Mega Man X4

"A great game in the X series...but not perfect!"

I searched for a long time to find a PAL version of this game (I'm a Norwegian), but I got a hold of a NTSC copy. I was all excited about it, since this was THE Mega Man X game without any weird boss names (like in X5 and X6), cool music (I had all the MP3s), anime sequences and cool graphics.

This was the kind of Mega Man X game I was used too. X5 introduced a rather weird gameplay, like a wannabe Zelda: Majora's Mask (but hey, it's Capcom, all they do is copy).

Story:
There isn't much of a story in this game, just an army called the Repliforce wants independece from the humans, but they are tricked by the never-dying Sigma, and this plot (where Sigma supposedly is meant to be disguised, but you can see his face) is not exciting, as everything is told in the movie before the intro stage, and the movie right after. And after that, there isn't much of a story. Just a little traitor, of if you are Zero, a girlfriend that pops out of nothing (Why do her and Zero know each other, when the Colonel is her brother, and Zero doesn't know who he is?).

Graphics:
Clean and fresh graphics, but definitely not eye-popping. Some areas look strange, like the boring background in Cyber Peacock's stage or the cardboard background that is always the same in Storm Owl's stage. I liked the design of the first area of Web Spider's area. The rest is decent. The Final Weapon stages get a stupid look.

Music/SFX:
I think the music is the best part of the game. And if it weren't for those annoying cries when you jump or slash, I would have gotten a great gaming experience. Everytime you jump, climb a wall or slash Zero's Saber, they always say ''Ho!'' ''Ha!'' ''Yeah'' and so on. And the music plays a little low in the background, making the sound effects play a more important role. That's the bad audio part. Now, for the other. The voice acting. X's voice is a girl's, and he sounds like a three-year old, Zero has a decent voice, Iris has a little weird voice, Colonel has the strangest voice in the game (he sounds like a wannabe-Australian), General sounds a little soft, although he seems very masculine. Double looks like a little boy, but has a man's voice, and Sigma's voice is the one that fits. The narrator is also bad. On the Get Weapon and Stage Chosen screens, he always says something stupid, like ''Storm Owell'', ''Split MUSH--Room'' and when it says ''You learned'' on Zero's screen, he says ''You earned''. Talk about stupid. And since Capcom was lazy and didn't translate Zero's techniques, he gets a harder time when pronouncing Japanese. I always laugh because of this. Stupid!

Replayability:
Great! I love this game, and I never tire of it. But that's me. I have always loved Mega Man. And with two characters to play as, you have a wide-range of choices. I like X best, but it's more fun to play as Zero, as it's more challenging and more fun with his techniques than X's special weapons.

Rent/Buy:
If you are insecure, rent. If you love Mega Man, don't hesitate. Get it now! Don't make the same mistake as I did and waited a long time before I considered getting it. I had a hard time getting it! But Americans can still buy it, so get it! Mega Man fan or not, have this game in your game-library! It's healthy with 2D-games, and this one sure is healthy! GET IT NOW!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/01, Updated 12/30/01