TMMN Review of Mega Man 10

When Mega Man 9 came out, it caused quite a stir. As games continually strove to push the boundaries of graphics, story and budget, Mega Man 9 had the nerve to be a simple action game with a retro presentation. It was the first milestone in what we now consider console retro revivals, including New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Konami’s ReBirth series, Blaster Master Overdrive, the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and more. After Mega Man 9 released, we could debate its merits and flaws to no end, putting aside its 8-bit appeal. But one thing was certain: if there were ever a Mega Man 10, it wouldn’t get the same advantage. The whole “retro shock” angle would be used up, and Mega Man 10 would have to rely on more.

I can say with some certainty now that Mega Man 10 is a game that equals, if not surpasses, Mega Man 9. With Mega Man 9, producers Keiji Inafune and Hironobu Takeshita looked back on what gave Mega Man 2 its popularity and longevity in order to make a Mega Man game that could surpass it. While this was a good idea for research, it’s difficult to surpass a game that you’re trying to mimic. While I can’t argue that all of Mega Man 10 is completely original, it really does feel like a fresher game; that at the very least the developers didn’t limit themselves to one game to gain inspiration from. In Mega Man 10, there is definitely a greater attempt to “wow” players, and sometimes it works very well.

    

 

In Mega Man 10, a mysterious virus dubbed Roboenza has plagued robots around the world, leaving humans helpless, who had relied on robots so much. Things only get worse when the infected robots go berserk and start attacking humanity. In a twist, Dr. Wily himself pledges his support to Mega Man and company, claiming to have been working on a machine to discover Roboenza’s cure before being attacked by the robots. Mega Man is also joined by his enigmatic sibling Proto Man in order to stop the wild robots and get back the parts to Wily’s machine. It’s your typical Mega Man story, albeit with a couple small twists thrown in. It also has one of the most tender moments I’ve seen in a Mega Man game for a pretty long time, but compared to game stories it’s still pretty basic. Like Mega Man 9, however, this game has quite a few story scenes for what’s supposed to be a retro remake, and the game’s introduction is easily the longest ever for a Mega Man title. For as simple a story as it is, I get the impression that Inti Creates can’t help but lavish with the character scenes.

The gameplay, of course, is your typical Mega Man fare. You get to select the stages in whatever order you please, run and gun your way through them, beat the boss at the end and get his weapon. This time around, however, there are two major new additions: Proto Man and Easy Mode. While Proto Man was available as downloadable content in Mega Man 9, he is now included with the main game and you can play as him right from the get go. Proto Man still has his same abilities: he can charge his buster for a more powerful shot, he can slide, and he can use his shield while jumping. Conversely, he takes more damage and recoil than Mega Man does, and can’t have as many shots on the screen. I do think they scaled down the amount of damage and recoil he takes compared to Mega Man 9, which made him nearly unplayable in my opinion. Despite this, I still don’t find Proto Man much “better,” since I’m so used to playing as Mega Man I hardly remember to charge and slide. But to those who are used to the later Mega Man games, he may be more enjoyable to use.

For those who feel too daunted by the difficulty levels of Mega Man (especially the kind of difficulty Mega Man 9 often pushed), there is now Easy Mode. This mode makes the enemies and bosses a bit tamer, has Mega Man take less damage, and adds support platforms to water down some of the trickier jumps. While I know a good deal of my fellow Mega Man fans have lauded Easy Mode as ridiculous and insulting, I’m really glad they included it, as I think as many people as possible should be able to enjoy and beat the game. As a test to determine if Easy Mode really “worked,” I had a good friend try it out who hasn’t played a Mega Man game in well over a decade, and pretty much only plays FPS games and Rock Band now. Despite some difficulties, he did manage to beat all eight of the Robot Master stages, and I could even tell he was starting to pick up some skill near the end of his play. I can’t exactly say he enjoyed the game, but it definitely proved that Easy Mode works in making the game more accessible to gamers unfamiliar with Mega Man.

    

 

Truth be told, though, even Mega Man 10’s Normal Mode feels a little more forgiving than Mega Man 9. While there are many awful obstacles, like sand storms that cover the entire screen, huge truck robots that will run at you at wild speeds, and lots and lots of the trademark spikes, it doesn’t feel like Mega Man 10 has so many cheap deaths. In fact, so far as I can recall, Strike Man’s stage has no instant death traps whatsoever. Conversely, beating the game unlocks Hard Mode, so if you feel even Normal Mode isn’t offering enough challenge, Hard Mode will definitely test your mettle. Unlike Mega Man 9’s downloadable Hero and Superhero Modes that just made enemy placement even more cheap, Mega Man 10’s Hard Mode makes the enemies a lot more aggressive and lets the bosses perform new attacks. So far I’ve only been able to beat Chill Man!

Another significant change up is Mega Man 10’s challenges. In Mega Man 9, there were 50 challenges that could be completed by clearing certain conditions in the main game. Mega Man 10 only has 12 of such challenges, but 88 more that are actual challenges of skill. The first 37 of these are mini-stages, which typically involve getting to the end or destroying all the targets. The other 50 are boss battle challenges. Many of them require you to clear them with no damage to perfectly complete the challenge (i.e. get a gold rank instead of a silver). One of the great things I found about the boss challenges is that they doubled as a means to practice boss battles, letting you get better without having to go through the stages again and again. However, I do wish there were more than just 37 of the mini-stage challenges. Those are a lot of fun.

One of my larger complaints about Mega Man 10 is the weapons. The biggest problem is that they consume so much energy, and not allowing you to get good use out of them. In fact, only three of the weapons just use one unit of energy per shot. Furthermore, while a lot of the weapons are pretty creative, I don’t think they’re as useful as similar weapons from previous games. Take Water Shield, for example, which is this game’s barrier weapon. While a little more unique for the barriers, the shield doesn’t deflect shots and it gets broken up as it takes hits. Compare this to Mega Man 9’s Jewel Satellite, which deflected shots, never wore out, and used just as much energy. Chill Spike reminds me a little of Mega Man 9’s Concrete Shot, except it freezes enemies instead of making platforms. Not entirely useless, but it would have been nice to be able to walk on frozen enemies.

Additionally, three of the weapons need to be used “indirectly” so to speak. The projectiles for Chill Spike, Commando Bomb and Thunder Wool hardly damage enemies, but it’s their resulting actions that do (Chill Spike creates a bed of spikes when it touches the floor or wall, Commando Bomb has a wave-like explosion, and Thunder Wool sends a bolt of electricity straight down). If you end up hitting the enemy with the projectile instead, you’re pretty much wasting the weapon – and this is rather difficult with Commando Bomb, which will move twice with commands from the directional pad. Better make sure you don’t have to move when you use it. But there are still some great weapons, like Wheel Cutter which follows along the floor and walls, and lets you climb up walls speedy fast, and Triple Blade, which has a wide range and hits enemies multiple times up close. Rebound Striker is pretty nice too, but using two units of energy per shot you have to use it a little conservatively. It may seem like I’m being a bit hard, but the weapons in a Mega Man game are one of the most important features, and I do think that Mega Man 9 had better weapons overall.

    

 

Next let’s take a look at the game’s sound and music. Mega Man games generate a lot of high expectations for music, and Mega Man 10 has spawned many diverse reactions to its soundtrack. I’ve seen comments from people who love it and those who think it’s grossly inferior (at least compared to the recent Mega Man 9). But I’ve been most surprised to see a lot of people share the same sentiment I do: they’re a little put off by it, but they find it grows on them. And like its reviews, Mega Man 10’s own music is indeed all over the place. Some have even said some songs sound like they belong in other games altogether. This actually isn’t so surprising when you take a look at the people who composed for the game. Manami Matsumae (Mega Man, Mega Man 2), Yasuaki “BUNBUN” Fujita (Mega Man 3, Mega Man 4), Minae “OJALIN” Fujii (Mega Man 4), Mari Yamaguchi (Mega Man 5), Yuko Takehara (Mega Man 6, Mega Man 7), Makoto Tomozawa (Mega Man 7), Shusaku Uchiyama (Mega Man 8), Akari Kaida (Mega Man & Bass) and Inti Creates sound team who worked on Mega Man 9 before: Ippo Yamada, Ryo Kawakami, Hiroki Isogai and Yu Shimoda. Pretty much someone from all of the main series games.

With this many people, it’s no surprise that the game’s soundtrack is so diverse, and I do think it’s a bit over-ambitious. Maybe they wanted to make sure that the game’s music would represent everyone’s favorite game in some regard. But I feel like it’s hard to justify thirteen composers for a game like this. It creates a huge canyon of inconsistency, and for the people who aren’t grabbed by the music, I think what’s really troubling them is how all the themes don’t really fit together. Most if not all of Mega Man 10’s music is skillfully compose and a pleasure to listen to, but the gulf of disparity is a little jarring when you actually play.

Some final other touches I really enjoyed include the stage layouts, which I think are better than Mega Man 9’s, although I didn’t take much issue with Mega Man 9’s stage designs. A lot of this is due to less cheap stage design, granted, but there are some other cool things, like a few stages which have branching paths that give the game a little more replay value. I also found some of the stages thematically more interesting than 9’s. Two that really stand out are the first fortress stage, which has a somber entrance but kicks it up very fast, and the final fortress stage, which is just so weird. I don’t think I’ve felt such a sense of trepidation since Mega Man 2’s final stage, where you begin by falling down a huge cavern. I also like that they added the ability to create and send in video replays of your time attack ranks. Admittedly I’m not good enough to be in any of the top lists, but watching other peoples’ incredible playing is a lot of fun. However, like Mega Man 9, the online rankings still often time out when you try to load them. I can look at the rankings for maybe one or two stages, and then I constantly get the “connection has timed out” message. This gets pretty frustrating, and I don’t know what makes loading a mere list of names and times so demanding on the system.

    

 

All in all, I think Mega Man 10 achieves what it sets out to do. While Mega Man 9 was trying to be a literal reproduction of an NES game, Mega Man 10 doesn’t even bother with imitating things like sprite clipping and sound channel limitations. Mega Man 10 is not an imitation NES game, but just a game that uses NES-like presentation. It’s as fun as Mega Man 9 if not more, a little more forgiving, a bit more interesting and a lot more value up front. It’s troubled by an inconsistent soundtrack, weapons that are good but use a little too much energy and are tricky to use, and fairly long (albeit skippable) story scenes that don’t contribute much to the game’s finale. Fans of Mega Man 9 and action platformers/retro games in general ought to enjoy Mega Man 10 a lot. People who aren’t into classic Mega Man games so much will definitely find it accessible with the Easy Mode, but being able to progress in it doesn’t necessarily mean being able to enjoy it. By no means perfect, but without argument a strong followup to Mega Man 9, and the series in general.

Game reviewed based on WiiWare version of Mega Man 10. Played game for roughly eight hours over the course of a week and a half.

Review: Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star – The Case for Content

Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star, Capcom’s “plus alpha” remake of MegaMan Battle Network for the Nintendo DS, was released in Japan last week. Having had the chance to play the game and try out its new features, I’m here to give you my impression of this title. I must warn, this review contains a fair bit of spoilerish information concerning the game. I’m normally not this candid about a game that has yet to release in North America, but considering the kind of game Operate Shooting Star is, it’s hard to get around. Regardless, if you don’t want to be spoiled you should not read on.

Now, there’s something I want to make clear right away about my impression of Operate Shooting Star. It is not a remake of MegaMan Battle Network. It IS MegaMan Battle Network, with some additional features thrown in. If you have played MegaMan Battle Network before, you have essentially played this game already. “Plus alpha” is a Japanese expression that roughly means “a little something extra,” and in Operate Shooting Star’s case the emphasis is on “a little.” I can’t say this is a bad game though, because I do like the original MegaMan Battle Network. But I cannot understand why this game needed to be made. It is truly disappointing just how little new content was put in this game when you consider the whole package.

Since the game essentially is MegaMan Battle Network, I’ll only bother to discuss the game’s new elements. The largest new addition, of course, is what gives the game the subtitle of “Operate Shooting Star.” Capcom has made a lot of effort to hype the game as a crossover with MegaMan Star Force, a “dream collaboration” between both MegaMans. Star Force MegaMan, aka Geo Stelar, even makes a large, mysterious looking presence on the game’s box design.

In actuality, though, the Star Force connection this game has is incredibly weak. It amounts to little more than a side story about Geo needing to go back in time 200 years to stop ClockMan, an out-of-control experimental Net Navi who has kidnapped Harp Note. You first get the gist of this story in the game’s prologue, which curiously is separate from the game itself – you can only watch it from the title screen, and return to the title screen when it’s finished. Aside from that, this involvement only plays into a single additional scenario, where Geo finally does arrive in the past to stop ClockMan, who has taken Roll as well. The event itself is pretty fun and feels fresh, though it’s fairly short. The banter between Lan, Geo and Omega-Xis is very entertaining. What’s truly surprising, however, is that the event doesn’t take place until after the ElecMan scenario, which is well three fourths into the game. By this point you’ve probably forgotten that this game had any connection to Star Force, especially since the previous scenarios are exactly the same. What’s more, once the Star Force scenario is done, it’s back to Battle Network as usual. The event makes no impact on the rest of the game’s story.

Of course, after this event you can choose whether you want to play as BN MegaMan or SF MegaMan in battle. SF MegaMan generally has all his abilities from his own series. He charges automatically and rapid fires when you hold down the B button. Pressing Y generates his shield, and pressing X enters his lock-on mode, which lets him warp in front of enemies to perform chip attacks. This is way better than BN MegaMan, who doesn’t have such an easy time with short ranged attacks, although using X to lock on is a little cumbersome. SF MegaMan’s demerits are that he cannot use Program Advances, and if he’s hurt in the middle of a lock-on attack he’ll become paralyzed for a few crucial seconds. As much fun as he is to battle with, the game is nearly over by the time you get him.

The other major new feature is the Star Colosseum minigame. This is also available from the title screen, and can be played with up to six people wirelessly using just one copy of the game. The main competitive mode of this minigame plays out in the style of the game’s overworld view. Players, who can use either BN MegaMan, ProtoMan or SF MegaMan, compete to gain the most stars in either a free-for-all match or a team match. Stars appear on the overworld to be collected, but you can also steal stars from opponents by attacking them. The catch is, every player has a rock-paper-scissors attribute, and your attribute has to best theirs (i.e. if you have rock, you can only steal stars from people who have scissors). Aside from stars, other items appear on the field that can be activated with the B button. You can only carry one at a time, and there are items that can change your attribute, give you a temporary advantage, or set traps for other players.

Additionally, there is also a Vs. Bass cooperate mode. Instead of collecting stars, all players must work together to defeat Bass by using bombs on him. Bass is capable of knocking players out in one hit, though knocked-out players can be revived if another player comes to touch them. The game is over if Bass is defeated or if all players are defeated, but Bass is definitely challenging, as he continuously hunts players down, and becomes faster as his HP decreases.

I was only able to try the Star Colosseum mode with one other friend, but we both had a bit of fun playing it. We definitely enjoyed the Vs. Bass mode the most, and though we tried about seven or eight times we couldn’t defeat him. The star capturing competitive modes are a little more complex but just as frantic. I don’t think my friend got into as much, especially since he couldn’t read Japanese, so he wasn’t sure what was happening all the time. But it was still fun, and I imagine it can get extremely exciting and chaotic with six people. The matches are short but sweet, lasting roughly three to five minutes.

There are other additional features in the main game of Operate Shooting Star. The internet areas now have maps in the lower screen which can be helpful, though personally I think it would have been more helpful to make different areas of the internet have a different visual style, as all the successive Battle Network titles did. The game’s battle system takes a few elements from Battle Network 2, such as the inclusion of * coded wildcard chips, limitations to the amount of same chips in your folder, and the amount of chips you can gain with the add button. There are also a few new chips, a couple new program advances, and slight graphical updates here and there (mostly some new character mugshots).

All in all, though, Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star is largely identical to MegaMan Battle Network of the Gameboy Advance, and I can’t really feel that its new features justify the game’s existence enough. The story is the same, the graphics are the same, the music is the same and unarranged, aside from the title theme (the Star Force event and Star Colosseum use music directly from the Star Force games as well). All this sameness makes for a rather tepid attempt at an exciting new game.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a big issue that what they did use from Battle Network isn’t updated at all. I can accept the same graphics and same music. Some believe they make the game feel dated, but I don’t think this is a major concern. What is a concern to me is, since Capcom did just port over so much of Battle Network’s content, why did they not very much new content? Why couldn’t they throw in more new scenarios, or switch up the game’s events a bit? Why couldn’t they add more new Navis and new enemies? As I’ve mentioned before, enemy characters are one of the biggest draws to Mega Man games, and having more new Navis would have made this game much more appreciated. As it stands, the only new Navi really is ClockMan. And I’ll give it to OSS that ClockMan is a pretty cool new character, if not very unique at the least (his personality is quite eccentric). But if you knew that Operate Shooting Star were to only include a single new Navi, would ClockMan really be your first choice? I didn’t think so.

There has been some comparison of this game to Ace Attorney on the DS. After all, it’s the same game as the Gameboy Advance version, with the same characters, same graphics and same music, with a single new scenario and other minor new features. However, this argument is rather flawed. First of all, just because Ace Attorney does it doesn’t necessarily make it a fine practice. But more importantly, before its DS porting, Ace Attorney was only available in Japan. While the new features in the DS port were to test features they intended to include in the series’ fourth installment, it was also to see how well the game would sell in North America and Europe. Of course, the game was eagerly enjoyed in those regions, which prompted the more hasty porting of the second and third titles for the DS as well. Still, I cannot imagine Japanese consumers had much reason to purchase these ports (although the original port did have a new scenario, and an additional secenario in a game like Ace Attorney amounts to much more new content than does an additional scenario in a game like Battle Network). Since MegaMan Battle Network has already been released worldwide, it will not enjoy this same advantage the Ace Attorney games had.

Additionally, people have also argued that this is a typical Capcom “cash-in;” that it’s a simply made game to maximize profits. However, I disagree with this argument as well. While I can’t imagine this game did take a whole lot of effort to make in a year’s time, I also can’t see it being that profitable since I think most Mega Man fans will realize there’s not much new going on here. Imagine this. Capcom could have instead made a brand new entry in the Battle Network series, with new characters and events, and still had a Star Force crossover and the Star Colosseum minigame. They could have still used many assets from the previous games, such as character and environment graphics, combat systems and other engines, and so on. But the game would be much more attractive for having actual new content. Such a game would not take too much more effort to create, but would easily be much more profitable because people ultimately buy (and don’t buy) games for their content.

So I cannot honestly understand the purpose this game was made. It’s hardly original. It’s a poor excuse for a cash-in. And I don’t feel Capcom had a need to make a game just to gauge how much people are still interested in Battle Network. The strong worldwide sales of Battle Network 6 should alone prove that. The only conclusion I can draw is that Capcom just needed to buy time as they work on the direction they really want to go for Mega Man’s future. I can only hope whatever they’re working on is worth it for this disappointing excuse of a remake. With the excitement that Mega Man 9 created in 2008, 2009 will look pretty pitiful in comparison with this being Capcom’s only offering for Mega Man.

In the end I can only recommend Operate Shooting Star to people who have never played the original MegaMan Battle Network, or to fans who are just really excited over Geo and other Star Force characters entering the game, however briefly it may be. And again, it’s not like Operate Shooting Star is a BAD game. It’s just hardly a new game, and I don’t think it lives up to the hype Capcom of Japan drove up for it. I just want to make sure you understand what kind of game you’re getting if you do decide to purchase it once it comes out in the western regions.

Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X Staff Review (Heat Man)

Overview:
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X is a dream come true for the hardened X fan; well, possibly. There are some who feel its placement on the Sony PSP as opposed to the Nintendo DS is a stab to the series’ roots. I’ll bring that up later, though. If you are a big time X fan, or just a general Mega Man fan, or even someone who just enjoys good action games, Maverick Hunter X is most definitely for you.

Maverick Hunter X is a remake of the Super Nintendo classic Mega Man X; a series closely tied in terms of game-play to the original Mega Man but completely redefined in terms of attitude. The story goes about the same. In the year 21XX, the scientist Dr. Cain uncovers the remains of the deceased Dr. Light’s lab. Inside he finds X, a revolutionary robot that can think, feel and act on its own. Using X as a base, Dr. Cain creates a breed of robots called Reploids to help further mankind. However, as Reploids proliferate, some turn to crime and begin to go against their human owners, also known as going Maverick. To combat this, a task force of Maverick Hunters is created to combat the Maverick Reploids. This all works out alright, until the powerful leader of the force’s 17th unit, Sigma, goes Maverick himself. Taking other units with him, he declares a war on mankind. Now it’s up to X to stop him.

Hunting Mavericks:
In terms of game mechanics, virtually nothing is changed from the traditional X. You still run, jump, shoot, wall climb and dash (once you get the upgrade for it) your way through 13 stages. The eight primary stages conclude with a boss fight against a Maverick ex-Hunter, and upon victory you receive a new weapon from him. Standard Mega Man fare. Hidden in the eight main stages are also power-up items and upgrade capsules which help increase your skill and power. Getting some power-ups and weapons is helpful or even vital toward getting other power-ups.

For played gamers, the controls ought to feel just as tight and responsive as before. X still moves at about the same speed, as well do his attacks and most other enemies. The movements of some enemies has been altered a little, which can create some surprised for experienced players. There were only two real flaws I found in playing the game. The first is that my charged shots occasionally let go on their own while I was still holding the square button, but I suspect this may be due to my PSP unit as opposed to the game itself. The other issue is back-scrolling. By this I mean the way enemies will reappear after you defeat them if you run back to their location again. This seems to happen very easily in the game, and just inching away and going back will cause enemies to reappear. It also affects energy items. If a defeated enemy drops a power-up that happens to go off the screen, even just a little bit, don’t bother going for it because that sucker is probably gone.

The stages themselves are also mostly identical to the game’s SNES predecessor. If you’ve played through classic X enough you can probably run through the stages by memory fairly well on the PSP. Hidden power-ups are also more or less in the same place. The only difference is the upgrade capsules. While their locations and the ways to reach them have only changed very little, the specific upgrades the capsules bring have been swapped around. This might be a little irritating to long-time X players that want to get the dash upgrade right away. I myself had to curse through three stages without being able to dash. Regardless, it does refresh the need to explore a little in the game, which is overall a good thing.

I should also state that not all the stages are very identical. While the main stages are for the most part copied directly, the first three Sigma stages are extremely different. I was a bit surprised in the first stage that, after passing the initial opening, I was going underwater instead of jumping up floating platforms (though that portion does come in a later stage). Although some parts of stages will seem familiar, the three stages in all are without a doubt highly rearranged, and with some surprising obstacles to boot.

Re-Design:
While the game-play of Maverick Hunter X is about the same as before,
graphics and audio are where the game’s redesign really kicks in. As you’ve surely seen, all of the game graphics have been redone in vibrant 3D, though it still keeps a side-scrolling point of view. All of the stages are sharp and colorful, and show a great deal of depth. There are also a number of neat details, like the cars on the freeway in the background of the opening stage, and the ominous clouds gliding along in the first Sigma stage. All of the boss characters and stage enemies have also been redesigned in appearance at least a little, making them look a little more mechanical and futuristic, or in some cases just flat-out cool. Without revealing much, I will say that the game’s final boss looks much more impressive and fearsome than it did before.

Object movement is very fluid and lively, yet still easy on the eyes. I’m not sure about other games, but I’ve yet to get a headache from playing Maverick Hunter X. There is occasionally some slowdown when a lot of enemies are on the screen or you’re using an attack that’s striking a large enemy many times a second. Truthfully it’s the same kind of slowdown you’d expect in playing the SNES version, and in a way it feels oddly natural. I’m left to wonder if Capcom generated this minor slow down intentionally or if it really is just the PSP hardware.

The game’s sound is an area of major revamping as well. The majority of the music is taken from the classic game and rearranged, and there are small handful of new themes added as well. Overall, all of the rearranged music sounds great. The main melodies are about spot on, but the general sound is much more bouncy and electronic, a lot like the music from Mega Man X7 (which should go without saying, since two of the three BGM artists worked on X7). The music is quite varied from the gentle synths in Chill Penguin’s stage to the electric guitar lead in Spark Mandrill’s stage to the all-out techno jam of Boomer Kuwanger’s stage. Sound effects are also up to par and very fitting. Some of the sound effects, such as X getting hurt, are very similar to the SNES version.

The game also features a wide degree of voice acting, including dialog scenes with all the major boss characters. These are done very nicely and give an added degree of personality to each character. Of course, this is all based on the Japanese language edition. What little I’ve heard with the English speaking version sounds pretty good too.

Finally, there’s an addition of traditional 2D animated cut scenes, which fans of the X series have loved since their use in X4. There aren’t many, aside from the Capcom logo and opening movie, there are really only two cut scenes for the game’s beginning and ending. Of course, there’s also another major movie in the game, but that will be discussed a little later.

Be a Villain:
Probably the biggest additional feature in Maverick Hunter X is the ability to play as Vile, one of the game’s antagonists, once you’ve completed the game as X once. Vile has access to twelve of the game’s thirteen stages with a “what-if” type alternate storyline. Going out on his own, the overly-vicious Vile doesn’t seem to want to side with either the Maverick Hunters or Sigma’s rebellion against humanity. Instead he boasts he will be the one to change the future. Unfortunately, things get a bit tough when you make enemies out of everyone, but we’ll let Vile figure that out on his own.

Control-wise, Vile differs a bit from X. He has most of the same basic abilities, and although he can run faster than X he can’t dash, making him a little less versatile in movement. However, Vile makes up for this deficit with firepower. Aside from jumping, all of the right pad buttons are for attacking. Square initiates a hand attack, triangle a shoulder attack, and circle a leg attack. In the beginning of the game, you start with a short-range vulcan burst for the hand. This can be held down for rapid fire. The shoulder cannon fires a more powerful, single blast. By nature the shot moves at an upward angle. You can hold up to make it shoot at a higher angle, or down to make it shoot straight forward. Finally, the leg attack ensues Vile firing a bomb from his knee. It will bounce a short distance before exploding.

Playing as Vile may seem a bit challenging at first, but if you hang in there the rewards of victory will really pay off. Like X, you get additional weapons from beating boss characters. However, not only do you get weapons directly from the boss characters (and sometimes not just one), but you get them from beating sets of two boss characters as well. So you’ll get Distance Needler from defeating Chill Penguin, and Metal Crescent from defeating Boomer Kuwanger, but you’ll also get Parasite Sword for having defeated them both. All in all this creates 45 weapons you can win by beating the eight bosses, not to mention a couple permanent upgrade items for your armor and running speed. The weapon types vary too. For hand weapons you get vulcan, missile and punch type attacks, for shoulder weapons you get blast, boomerang and laser type attacks, and for leg weapons you get bomb, energy ball and burner type attacks.

You can choose which weapons you want to equip before each stage starts. However, you can’t just choose whatever you want. Each weapon has a set “cost,” and the combined costs of your three weapons cannot exceed Vile’s cost limit. This limit starts at 6, and gets raised to 32 by the time you beat the eight main boss characters. So, let’s say you want to use Popcorn Demon, Long Shot Gizmo and Sword Bouquet in a stage (and no, I’m not making those names up). That would make a total cost of 28, and if 28 exceeds your current cost limit, then you can’t use that combination.

All of Vile’s weapons use weapon energy from the same power meter. This meter will refill on its own relatively quickly when you’re not attacking, but if it gets too low you won’t be able to use more energy-demanding attacks. You can also pick up weapon energy capsules which will speed along the recovery of your weapon energy. Vile’s attacks are also quite varied in effectiveness depending on certain enemies. What may destroy larger, more powerful enemies in a few hits may also take a few hits to beat smaller, weaker enemies, as opposed to just one.

The stages are also a bit different for Vile. While the layouts are the same, the types of enemies and their locations of appearance are changed drastically, and usually in a way that makes the stage a bit more difficult. The locations of Heart Tanks and Sub Tanks are also in completely different places which are generally harder and more of a hassle to find. It’s best to get them as fast as you can, though, because without any power-ups Vile is pretty weak.

Another major difference is Vile’s Ride Armor. Ride Armors will appear in stages much more frequently than when you play as X. They can still punch and dash, but they also have a machine gun vulcan attack which is used be pressing triangle. However, Vile’s Ride Armor also has a 32 second time limit of use, represented by a constantly decreasing power meter. Getting hit by enemies also takes chunks out of your allotted time, and if you jump out of a Ride Armor before the time limit ends it will automatically self-destruct. Since Vile can’t dash, Ride Armors are necessary to pick up certain power-ups.

A bit of the music in Vile’s game mode is changed to music that has more of a heavy rock sound. However, out of nine of the twelve stages, the background theme music is the same exact song. So hopefully you like rock music a bit or the audio in Vile’s game might get a little repetitive. It would have been nice if Capcom opted the effort to do rock arranges of the normal stage themes. Vile also has his own two animated cut scenes to facilitate the story.

Other Upgrades:
Aside from the inclusion of Vile’s game mode, there is also a little extra thrown in by Capcom. The other most notable bonus, which is also received after beating the game once as X, is an animated short called “The Day of Sigma.” It’s about as a typical half hour television show, without the commercials. This fantastically animated short depicts a deal of the game’s pre-story, mostly surrounding Sigma’s strike against humanity and the inception of his rebellion. It’s pretty action-packed, and if left unaltered in the western release, it could possibly garner Maverick Hunter X an ESRB rating of at least E 10+, although it’s really no more violent than anything in Mega Man X4.

Another neat bonus is a playable demo of the upcoming PSP title Mega Man: Powered Up, a remake of the original classic Mega Man game (which I also look forward to reviewing). The demo lets you play Cut Man’s stage in both its new, remade edition and its classic edition. By using the PSP’s game sharing feature, you can also play Fire Man’s remade stage, although reportedly it does not have sound. The demo is available to play right from the start of the game.

Aside from these things, though, there isn’t much more. Both X’s game mode and Vile’s game mode can be played on normal and difficult play levels. In difficult, X and Vile generally take more damage from enemies, and bosses can perform new attacks. Regardless, beating the game as X once pretty much unlocks everything. If you beat the game in normal mode, you get nothing else for beating it again in hard mode, or by beating the game as Vile. One nice additional feature is that the game lets you replay the opening stage and the first three Sigma stages as many times as you like. Also, once you’ve cleared the game as either X or Vile you can re-fight the bosses again when you replay stages. The major boss characters will even have new dialog before the fight, which is a nice touch.

The polish from the original Mega Man X is present as well. You can still affect the layout of some stages by beating other stages, certain enemies will still laugh at you when they hurt you (and you can hear them now, too), and the infamous “fifth capsule” is also still present in the game. And Dr. Light is still dressed that way.

Overall:
Maverick Hunter X is a magnificently made game, and a great homage to the Mega Man X series. It’s beautiful 3D rendered graphics, high quality sound and tight action game-play are great for new players to the series, and yet many elements are handled in traditional means, which just enough altered to give
something for long time X players to do without alienating them.

But is it worth getting a PSP? Assuming you don’t already have one that is. That all depends really. Though Maverick Hunter X is a great game, I can’t honestly say it’s great enough to warrant shelling out the cash for a PSP system. At least not to anyone who isn’t employed. Should the game have been made for the DS instead? Well, while that probably would be more fair to long time Mega Man fans, I’d actually have to say no. I say this because the DS is more revolutionary in game-play terms, while the PSP focuses on presentation. Now, in my opinion, the original Mega Man x was, bar none, nearly perfect as far as game-play goes. I really can’t see how it could be improved any to a great degree, especially via a touch screen or a microphone. X got game-play down from the start. Therefore it benefits a lot more from the improved graphics and sound, and as far as that realm is concerned, the PSP is the better choice. So, to those facing the burden of needing a PSP, I really wish you luck. But of the two handhelds, the PSP is better suited for the kind of game Maverick Hunter X is.

Note: This review was made on the basis of a Japanese import game. Some features may differ from the western release.

MegaMan Legends 2 Fan Review (theory C)

by theory C

In 1998, MegaMan Legends changed everything you thought you knew about the iconic Blue Bomber. No longer were you limited to two dimensions, no longer did you get to choose your levels in the order you liked, no longer were jumping and shooting the only things that mattered. In fact, Capcom changed just about everything that had made the franchise a success. Some purists stuck their noses to the heavens and refused to acknowledge the ‘MegaMan’ printed on the cover jacket as representative of the inside product. Yet, others embraced the game for what it was, and found in it an addictive little game full of fun and charm that would come to earn the game a place in gamer’s hearts. And now the groundbreaking (groundbreaking for MegaMan anyways) new series is receiving its first sequel. But does the sequel retain the features that made the original so enjoyable? The answer is a resounding “HECK YES”.

The game takes place shortly (about one year) after MegaMan Legends. Legends 2’s storyline is almost completely non-reliant on the story in the first game, although there are plenty of threads that will be easier for you to pick up on if you’ve played the first game. Legends 2’s story is far more prevalent to the series as a whole; in Legends the story only affected one small island, whereas in Legends 2 the fate of the world is at stake, and you’ll need to traverse several islands (and even another planet) to discover the mystery behind the legendary Mother Lode, which is said to be the answer to the world’s energy shortages. Along the way, you’ll encounter the Bonnes, the ironically lovable air pirates from Legends 1, along with several new groups of pirates who will try to come between you and the Mother Lode. Also, you’ll discover clues to whereabouts of Roll’s (MegaMan’s adoptive sister and spotter while on the underground expeditions known as digs) parents, as well as MegaMan’s origins. The story is surprisingly deep and enjoyable for a MegaMan title, which tend to be painfully simple and repetitive. The storyline will keep you engaged from explosive opening to the cliffhanger ending, and will stick in your mind along with the memorable cast of characters for a long time to come.

The graphics have received a significant update. Everything is tightened from the original; character models are more detailed, jagged lines are far less severe and frequent, and scenery is more expansive and varied. At the same time, the charm of the original’s distinct anime style is fully intact and stronger than ever. Everything runs smoothly, and the details will have you running around the multiple towns just for the fun of being there. Meanwhile, the music is fairly subtle, but serves the purpose quite well. The voice acting is superb all around, easily the best in any MegaMan game released before or after Legends 2. Oddly, all the voices were kept from the first Legends except for MegaMan’s. His voice is now more high-pitched, which has irked some fans. However, it’s not anywhere near as high as the voices in MegaMan 8, or even X4, and fans really have nothing major to worry about.

The controls are identical to those in Legends 1, and feel as good as ever. If this your first venture into the Legends universe, it will take a little getting used to, but after romping through the brief tutorial, you should have no problems whatsoever for the rest of the game. Perhaps the game’s single flaw in terms of game play is the lock-on feature. It has been greatly improved from Legends 1 in that you can you can now move while being locked onto an enemy instead having your boots glued to the ground. However, there is still the issue of the auto-lock locking onto enemies that you don’t want to lock onto. For example, there may be an enemy 10 feet in front of you, and an enemy lurking behind the corner. There are instances in which it will lock on to the unseen enemy rather than the enemy in front of you. This is not a disastrous flaw by any means, but it is certainly an annoyance. Overall, the game play is near perfect. And the scope of the levels is quite astounding as well. The game takes place over several islands that you can fly between in your flutter via an over world map. Because of this, the areas are far more varied than in Legends 1. However, this also requires the sacrifice of the single universal dungeon in Legends 1, but it is understandable considering the trade-off made.

In summary, MegaMan Legends 2 improves on just about every aspect of its predecessor, making this what some fans will consider the best game in the entire franchise. It doesn’t matter if you prefer the 2D games. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the 2D games in the first place. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a MegaMan game in your life. This game is a treat, and one that you should not allow yourself to miss.

MegaMan Legends Fan Review (theory C)

by theory C

MegaMan Legends is not your typical MegaMan fare. At long last, Capcom has given the blue robot a new direction, entering him into the realm of 3D. And unlike past MegaMan titles, this isn’t a shoot ‘em up; this is as pure an action/adventure/RPG as you’re ever going to see. Add to that new set of characters, a new visual style, and a place on the MegaMan timeline thousands of years ahead of the X series, and a lot of fans from the NES and SNES eras are going to get the heebie-jeebies. However, these worries are needless. This is not the MegaMan they’re used to – but it’s better.

The large majority of the game takes place on Kattlox Island, and small forested island with only one town. You will be able to explore the city of Kattlox as well as the surrounding areas, which mostly look like park areas. However, beneath the island’s cheery surface is a network of underground dungeons that interconnect between numerous entry points on the surface. These dungeons are large and creepy, housing plenty of Reaverbots – mysterious robots who’s only job it seems is to guard the treasures of the dungeon. What are these treasures? Well, there are various items and parts you can use to enhance MegaMan’s ability, but the more important treasures are called Refractors. These refractors act as the world’s energy source, and as also as the game’s currency. So how do townspeople make use of these refractors while the deadly Reaverbots are guarding them? Well, people called Diggers go underground to take on the Reaverbots, and collect the refractors to bring back to the surface to sell, or use for themselves. MegaMan is one such Digger, and about half of the game will be in the dungeons looking for refractors. MegaMan isn’t the only character interested in refractors, however. Early on in your journey, you’ll meet a band of Sky Pirates, known as the Bonnes. The Bonnes are quite likeable, and their relationship with MegaMan is actually pretty humorous in that in the end, both parties don’t really want to see the other dead. However, the Bonnes are not on Kattlox for just any refractor. You’ll soon hear rumor of a great hidden treasure hidden away deep in the dungeons. As you progress through the game, you’ll learn more about this rumored treasure, and come closer to learning of the mystery behind it.

The controls in MegaMan Legends may seem a little odd at first, but you should be able to get used to them fairly quickly. Initially, just walking around will make you feel like you’re driving a tank. Pressing a direction on the D-Pad or Left Stick will move you strictly in that direction, meaning that if you press left or right, you’ll actually strafe, so that you’re facing forward the entire time. Rotating MegaMan is handled with the shoulder buttons, meaning players will have to learn to use the D-Pad/Left Stick in tandem with the shoulder buttons. It feels clunky at first, but it shouldn’t take long before you’re running around Kattlox Island like a pro. In the meantime, everything else in the game controls more or less as you would expect. Square is to fire your Buster Gun, X is to jump, Triangle is your special weapon (or kick, if you have no special weapon equipped), and Circle is to Dash. Dashing is not like it was in the X series were you gained short bursts of speed; in Legends, you actually have a continuous dash, which basically functions as a pair of rocket skates. These are great fun to use, and actually benefit from the control scheme. The biggest issue with controls is the lock-on. When locked onto an enemy, you’re frozen in place. This is very constricting, especially if you’re used to the sequel, Legends 2, which fixes this problem. Also, there are many times when you’ll lock on to an enemy that is not even in your view range, which can be very frustrating when there are nearby enemies attacking.

As has been mentioned before, about half the game takes place underground, and about half on the surface. Both are quite enjoyable, and yet very different at the same time. On the surface, you’ll mainly be talking to the townsfolk, going on side quests, and generally moving the story forward. Most of the fighting is in the dungeons (except for the pirates). There are few boss fights in the dungeons, but for the most part are not that memorable, and nearly all of them can be easily defeated with the same strategy: run around the boss in circles while firing. This gets old pretty fast, but is made up for by the far more interesting pirate boss battles on the surface. What’s most intriguing about the dungeons however, is that you can enter them from various points around the island, and they’re all connected. It can be great fun to get lost in the dungeon, and end climbing out onto the surface in a place on the opposite side of the island that you entered.

The graphics in the MegaMan Legends are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the game is bursting with charm. The blocky anime style, the vibrant worlds, and the unique and lovable characters are some of the highlights of the series. Indeed, a large part of the reason fans want a new Legends game so badly is because of the characters themselves. However, on the other hand, the game is plagued with jagged lines. For example, if you’re walking through the shopping center, you’ll see zigzagging lines on the walls – lines that should be straight. This happens consistently throughout the game, and is very annoying, although it never actually affects game play. While that is the main visual negative of the game, none of the other technical aspects of the game ever really exceed par for PlayStation games of the time. On the upside, there are good amounts of in game cut scenes that are very enjoyable to watch and help move the story along.

To sum things up, MegaMan Legends is the one of the most memorable MegaMan experiences ever. It does have it’s flaws: sub par graphics, and the game play occasionally gets stale. But the positives far outweigh the negatives. This game has charm, is loads of fun, the story will keep your interest, and it’s fresh and exciting. This is not just a game for MegaMan fans. This game has something for everybody.