Mega Man ZX Description:
Mega Man ZX continues the incredible Mega Man X saga! It’s been years since the wars between humans and Reploids. They now coexist peacefully, with humans using new Biometal technology to give them Reploid-like powers and Reploids giving up their immortality. When a mysterious group attacks three couriers delivering Model X and Model Z Biometals, they respond by fusing themselves with the Biometals, creating Model ZX! With powerful abilities at their disposal, they must discover who their enemies are and what they are after.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1562 in Video Games
- Brand: Capcom
- Model: 32005
- Released on: 2006-09-12
- ESRB Rating: Everyone
- Platform: Nintendo DS
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .75″ h x 5.00″ w x 5.50″ l, .20 pounds
Features
- Play as either a male character named Vent, or as a female named Aile — Vent is bigger and more powerful, while Aile is smaller and more agile
- Biometal is the key - strategically attack bosses without damaging its Biometals, so Vent and Alie can absorb its power with no degradation
- Transformations offer a range of different abilities — players can also transform into new Model X types like Model HX, Model LX and more
- Unlock additional areas of the map by using different Model X forms’ powers
- Real time info system engages both screens of the DS system
Customer Reviews:
Mega Mania
Mega Man ZX is, technically, Mega Man’s first action venture onto the dual screens of the DS. Yes, I know we’ve a Mega Man Battle Network port before this, but that’s more of a RPG, and doesn’t exactly re-enact the type of frantic side-scrolling adventures so commonly associated with the series’ games of the past. ZX, on the other hand, works like previous GBA Mega Man Zero (and before) titles, and continues to provide a sterling challenge for fans of the series with its easy-to-master, hard-to-execute platforming gameplay.
Playing either as Vent (male) or Alle (female), your character is a delivery personnel working for Giro Express, a courier company. Giro, the boss of the company, actually has the secret identity of being a Guardian, who has been fighting against the evil Mavericks for quite a while. Early in the game, you’re tasked to delivery a biometal package to the Guardians, but ended up being attacked by the bad guys. The biometal then merged with you, and you gained the powers of a Mega man prototype form known as Model X. Model X provides you with increased speed, mobility and firepower, which you used to perfection in removing the immediate threat. However, Giro has gone missing during the melee, and your immediate task is to go for his rescue.
Playing as Vent or Alle has little differences to the plot. Some dialogues are different, but the premise remains identical. What’s important is the introduction of Model X in the scheme of things, because it’s what you’d need to transpire the various platforms and death traps in the game in your bid to uncover the evil schemes of the Mavericks and their perpetuator. As you progress, you’ll unlock different forms of Model X, granting you more powers to transverse the large map that several challenging level designs. The LX, for example, allows you to move freely underwater. The HX, on the other hand, gives you the ability to hover, which in turns allows you to access previously non-accessible areas. You’ll also have the option of reverting to human form as and when required - this is useful when you need to crouch under low areas, which is not possible when you’re in your biometal costume.
The mission structure in Mega Man ZX has some free-roaming elements. The map is enormous, spanning over 60 unique levels, and each level has its own missions for you to undertake. It’s entirely up to you to decide what you want to do first, which is a great idea for what’s essentially a 2D platformer. However, despite the freedom to choose, the idea is not exactly well executed. This is because most of the time, you’d only be limited to a choice or two when you access a mission terminal. A large part of this is due to the somewhat linear manner of accessing a new area. You’d need to go into a new area via doors, but many of these doors are locked, and cannot be opened until you get a key. You’d still get to choose between missions available in the areas that are accessible, but this restriction somehow undermines the potential of a truly free-roaming environment.
The platforming in the game provides some nice challenges. Many of your jumps require extreme precision, and this is where the game sometimes becomes frustrating. Enemies also respawn almost immediately after you beat them (once you leave their “first appearance” location), and at times, you’d get hit just because you didn’t expect the enemy to reappear so quickly. The challenging nature of its platforming means that Mega Man ZX may pose some problems for newcomers to the game - this is certainly not your usual feel-good Mario jumping galore. A great challenge is always good though, and this game serves up lots of them on top of the platforming. The old-school boss fights, for example, are fun and engaging. They typically require you to find out a distinctive weakness in a boss’ attacking pattern, and then dealing your own counter-attacks said weakness. These fights differ from boss fights from the modern era, which are usually settled by spamming the “attack” buttons relentlessly.
For a DS game, Mega Man ZX surprisingly doesn’t utilize the features of the dual screen extensively. The action occurs primarily on the top screen, while the touch screen shows nothing but a logo. During some action scenes, the touch screen will show the biometal information, but this is very much a gimmick than anything. To view your character’s items, weapons and statistics, you’d need to stop the game, but these are also shown on the top screen. With several pages of statistics available, you’d end up pressing the shoulder buttons to browse through them. Surely, dividing these pages onto both screens would be a more viable choice? Moreover, for a game with such a massive number of levels, the game would do well to have a Castlevania-style map on the touch screen to guide the player. Sadly, this isn’t included.
The in-game graphics in Mega Man ZX are a combination of 2D and 3D graphics, which are typical of a side-scrolling platformer on the DS. They provide some enjoyable in-game displays, and give the game a nice, dimensional look. The cut-scenes are also awesome in a sense that they’re actually rendered in cel-shaded animation sequences. True, the rather weak decoding makes the animation appear blurred, but to actually watch some short cartoon scenes while playing a game? I’d take that any day. The music scores are also catchy and exciting, but most importantly, they provide much variety (no more being bored to death by repetitive music!). The levels and their bosses each have a different theme, making this a really thorough experience on top of playing the game and enjoying the graphics. The voice-overs during the cut-scenes, however, are in its original Japanese form. There’s also no evidence of this game having any English voice-overs, which could be disappointing for those who wanted to actually understand what they’re hearing. Subtitles are included though, so that should make understanding the story a little easier.
In a nutshell, the solid gameplay and presentations make Mega Man ZX one of the best action games on the DS. The lack of a dual-screen map support and English voice-overs pose some concerns, but the game still offers the kind of thrill that can only be found in a Mega Man franchise. And for some of us out there, it’s more than enough.
A brief review…
Other reviews for this game speak at length about the plot and new mechanics, so I won’t ramble on about those. ZX is a solid platform game that successfully brings polished Mega Man action to the DS. However, while fans of Mega Man will enjoy it, the game does have some issues that can make it frustrating for newcomers.
One of the big differences between ZX and previous Mega Man games is how it adapts more of a sprawling, open-world layout similar to the Metroid or recent Castlevania games. While it’s fun to explore everything the game’s massive world has to offer, there are frequent times when missions you accept are not clearly defined. For example, one mission might require you to investigate strange happenings at Area H, an abandoned amusement park. But there are no hints on where Area H is located. Instead you just wander aimlessly and stumble upon Area H in Area A, the forest (huh?). And Area L, the secret munitions depot? That’s not connected to Area M, it’s connected to Area H (go figure?). Who would put a munitions depot in an amusement park? Even though this encourages the player to explore everywhere, it’s ultimately frustrating because the linkages make no sense. What Capcom should have used is a “hint beacon” similar to Metroid Zero Mission.
The folks in the sprawling metropolis of Area C should really do something about those active lava flows in the Area next door.
The game doesn’t document the various abilities of the armor. While the instruction booklet does speak of their powers, an in-game tutorial would have been nice. I had to read the booklet to learn about the different armors. Even then, I rarely used the Model L and Model P armors. The default Model Z will get you through most of the game just fine.
While the music is great and the sound effects are improved over the GBA games, I got really tired of having your character yelp like a squeaky dog toy at every attack, jump, or hit. It would have been better if these happened randomly. This is a mis-step Mega Man X4 made on the PSX and it was weird to see it repeated here.
There is no multiplayer to speak of and use of the touch screen is rare. While I’m totally against games that use the touch screen just for the sake of including it, ZX seems like it could have done more. Cooperative multiplayer, like special stages or even a boss attack mode, would have been a lot of fun and added some replay value, of which there is little.
Despite these issues, I did enjoy the game. I liked it better than all of the Zero games. As a veteran of Mega Man, I thought Normal difficulty was tuned perfectly. The bosses were fun to fight and had a plethora of well-conceived attacks. The graphics, being 2D sprites, were highly detailed and nicely animated. Also of note is the length of the game. By the time I had destroyed the final boss, I had logged almost 16 hours. This is a Mega Man game you won’t complete quickly.
Overall, I just felt the above issues make it a “good” game rather than a “great” game. Mega Man ZX is moving in an interesting new direction. With minor improvements, a sequel would be a must-own for any DS owner. As it stands, it is great for Mega Man fans, but others should try before they buy.
Rock On! (Megamerge!)
Mega Man ZX has a lot varieties for you to play. There are six biometals you need to collect and used before you can procede to your next destinations.
Sound: COA removed most of the Japanese voiceover dialogues when your selected character is interacting with other sprite characters in the game, except for the anime cutscene. By the way, whenever Vent or Aile morph into their Biometal form, they say “Rock On!”, despite what the game manual said “Megamerge!”.
Note: “Rockman ZX” has all of the Japanese voiceovers for all of the characters.
Video:
It is a little blurry to be played on Nintendo DS, but overall most of the cutscenes run okay in my opinion.
Music:
Better than I expected to be than “Mega Man Zero” series hard rock music.
Gameplay:
Good- Fun and entertaining when selecting your preferred Biometals on some missions. There are time when you have to select the right biometal in order to procede your destination, such as flying over spikes w/ Model HX or eliminating boulders that block your path by using Model FX.
Bad- You can get lost on where you are going on your selected missions.
Overall:
The game is fun and entertaining, but the main point is that I am really disappointed with exception of the voiceover dialogue that have been removed. Plus it does not make any sense when the credit starts rolling, it shows all of the Japanese casts and most of them are not heard in this version, such as the character named Prairie.I would like to give it an overall five star-ratings if COA hired Ocean Group to act on for the English voiceovers or leave it in Japanese instead.
Note: If you want to get the original version, it’s called “Rockman ZX.” But the price is higher than this version because of its high game quality, unless you are a hardcore fan of the Mega Man or Rockman series.
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