Mega Man Zero 4

"Is Zero our hero?"

Introduction
Back when I was a kid, mega man used to be a huge game series which everyone around here used to like, but nowadays most people don't even care about it. For people who don't know the game, in this one you will be controlling Zero (a character that appeared in several games before) and our "friend" mega man won't even appear in the game.

Gameplay
Like in most games from this series, most of the times you will only need to scroll to the right while defeating enemies, and facing 2 boss battles per level, one in the end of the level and another on in the middle of it. Those are sometimes hard (strangely, a certain mid level boss gave me more trouble than any other enemy...), but with some upgrades and new armors that you will be able to get across the game perhaps you will have an easier time.

However, this time the armors and upgrades will be acquired in a slightly different way, I mean... each level may have a different weather condition from time to time, and depending on it the boss you are about to face may (or may not) use his special, and if he uses it you can then acquire his power. Sounds like fun, hum? Well, at least it is quite original!

Plus, in this game you can initially (well, after the second level, if I remember correctly) access almost all the levels (except for the last one or two of them) and fight the enemies in them, but you will eventually get to face 2 or 3 random levels which are related to the story, and you will find a strange bug... you will have to walk A LOT to face a particular area, just to later on finding that the area was located... just outside your camping!

As for the elves (well, some little creatures that helped you in the previous 3 games from this series), in this game you will just get them from a little girl that lives in your camping, and she will also upgrade them with if you have enough crystals.

Concerning the weapons, unfortunately the remove some nice features that were added in the previous games, so you will only have the gun, the sword and... the hand (no others, and I really liked the one that could deflect gun shots...)? Yes, this is a new weapon that was added to this game, and using it you can pull some things in the scenario and steal weapons from the enemies, meaning that you will virtually have more than 20 guns to unlock. However, you will just be able to use them for a limited time, since SOME weapons have ammunition and others will vanish at the end of the level.

About the levels themselves, most of them are just the usual levels, but 2 or 3 of them have new features that fans may (or not) like, like an underwater level in which you have to finish before running out of time, or a sand level in which you loose energy for being lots of time under the sand.

Story
I've played the japanese version of the game, and since I can't read kanji I wasn't able to understand much of the story. However , I could notice some slight plot holes, since some characters from the last game have *strangely* disappear without any reference given to them, and old characters appear from out of nowhere...

Graphics
I would say that, at least to me, they seem exactly like the ones from the previous games. Some static images showing some sections of the story are quite good and well drawn, but you will see less than 10 of them across the entire game.

Sound
You are now able to hear the entire introduction sequence with the voice from one of the main characters (no, not Zero, but I don't remember her name) , and some of the important sequences will also have the voices in them. Plus, the ending theme of the game will even feature lyrics, and I think that thing was never shown in a game for this console before! Oh, actually it appeared in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but never mind...

The musics were considered by most fans as great, but personally I didn't thought they were special at all, since they are neither good nor bad, but they aren't the type of music that you will remember after turning the game off.

Play Time/Replayability
As soon as you start the game you will have the easy and normal difficulty levels to be accessed, but be performing certain tasks you will be able to get more options (2 or 3, if I recall...). Also, there are some mini-games that you can play (3 or 4 of them) and for getting you will have to perform some in-game tasks.

All these features grant this game an higher play time and replay value, but finishing the game in all those things, getting lots of weapons, all the elves and powers may only matter to the true fans...

Final Recommendation
Despite the score that I gave to this game, fans from the other 3 games will surely enjoy this one.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/05