Mega Man X: Command Mission

"Megaman's first turn-based RPG"

When I first heard word that Megaman X: Command Mission was going to come out, I instantly got very excited. The first true RPG ever to grace the Megaman legacy? Would this RPG turn out to be a great addition to the series, or would it be another one of those many failed attempts at broadening Megaman's horizons?

Story 7/10
The story of this game is pretty basic. Your mission is to infiltrate Giga City and to defeat Epsilon (the leader of a large resistance group who has taken control of the city). The story itself is nothing truly special for an RPG. Comparing it to something like any Final Fantasy game would be unfair, so just take my word for it that the story is good enough to move you through the game. There are a few plot twists here and there, but most of them only take place towards the end of the game. The game does a good job at hinting at these plot twists however, and I was totally caught off guard by one of them.

Gameplay 9/10
The game itself has a vey interesting battle system. The battle system in its shell is very similar to that of Final Fantasy X in that the turns are displayed in a box in the lower right corner of the screen. You also have the option of changing characters at will at any point during battles. Other than that, I found the battle system to be very unique. Each character can equip up to two secondary weapons that they can use before they use their regular attack. These secondary weapons can boost your regular attack, or you can elect not to use them in order to conserve your energy. Energy conservation is important because once you gather enough energy you can unleash an action trigger attack which is basically just a special attack that deals more damage. Also, characters have Hyper Modes which equip fortified armor for the characters for a few turns during a battle. These armors boost their defense and offensive power but are only available for a limited time so you must use them wisely.

Difficulty 6/10
The game was not extremely difficult, but I did see the game over screen a few times. The bosses themselves can be a tad difficult at times, but with a correct strategy you can basically beat any boss without much effort. I ran away from barely any battles in the entire game and I had some slight difficulty with the last boss, that was about it. When all of the characters in your party die, you are given the option by the game to A. Restart the Battle, B. Load from the memory card, or C. Accept defeat and go to the title screen. For the most part, you'll be picking A so that you wont have to go back to the last save point (Which is quite nice).

Graphics 9/10
Graphics in this game are similar to that of X7 in that they are Cel-Shaded. This seems to be the going trend for Megaman games in these times. Not to say that these graphics are bad, I actually prefer them and I think they suit this game very well. The only thing preventing a 10/10 would be that the PS2 had more loading time than its gamecube variation. The graphics were obviously suited for the Gamecube because from what I hear, it has little to no loading time, while the PS2 has a few seconds of loading here and there which get irritating after awhile.

Sound 8/10
This game does have voice actors and they aren't too terrible this time around. Many people complain that the voices don't really suit the characters well, but my only grievance was the voice of Cinnamon. She sounded like a 5 year old girl when I think she should have sounded in her teens. The music in the game is pretty good. It definitely has that Megaman feel of it while still being up-beat and keeping you on your toes

Length 9/10
The game took me around 30 hours for my first play through. I took my time at some parts and left the game on occasionally however, so minus that probably about 25 hours from start to finish. This is a pretty good deal if you ask me since you are paying less than $2 per hour for one play through. In addition, the game has things for you to do once you beat it as well, so that adds to the length as well

Overall the game is pretty good for an RPG. If you are a Megaman fan, you owe it to yourself to buy this game. If you are an RPG fan, its worth renting to check it out. If you don't like Megaman or RPGs, stay away

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/11/04