Mega Man X7

"I love you Mega Man, but you didn't quite make the full cut this time"

If you checked out my Mega Man: Battle Network review for the GameCube, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of the Mega Man universe. I know some might think that this makes me a bit biased, but when you look at it, the advantage and disadvantage of such a long running series is that sometimes you get your good games and sometimes you get your bad games. I can honestly say that there have been Mega Man games that I haven’t liked, as well as the ones I have and I thought that it’s important that anyone reading this knows where this review is coming from. So, without further delay, where does Mega Man X7 fall? Read on!

Gameplay: 7/10
-Let’s face it. All Mega Man games fall down into the same structural form from game to game. (Save the Mega Man Legends games, but that’s a different story) As Mega Man or one of his compatriots, you start at an introduction level, fight through a total of eight boss stages and then build up to the final few end boss levels. Now, this has been done around 20 times already in the past and to tell you the truth, I’m still not sick of this formula. The ability to play whatever stage I want, when I want really adds something to the overall freedom that the player is allowed to have. However, one of the biggest points of being able to do these stages in any order is due to the fact that Mega Man and his buddies can absorb or mimic the powers of his enemies which in turn can later be used as an easier means of fighting other select bosses. However, in Mega Man X7, these boss power ups feel horribly unimportant and overall weak. I had a much easier and more fun time just using X’s powered up shots or Zero’s regular Z-saber attack than I did using the given weapons.

There is one exception to this however. The new character added into the game, Axl, really shines in this area. Not only does Axl get the power to control the multiple boss attacks, he also gets the ability to get a totally different standard weapon depending on who you choose. Not only does he get to use different weapons however, these weapons also have an unlimited number of shots whereas the special boss powers do not. Axl also has the unique ability of being able to copy the bodies of certain regular non-boss enemies and thus give you the chance to play as your enemy for a limited time, but unfortunately, there just aren’t enough enemies that Axl can actually copy and there’s very few times where using these forms are necessary or effective. I enjoyed playing as Axl, but in the end, after I gained the ability to use X, I stopped using Axl due to X’s powered up buster shot. Yes, X is not available at the start of the game due to his own personal moral conflicts and whereas some people complained about this, I actually found it to be useful as I got to experience all three characters without feeling too guilty that I was leaving someone out.

Now, as you may or may not know, Mega Man X7 has numerous 3D sections where Capcom attempted to change the series up a bit. Whereas some of these stages are indeed entertaining, I found myself yearning for more of the classic 2D stages that the earlier games have offered. When using Zero in 3D, he becomes basically useless as his range seems drastically shortened. As much so that many times you will be hurt by your enemy every time you try to get close enough to actually hit them. This is kind of a problem too seeing as how almost every single boss fight is shown from the new 3D perspective instead of the classic 2D. Overall, the 3D sections aren’t bad, but they seem horribly average save for some close call reploid saves.

This brings me to one of the more fun aspects of the game. Scattered throughout the levels are reploids that are put in varying locations in the levels that when you touch them they say ‘thank you’ and then disappear. However, if an enemy gets to the reploid before you do he dies so you have to be quick. The advantage of saving these reploids is that at the end of a level, the number of reploids that you save are tallied up and some of them give you the ability to power up different aspects of your characters. These range from increased damage to health power ups giving more bonuses when you get them. The frantic pace of trying to save these reploids in a given amount of time really brings back some of the faster paced essence that the Mega Man X games should have and thus saves some of the monotony of the 3D levels.

The last thing I’d like to touch base on that has to do with the gameplay of MMX7 is that of the character swapping mode. In the past, the only MM game to really do this well was Mega Man Xtreme 2 for the Game Boy Color. I find that being able to swap between any two characters really changes the gameplay up and definitely adds a lot to the playing style. Granted, you can only use 2 of the 3 given characters for any given stage, but that just means that you have more options to suit your own play style. In my opinion, this feature alone saves this score from getting a solid 6.

Story: 5/10
-Ok, this is a Mega Man game so don’t expect much story… A new faction called Red Alarm has arisen to take the place of the Maverik Hunters who have been less effective since Mega Man decided to stop fighting. These reploids challenge the Maverik Hunters to a duel of sorts when Axl decides to defect from Red Alarm to the Maverik Hunters to see who the top hunters truly are. Expect to see a few familiar faces. Not much to the story, but I didn’t expect much.

Graphics: 8/10
-While the graphics may look perhaps a tad rough around the edges and some of the backgrounds are incredibly sparse, for the most part Mega Man and the crew look great with the new cel-shaded 3D look. The boss models are done pretty well and overall I think that everything seems to mesh together to create the classic techno-futuristic settings that we’re all used to by now. Also, even though there are only a few actually live motion movie sequences, the ones that they do include are very stylish. I do have to say that the final movie of the game contains a very cool finishing move by our hero’s. The graphics are definitely the high point of the game.

Audio: 6/10
- Ok, I definitely enjoy the techno-savvy music and the overall sound effects are good, but what really brings this score down is the voice acting. To put it simply, it’s just awful. Granted, some of the voices are well done, but they just don’t fit in with their character. For instance, Zero now sounds more like Snake from Metal Gear Solid rather then the middle of the road voice that Capcom used in MMX4. However, most voices are very poorly done. Mega Man himself sounds like a bored teenager who can barely read. Axl’s character almost puts way too much emotion into everything he says and overall, the rest of the characters sound like they’ve been recorded from multiple different William Shatner’s. At least you can change the dialogue to Japanese if you want to, but if you’re going to put in English voice acting, you should at least try to do a good job. The only other complaint of mine is that the characters talk too much when you’re attacking. I think I heard Zero say “Whoo-haaa!” about a million times while playing.

Replay Value: 7/10
-Well, after you beat the game you can go back through and save more reploids and get more extra power-ups for your characters, but it’s nothing special. It’s pretty easy to get almost all the extras the first time through the game and most of the stages are pretty boring but the boss fights themselves are fairly challenging offering the ability to try new strategies on them. Plus, the fact that there are three different characters to choose to play as who all control fairly uniquely, you can always play through the game as these different characters to form new playing experiences, but this won’t keep you hooked for long.

Buy or Rent?
-Sadly, I’d have to say that if you’re a Mega Man fan, you’ll probably want to rent this before you buy it. It is definitely not one of the best Mega Man X games available but it’s also not the worst in my opinion (I leave that spot for MMX5). If you like to collect Mega Man games though, this game certainly won’t completely disgrace your shelf. As Mega Man games go, this one is absolutely slightly above average.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/03