Rockman 5
EVEN SHORTER ULTRA MINI REVIEW!What is it with the Megaman series and the fifth installment generally sucking?
The regular series started the trend, the X-series continued it, as did the Battle Network series, but let's hope the Zero series will be the sole exception.
Perhaps it's because, after 4 prequels, there isn't a whole lot of new stuff you can do anymore, and even fans will be tired of the same gameplay they've witnessed four times already.
What you'd need is a real tour-de-force, Resident Evil 4 stylee, taking the series into a completely different direction. This never happened to the Megaman series, although you might call Megaman X the refreshment the regular series so desperately required.
I mean, think of it, how many game series do you know that have SIX (6!) separate installments on ONE (1!) console!? The NES got 6 bloody Megaman Games back in the day, which is insane. Not even Final Fantasy or Mario reaches that kind of numbers.
The worst thing is that hardly anything has changed for Megaman 5.
Whereas the previous 4 games all introduced something new into the series, Megaman 5 seems fresh out of ideas. The only notable difference is that Megaman's charged Rockbuster is now a bit beefier, and has taken its final shape, looking like it was going to look for the rest of the entire series.
And that's ALL.
Well, there is BEAT. BEAT is a small blue robot bird that you can call for aid in dire times. It will automatically start attacking enemies, no matter where they are, so that's useful. It surely makes the final boss a COMPLETE push-over, so that's stupid too.
BEAT is not nearly enough to make this game interesting enough to stand on its own though. Also, they've given Rush Coil an overhaul, and it's basically a lot more annoying to use now.
Add to that the fact that there's some trial-and-error bits in here, which is NEVER good in a video game, and it features THE most annoying enemy in the entire series, that Tiger thingy, and you've got yourself a pretty unnecessary game on your hands.
Also, the bosses are dull. The Wily Numbers seem duller than they once were, but most notably the castle bosses are stupid.
One of the great things about Megaman 4 was the HUGE bosses you would get in Dr. Cossack and Dr. Wily's Castles. This time round, the game lets you think that Megaman's Brother of Sorts, Protoman aka Blues, has gone haywire and wants to destroy the world or some such thing, but of course Wily will turn out to be behind it, shock and horror, I never saw that coming, What's This World Coming To, etc. etc.
Anyhow, the bosses in Protoman's Castle totally SUCK. They're small simple robots with nothing cool or special about them, and they're totally boring. Yuck.
Also, the music is rather uninspired and very lacklustre, especially when compared to 2, 3 and 4 which all had amazing soundtracks.
And ruining a Megaman soundtrack is simply something that can not be tolerated.
That said, it still is a quality action title, of sorts. Megaman's base value is still way above 90% of the competition, as it always has been. It's just that this particular game is not very good when compaired to the rest of the series.
I give it a 7 for trying, but please don't do this again Capcom.
At least, not until Rockman 6... :(
On a side note, I finally finished Kingdom Hearts 2 yesterday (yay!). The final boss fight was spectacular, as expected, and it's another fantastic game overall, so expect a very nice (exclusive!) review soon.
Now I've started work on Grandia III, which I recently acquired (thanks again, Drs. Summahhouse!) and which should last me a couple of weeks as well probably.
Nice!
posted by Ingen! @ 11:18 AM
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