Mega Man Xtreme

"A rehash of earlier games"

I was very excited when I first bought this game.Finaly a Mega Man X game on the GameBoy System,and with color at that!Alas,my joy at being able to find and buy this game (they were scarce in my town) diminished very fast.

The main story is that somehow the Maverick Hunters' (robots who hunt down renegade robots) computer at their base has been hacked,thus changing how the Reploids (the official name for the Robots in the Mega Man X series) act.So,the Maverick Hunters send in Mega Man X to find out exactly what is going on.

Graphics 8/10
The X series has a reputation for having rather 'grim' graphics,and this one is no exception.Nice dark overtones for many of the levels and nice detail for the characters themselves.

Sound 7/10
The music itself is pleasant to listen to most of the time,though there is a time or two when it gets irritating.

The sound effects,on the other hand,need a little more work.Most of them remind me of sounds different splashes of water would make.Take sound of Mega Man X's arm cannon being fired, for example....It reminds me of the sound that a super soaker (a high powered water gun) makes when being fired.

Control 7/10
The controls are about as good as you can get on this system,however it still seems to leave a little to be desired.My main problem with the controls comes from the fact that, because of the system having so few buttons, it can be a pain to jump dash.As the game has more then a few areas where you need to jump dash without any trouble,it becomes aggravating.

Gameplay 6/10
While the gameplay itself is okay (beat any of the four Maverick bosses in any order,face another four Maverick bosses,and then the end game levels),what I found that made me angry is that almost all of the levels are exactly ripped out of either Mega Man x 1 or 2.

This game does have a few all new features.You can summon Zero onto the screen to do one of ultimately four different moves.This game also makes use of a save feature instead of a password system,though I myself would have preferred a password system.

While the story itself might be new most of what else is in this game is not.The bottom line is that you should only get this game if you don't already own Mega Man X 1 and 2 or if you simply must have an on-the-go Mega Man X game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/21/01, Updated 08/22/01