birthday’s combat revolves primarily around the Overdive system, whereby Aya can take control of other soldiers on the battlefield. Atop the Overdive system, however, are other abilities that you can use to add an element of strategy to battles.
One of is is the “liberation” technique. While your liberation gauge is filled up, you’ll be able to move faster as well as evade enemy attacks automatically. While in liberation mode, Aya will also fire energy shots instead of regular ammo. As you can tell from the video, taking down opponents is the key to keeping your gauge filled.
Another ability is called “crossfire.” This one allows you to synchronize your own gunfire with that of a comrade’s. Players have to wait for a linkage gauge to fill up before crossfire activates.
The 3rd Birthday is due out sometime during the first quarter of 2011 in North America. Japan gets the game on December 22nd.