Mega Man X4

"An Excellent X Game"

Mega Man X4 is the series first true outing on the Sony Playstation, its first entry into the polygonal 32-bit world. This discounts the rare and mostly unheard of Mega Man X3 release on the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation as it was merely a port of a Super NES game.

After X3's events, the world again became peaceful. The Maverick Hunters were joined by a military unit called the Repliforce, led by the cleverly named 'General.' The exact purpose of the Repliforce is left a bit uncertain in the game, but they're a large armed force stocked with (obviously) Reploids.

Everything is peaceful... until Mavericks attack the Sky Lagoon! Then either X or Zero (your choice) rush to the scene to investigate. They find another Maverick Hunter, Magma Dragoon, at the scene, just in time for the Sky Lagoon to fall onto the city below.

Later, after battling through the burning city, the Colonel from the Repliforce is spotted. This immediately leads to accusations of the Repliforce being behind the attack, which the Colonel denies. But once the Colonel refuses to disarm, the Repliforce is branded as Mavericks anyway, and the game begins in earnest.

There are two playable characters in Mega Man X4, X and Zero. To further expand the roster, there are codes that can be entered at character selection that change the character's armor to different colors. I rather like the way Zero's black armor looks, myself.

Mega Man X4 follows the traditional gameplay of the series. X or Zero stand off against eight Maverick bosses, then proceed to the final stages where they face tougher bosses. Scattered through the Maverick stages are various power ups: Heart Tanks, Sub Tanks, a 'W-Tank' and a 'EX-Tank,' as well as upgrades for X.

Sub Tanks and Heart Tanks work like in previous Mega Man X games. The former giving X the ability to refill his life meter at any time, while the latter extends the life meter so X can take more punishment.

The W-Tank is a Sub Tank for your special weapons, and is capable of refilling any one depleted special weapon bar. The other new item, the EX-Tank effectively gives you extra extra-lives.

X's upgrades are very powerful this time. The leg upgrade lets X hover in mid-air. Useful for some purposes every now and then. He has two arm upgrades to pick from. One lets X fire an extremely powerful blast from his X-buster, the other lets X store up 4 smaller charged shots in the X-buster to be fired at will. The helmet upgrade is almost overpowering, allowing X infinite use of the special weapons acquired from bosses.

Zero's game is very different. He can pick up the various kinds of 'tanks' in the levels, but he gets no upgrades. We'll cover this in more detail momentarily.

Ride Armors and hover bikes make an appearance in the game, though rather token and level specific ones. This is a step down from Mega Man X3's feature that let you spawn the Ride Armor of your choice on any level you desired.

As with all Mega Man games, defeating the bosses gives new weapons to be used. In the case of X, this is the traditional acquisition of new tricks that any veteran of the series has come to expect, an ice-based move, a fire-based attack, etc. But for Zero, he gets new abilities entirely. Defeating a boss could give Zero the ability to double jump, or to use his sword to knock incoming bullets out of the air. Using these new weapons and abilities is the key to defeating the Maverick bosses.

Enemy design, stage design, and boss design are all superb, hearkening back to the triumphs of Mega Man X and Mega Man X2. I may not really buy Split Mushroom's 'soul' powers, but the puzzle-like nature of his boss battle and the good timing it requires are enough to make me suspend disbelief. The only enemy design in the game that is rather bad, is the last boss. His final form is terrible, and the three simplistic colored heads that he harasses you with are poorly drawn. It's almost like this last battle was cobbled together in a hurry.

Overall, Mega Man X4 is a superb game. Its enemies are well designed, and while maybe not the most creatively thought up, they show an excellent eye towards balance and aesthetics. The levels are well-laid out, and extremely varied with often times highly animated backgrounds. Plenty of variety and challenge. I can't recommend it enough.

Gameplay: 9

Excellent platforming action. Good enemies. A nice mixture of puzzle like bosses and reflex-based bosses. Only one or two pointlessly difficult fights, and some often nigh-impossible to reach power ups mar the experience.

Graphics: 9

If we discount the anime cutscenes, the game looks good. The effects are good, the animation is great. No complaints there. The cutscenes could use a little work, but they're charming, and get the point across.

Sound: 6

Music and the effects are good. The voice acting makes me want to cry.

Replay: 8

Play through the game as X. Play through the game as Zero. Play through the game again without collecting power ups. It's just fun to play.

Other:

Shouldn't Zero have had a gun of his own? He does in other games...

Overall: 9

Passing Mega Man X4 up would be a terrible mistake for almost anyone. If you're a platforming fan, it's even worse than that. Great controls, great balance, great fun. Check it out.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/06, Updated 09/08/06