Mega Man 4

"Mega Man isn't feeling so Mega anymore..."

Wow. Mega Man 3 was a brilliant game. Better then 1 and 2 put together, at least, I say that. Mega Man 4 is a disappointment. This time, Capcom have just added new bosses, levels, very similar but slightly different story line, and release it as fast as possible to make people happy. Although im not that happy, Mega Man 4 isn't actually that good.

Mega Man 4 uses the same ideas from Mega Man 3 but executes them worse then Mega Man 3. In Mega Man, you control, well, Mega Man, a blue combat robot. You must go from the left to the right, and sometimes upwards or even downwards, defeating lots of other robots. You will find some platforming puzzles along the way as well. You do this across 16 levels over all. As always, at the very start, you are given a choice of 8 different robots to fight. They get worse as they come though, Bright Man? What the hell is Bright Man all about? He has a giant lightbulb on his head. Its terrible. Defeating the 8 robots you move onto fighting Dr. Cossack. Its all been used before and gets a bit boring.

Mega Man 4 doesn't really bring any thing new, at all. The only really new thing is the fact your default weapon is new. It seems Capcom think the game is a load better because it has the Mega Buster! Well, its pretty crappy really, the new thing with it? Hold down the fire button, and you can charge up your shots, then fire them off with more power. Not exactly the best new thing ever is it? This does make enemies easier to kill, and bosses. Thats about all that is new in Mega Man 4.

Mega Man 4 doesn't have very many new things. Everything is the same, or, the things from before are either improved, or have gotten worse. The enemy design is poor, most of the enemies are from Mega Man 3! It's not THAT hard to make a load of new enemies, although the common enemies that appear in most Mega Man games are still here. There aren't many new enemies at all. Bosses are new. But some, or most, are just rip offs of previous Mega Man games. For example, Dive Man is like Hard Man. Its stupid. And the rest have very poor designs. I mentioned above about Bright Man. Its just not really necessary at all. Toad Man, Drill Man? He looks like a complete idiot with a giant drill on his head. Still, there are some decent ones, Skull Man, Pharaoh Man, er, thats about it. Ring Man is also very similar to that boss that throws boomerangs at you. This time they're rings. Dust Man is just still, its actually based on rubbish you put in the bin, with loads of scrap metal and, well, rubbish everywhere. Bosses are actually hard though, the bosses are about the only time I died.

The rest of Mega Man is easy though. All the levels are pretty simple, and aren't really challenging at all, like some previous Mega Man games. I managed to complete this game fast, not as fast as Mega Man 2 mind you, that is extremely easy! Still, bosses are hard, which is good because you will just about always have full health and ammo for your weapons. Thats another thing. Your weapons are always different, because they're based on the bosses attacks. So for Pharaoh Man, you get to fire, or charge up, giant fire balls. There are some good weapons, some crap ones, like the Ring Man weapon. Plus all the weapons that are effective against a boss are maybe a little too effective, this doesn't help the game, it makes it more and more easier. Which isn't that good.

The levels are about the same as Mega Man 1 in terms of design. Most are boring, very few are fun and exciting. There are some new platforming parts in the game, and a couple from previous Mega Man games. The a block appears, another comes, previous one goes is getting a bit boring now, and there is always some spike pit around for you to jump in. Not much new stuff in the levels, it looks pretty similar to the other Mega Man games. It really needs the stuff to be new, and fun levels. Not boring, really short, easy levels that don't last long at all.

Oh, there is one new thing as well. We have sort of a proper story line now. OK, so it is kind of the same as before, but it is a bit different. It seems Mega Man was originally a house robot or something, a servant I think, his name was Rock. He wanted to fight some enemy, thus becoming Mega Man, which he got turned into all thanks to Dr. Light. Now, you must go out, defeat the 8 evil robots Dr. COSSACK created. Yep, Cossack. You have to fight him this time. He is lame though, because he couldn't create very good enemy robots. Thats good though, story has changed slightly.

So then. The graphics and sound. Some levels look good, most look bad though. They don't have much detail in them any more, not as much as Mega Man 3, this is bad because surely this one should have better graphics? Some character and enemy models have improved, but most are the same. The Music is OK, I guess. Some is a bit annoying though, like boss battle music. Its as if its on a 10 second loop or something, I was glad to beat the boss. Mega Man 4 is bad in the graphics and sound department as well.

Overall this isn't that good at all. Same ish as other Mega Man games, some levels are boring, puzzles and such are used over and over again, and the enemies are the same as well. Still, there is some fun to be had, like fighting the bosses, they are hard and prove to be a challenge. But still, most of the game is the same, but then again, Mega Man 2 was a bit similar to 1, so this deserves a 6. Mega Man, your just not so Mega anymore...

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/06