Rockman X5
Man, there sure are a lot of Megaman games out there.Fortunately for YOU, though, they aren't exactly getting any better, so you can actually skip playing a lot of them.
After 4 fantastic Megaman X games, varying from "just really good" to "really great" Capcom decided that the series needed a change, mainly because EVERYTIME they released a new game, everyone was going "Oh look, it's Capcom and their if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it routine!", "Oh, another Megaman game, great.", "Isn't this the same as the last one" and "Why are these new Sonic games so crappy?"
To respond to almost all of these regularly returning allegations, Capcom DID decide to change some things for their new Megaman X game, and you know what?
It's not nearly as good as the old ones anymore.
See!?
THAT IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING A WHINY ASSHOLE.
(this last remark directed at every "official" game reviewer out there)
The way it was, we just got great games, that maybe didn't change very much, but at least that meant they were consistent in high quality. But because the industry wants Capcom to change, we get crappy new games like X5.
Thanks, IGN!
Well, to be honest, it's not really that bad at all, actually.
It's a fact that it's not nearly as good as any of the first four, but it still has some shards of that good old Megaman Action flying around here and there.
The story is that there is this Big Space Colony called Eurasia which is on a crash course with planet Earth and X and Zero need to retrieve parts to create a big Cannon to blast it out of the sky. Of course, these parts are kept by 8 bosses, who are all infected with the Sigma Virus, so they're not about to let go of them without a fight. It's not a very interesting story, but the coolness of the Megaman X storyline lies not in each separate game's story, but in the revelations regarding the characters themselves. Megaman X4 already revealed a shocking secret about Zero, which is further expanded upon in this game, and the game even ends on a rather sad note, which the series had actually been building up to from the beginning.
So the story is cool and makes sense, which makes it all the more painful that 3 more sequels have been made afterwards. But that's Capcom for you.
Anyway, they tried to change the formula a bit this time, and I'm not even talking about the addition of a crouching feature or whatever, nothing wrong with that. But there are just some really stupid decisions:
A) The game has a time limit. You have to finish it in 16 "hours", which boils down to trying stages 16 times. Admittedly, this limit goes away once the 8 bosses have been dealt with, but it shouldn't have been there anyway.
B) You start with full armor. Normally you start with Regular X and you have to find enough parts to form your new armor, but in X5 you get a full armor from the start, which makes regular X totally useless. There are two new armors to find, meaning 8 separate parts, but you have to find 4 parts before the armor can be completed.
Part of the fun of the original games was that you could immediately equip whatever new part you found, and the new system is just too cumbersome.
C) Bosses have levels! This is REALLY idiotic! Did someone come forward and say "Platform games need to be more like RPGs!"!? I mean, What the Fuck, Barbeque!?
On the one hand this means that, as you grow stronger, they do too, and they learn new skills, which is fine and all, but they will also get more health, resulting in Level 96 Bosses at the end of the game with HUGE energy gauges going twice across the screen and coming out of your TV set, making battles longer, harder and more boring. Nice one.
D) Ayla! Ayla is your friendly helpful guide who gives you information about oncoming dangers and enemies WHETHER YOU GODDAMN WANT IT OR NOT! SUXXOR!
Shit, that's annoying. It's extremely nice to be speeding along a level when all of a sudden you come to an abrupt stop because Ayla feels the need to tell you that she's having a bad hair day. You're a friggin' ROBOT, woman! In fact, you're not REALLY a woman AT ALL, although you certainly have that whining aspect down like a charm. I guess even Robots have genes then.
E) You get full control of X AND Zero at any time you want. This may sound nice, but it's not so convenient if you realize that there is only a limited amount of health upgrades, and you need every one you can get, meaning you can only give them to ONE guy at the same time. There's no use switching back to Zero when Z is all powered up, cos he doesn't stand a chance. X4's system of each guy having his own separate route through the game was much, MUCH better.
F) SLOWDOWN! OHMYGOD! Well, to be fair, it doesn't actually happen in 90 percent of the stages, but when it happens (in Dark Necrobat's Stage) it HAPPENS. Try to make a dashing jump and you can make a cup of coffee in the meanwhile. FOR AN ENTIRE COUNTRY. Come on, Capcom, this shouldn't have been necessary.
On the other hand, it has some good stuff as well, which are more innate to the series than to this game, but at least they're there:
A) Good, Solid Action.
B) AWESOME Soundtrack. Really. X5 is one of the best in the series, and that is saying a WHOLE lot. One of the best Playstation soundtracks PERIOD.
C) Some nice secrets and lots of hidden stuff.
This is the main reason I'm not scoring it that low. Although by Megaman X standards it's not very good, it's still a solid action game. It just fell in with the wrong crowd. Poor little guy. I'm grudgingly bestowing a nice 8- on this game, but that's me being nice. Now don't let me catch you doing that again! (*Sigh*, everyone knows what's coming up next....)
posted by Ingen! @ 7:47 PM
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