Mega Man ZX

"Great game for X+Zero fans or the Megaman newcomer"

*Note: this review contains spoilers for the Megaman Zero games, but NOT Megaman ZX. This is because this game takes place after the events of MMZ*

Intro:
Megaman ZX is the newest (as of 10/11/06) installment in the Megaman series of games. It takes place hundreds of years after the events of Megaman Zero, where it is implied that Zero has died. The war between reploids and humans has ended with a mysterious new power source provided by Slither Inc. Differences between both groups are lessening as humans are given robotic parts, and repolids are given humanity. However, something odd is taking place...

Story: 6/10

The dude who owns Slither Inc., Serpent, is a pretty shady guy. The game starts off with you being blown off a mountainside after your bike blows up from Maverick attacks. Your package, containing Biometal, is opened. Your character (either Vent or Aile), will then start to use the Biometal, and your adventure starts from there. It's a general Megaman save-the-world plot with a little more detail to story than, say, the X series of games. Still, nothing fancy, or that good, but it gets the job done.

Graphics: 8/10

Very precise, very clean and simplistic with detailed backgrounds. Sprites are pretty simple, and very fluent. It's just like other 2D Megaman games. Screenshots will NOT do the graphics justice, as most of the beauty is from your character and enemies moving.

Sound: 7/10

Sounds are basically just action noises, aside from the Japanese voice acting in cutscenes. Your character in-game will grunt, yell, "talk" (in Japanese), and shout out things while performing certain actions. Other sounds include explosions, slashes, shots, and movement from both your character and enemies.
Definitely nothing new and awe-inspiring, but they fit into the game.

Gameplay and Controls: 10/10

Very similar to almost all Megaman games, but that's a very good thing. The sprites are a bit smaller than in the GBA Megaman Zero games, which allows a much better ease of play, especially against bosses. Action is smooth and fluent, with each attack giving you a "feeling" of power behind it. Being triumphant in a battle is a great feeling.

For those who haven't played a Megaman/X/Zero game, your basic weapons always consist of projectiles or close range attacks (in this game, it's dependant on your Biometal equipped). Attacks can easily be linked together in an artistic manner, which makes this game feel a lot more satisfying, as well.
As stated before, Biometals are part of your arsenal; you'll be constantly changing forms for different abilities which could help you find items, enemies, or give you new attacks. Certain abilities are displayed on the touch screen, and are very simple to understand; that's a huge plus. There's a total of 7 Biometals (one being secret, and one only lasting for the first few missions).

The game's extremely responsive controls are welcomed; you'll need every millisecond of precision on your side since the battles are very exact. Timing is crucial in this series, as experience will eventually tell you. The learning curve may throw a few newcomers off, but after you've mastered it to an extent, the game becomes much easier (still not extremely easy, though).

Your general enemies will be simple little robots of varying looks and attacks. Sometimes you'll run into a mini-boss, which is basically just a giant robot. The real turning point are the Pseudoroid boss battles, robots given the powers of Biometals which are stored in certain parts. Each one is fast-paced, and probably are the best points of the game. Each Pseudoroid has certain abilities that make it interesting and fun to fight, in which you can develop your own strategies to destroying it. See, in this game, it doesn't feel like a pattern of attacking the boss during its weakpoints, but it's more like the boss is really unpredictable, making it feel like you're fighting a live being.

There's also a secret boss which is potentially my favorite boss battle of all handheld games, but that's for you to find out.

Replayability: 7/10

For a Megaman game, it has extremely good replayability. Since there are no longer just missions, you are free to explore and mess around as you want. Also, regenerating bosses are a huge plus. My favorite part of the Megaman games are the bosses (along with many other fans), and is definitely welcomed. There are also two storylines with somewhat differing plots, for added time.

Final Score: 9/10

-Easily my favorite Megaman series game to date. The expansive exploration is a lot more fun to me than just accepting missions, and also allows more "freedom", in a sense. With the addition of fighting almost all the bosses whenever you want, very fun battling, extremely fun controls, and three difficulties to suit both the average gamer and the hardcore action fan, it's one DS game that shouldn't be passed up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/07