06/16/01

Mega Man Legends 2

System: Playstation

Price: 22.95 at GH last I checked...

Genre: Action-Adventure

 Sometimes sequels get the dubious distinction of being not as good as the originals. With the case of Mega Man Legends 2, it's the reverse, the original is not as good as the sequel.

For those who never played the original, (and shame on you, it's fun) Mega Man Legends, like the Mega Man X series, takes place in an alternate setting other than the "get that blasted Dr. Wily" that all the old-skool gamers are used to. It's about a family of treasure hunters who are in search of a legendary treasure and their confrontations with the Bonnes, a group of less than spectacular pirates.

When we last left the crew of the Flutter, their search for the legendary treasure, the Mother Lode had turned out to be a bust, but an old friend of Barrell, has located the treasure's whereabouts on Forbidden Island, a disaster stricken island that many have tried to get to and most (except for Barrell and his friend) had failed. But due to a race of people named the Ancients, the keys to the Mother Lode have been scattered in ruins and it's up to Mega Man to retrieve them. But it might not be the treasure they think...

The graphics of this game are on par with the first of the series, with relatively clean character design and slightly pixelated backgrounds. The bosses in this game seem to have gotten larger and more foreboding, which is always welcome. Still, seeing the goofy Bonnes and the Servbots is funny and they don't disappoint in this one either. The weapon effects are nice as are some of the enemy designs, even if they get a little repetitious, as robots tend to do.

Sounds are a mixed bag as the effects and music are pretty much average, but nothing horrendous and annoying, but the voices almost come straight from the Resident Evil School of Voice Acting (TM). They're nowhere near that bad, I in fact like them, but I could see how people would be irritated by certain characters voices (Roll's and Tron's). But Teisel's voice is still silly and at the same time commanding and remains my favorite. Well, you at least can't say the voices don't fit. (Except for Mega Man's voice....ick. Whatta crappy voice acting.)

Controls thankfully have improved over the original as the game now has analog support. This makes things a bit easier to control, albeit you still have to turn with L1/R1.You can use the right analog stick, but this sometimes screws with the camera and isn't recommended. Locking on to the enemy and blasting is easy, as is navigating the menus. Basically, nothing your annoying kid brother couldn't do.

With all the destruction, carnage and violence inducing games out there, it's nice to find these sort of light hearted romps still exist. With an interesting story, and memorable characters, Mega Man Legends 2 is another Capcom goodie and is at least worth a rental. At any rate, it still light years better than Tomb Raider.


Be fearful, Game Hits readers, The Reverend Mofat Jones was recently beaten to near-death by a roving gang of Servbots and a little robotic monkey. Be afraid....be very afraid.

-Mofat

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