10/29/01

Megaman X5

When I picked up Megaman x5 from Babages, I expected it to be more of the same finger blistering platform action I'd grown to love from the blue bomber. In a sense that's what X5 is.  Not much has changed in the game play, Megaman can now duck and Zero  has a  blaster attack you can use by pressing triangle. The biggest change is the game's incredibly easy difficulty, which disappointed me because it's not the same without the series' trademark  frustratingly tough bosses.  You also have this  robot lady that tells you what to do at every turn. This can get annoying rather quickly, since most die hard Megaman fans expect to figure it out themselves (it's not really that hard to do anyway).

The story is of generic Megaman fare.  Sigma is at large again, this time his intent is on turning all robots into mavericks with his sigma virus (for some reason it doesn't effect Zero or Megaman). Its up to you to stomp all 8 mavericks into the ground, absorbing there powers as you go. Each boss has his own difficulty level represented by numbers under there name. The difficulty changes depending on which character you chose.

This time around you can either be X, Zero, or  fourth (Megaman with his X4 armor). Be careful who you pick first though, because it will affect the difficulty level if you decide to choose the other characters later on in the game.
As always, the controls are dead on. You will need to master all of the games several techniques, including dashing, air dashing, double jump, wall jump, and duck. The platform jumping part of the game is pretty easy, not requiring the precision timing of previous X games. Bosses are for the most part pushovers, and over all the game is way too easy. I think Capcom is turning the Mega Man market to kids (why Capcom why?). Freaking retarded kids  that have to be told to "jump on the moving platforms to avoid falling." I mean seriously Capcom, video games haven't corroded our brains that bad.

The music is typical of the X series, with blazing mini guitar tracks that really get you into the game. In my opinion, Megaman has always had some of the best music in video games, and in this aspect X5 delivers. The soundtrack is full of catchy techno/rock tracks that are even better than the previous installments of the series. The sound affects are the same ones Capcom always uses, and they work quite well, helping to give the game its original atmosphere.

Fans of X4 will be disappointed to note that there is no animae FMV in X5. Just pictures with minimal animation  to tell the story. The in game graphics are nothing remarkable. Capcom  just keeps recycling old sprites and (only sometimes) putting new names on them. Animation is still  first generation Playstation quality, and all the same effects from older games are used here as well.

Over all the game delivers a fun experience for fans of the Megaman series and anyone else  at that.  Just don't expect it to be the feverously engrossing experience  the Megaman games used to be. By far the worst game in the spectacular series. 7 out of 10.

                                         
-Matt C

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