Mega Man 7

"A fun and charming experience"

Even though X series was an smash success, Capcom didn't forget the original series, which was continued with Mega Man 7 in A.D. 1995.

OVERVIEW:

Mega Man 7 is an platformer with shoot'em up elements. Mega Man jumps and shoots his way to the boss and kicks his artificial ass. The big idea that you can choose (at least to some extent) in which order you play the stages. As you defeat the boss, you get his weapon, which is powerful against some of the other bosses.

THE CATCH:

Obviously, MM7 looks and sounds better than the NES ones. Also, Mega Man can now collect bolts and use them as currency. Also, there is tons of hidden stuff to be found.

GRAPHICS:

Mega Man 7 is very detailed, smooth and colourful. The blue bomber and his traditional enemies have been upgraded to look much more detailed and expressionable, and the stages have tons of details. In short, MM7 looks fabulous in every aspect. In fact MM7 looks even better than MM8.

SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC:

Mega Man 7 pleases the ear as well. The sound effects are mostly clear and serve a purpose. However, this is always true, as sometimes sound effects are hilariously inapproriate. For example, Treble's growl sounds like engine revving (in fact, the same sound effect is used for Turbo Man's charge attack).

Music is as good as you would expect for a Mega Man game. The music is mostly catchy and memorable. Some of the tunes are remixes composed of NES-era Mega Man games.

GAMEPLAY:

Mega Man is easy and intuitive to control. The player can rest assured that all mistakes made are her/his fault, since the blue bomber does exactly what you tell him to, with no delay.

The stage design is excellent. The stages are always challenging, but never cheap. Every stage is different and fresh without being outlandish. One thing that really makes the stage design stand out is the way how player can manipulate it. For example, Freeze Cracker can freeze molten metal, Thunder Bolt can activate machinery and Scorch Wheel can lit torches.

Actually, because player has all sorts of gadgets, lots of things can be done in many ways. This is very refreshing, considering how many games, especially the newer ones, force you to do things the way the game wants you to.

All these things make Mega Man 7 such an fun game to play.

CHALLENGE:

Mega Man 7 is quite challenging. Every stage is an different challenge, and every Robot Master requires different approach to defeat. Some of the bosses are amongst the hardest you can face in a Mega Man game. The Guts Dozer and Bass can be rather frustrating at times, and Dr. Wily himself will make you cry blood.

THE STORY AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS:

In the beginning of MM7, Mega Man finally captures Dr. Wily, who sentenced to prison for his crimes. However, Dr. Wily was prepared to this outcome. Soon enough 4 robot masters made before their master's imprisonement wake from their slumber and releases Dr. Wily from prison. Mega Man and his canine companion Rush once again set to fight Dr. Wily, assisted by enigmatic Bass & Treble.

The plot is pretty standard and mostly serves to introduce new characters Bass, Treble and Auto. Considering how significant Bass & Treble are for the plot, they appear rather infrequently, and lot of the potential is wasted because of this.

LONGEVITY:

Mega Man 7 is short, but intensely fun. I like to play it infrequently even today.

SUMMA SUMMARUM:

One thing I don't kind of understand is how lots of people feel compelled to dismiss MM7 as "kiddy" or "childish". Does this game somehow threaten their manhood?

And besides, no Mega Man game before X were mature anyway. Can anybody seriously claim that a story, which puts an midget in a blue armour against an insane scientist, is anything but (charmingly) silly? Can anyone take such villains as Bubble Man, Pharaoh Man, Star Man or Knight Man seriously without some heavy-handed suspension of disbelief? A stage comprised entirely of intertwined snakes is nothing but naivé and surreal (in a very creative way).

I rather compromise my dignity by playing Mega Man 7 than these modern games, that try oh so hard to be dark, gritty and mature that they forget they are games and force you to do everything in the way the code requires you to, so that the game can commence being a badly acted and poorly written interactive movie.

Am I right or am I right?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06