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»MegaMan ZX Advent
"R.O.C.K. on...all over again!"
You know, to this day, I’m still surprised at the amount of positive critical acclaim that MegaMan ZX received when it was first released last year. I mean, in reality, the game was basically a fifth MegaMan Zero,
with a few features cut out and some added – the most famous, of
course, being its Metroidvanian stage design. Best of all, it was the
first MegaMan game in a long time that wasn’t spoken of by the
vast majority of critics in a tone generally reserved for such terms as
“root canal”, “castration” or “involuntary anal violation”. Needless to
say, the critics were happy, I was happy. It was like a fifth Zero, and anyone who’s looked at my earlier reviews knows that I loved the Zero
series. Now the sequel’s finally made it to the States, and in a record
low four months after the Japanese release, no less, and I’ve got to
say, Inti and Capcom have made a good thing even better.
Much like its predecessor, Advent
offers players two different storylines to follow, each with their own
unique protagonist. One story puts players into the role of Ashe, a
feisty young girl, who’s eager to stake her claim on any and all
bounties, which is all she knows. She was orphaned at a young age due
to a Maverick attack and was raised by bounty hunters. The other
centers around an amnesiac Reploid, referred to only as “Grey”, who is
discovered by a pair of bounty hunters in a mysterious laboratory and
inadvertently awakened.
Despite
the vast difference between the set-ups for each storyline, they come
to the same conclusion: the protagonist meets up with one half of the
devious duo from the original ZX: Pandora and Prometheus, the
character our hero/heroine first encounters depends on whichever
storyline is chosen. After this encounter, our hero/heroine finds
him/herself in for the fight for his/her life, which ends up with them
being rendered unconscious. Both characters awaken in a Hunter camp,
and join up with the people who saved them. Soon, he/she is assigned
his/her first mission: transporting a newly-found Biometal to Legion
Headquarters, where the Sage Trinity – effectively a trio of
human-turned-Reploids who govern the entire world – are situated. Upon
departure, the devious duo makes a second appearance, demanding the
Biometal. The protagonist refuses, and before you can say “Rock on!”,
the Biometal megamerges with him/her and turns them into a Mega Man –
namely, Model A. Impressed by this new development, Prometheus decides
to spare our hero/heroine’s life and invite them to take part in the
“Game of Destiny” – where Mega Men battle in order to determine which
of them is the strongest. Left with the proposal of knowledge regarding
his/her mysterious past, the protagonist is left with no choice but to
participate, but even with the amazing abilities of Model A, can
Ashe/Grey stand a chance and survive the Game of Destiny? Rock on! Oh wait, the translation ruins that pun. Never mind. Believe it or not, this isn't Engrish.
Of course, there is more to Model A than just those standard attacks. Namely its special ability: A-Trans. While in ZX,
Vent and Aile collected the four other Biometals – Models H, F, L and P
– Ashe and Grey are only able to obtain the aforementioned Model A, but
really that’s all they need. Upon defeating one of the bosses, Model A
copies their DNA and Grey/Ashe are able to transform into their downed
foe. Each transformation boasts their own advantages and disadvantages.
For example, Chronoforce’s swimming ability is unsurpassed, he’s
unaffected by attacks to his back/shell, his icicles are devastating
and his charge attack slows time immensely, but activate him on land,
and he’s pretty much worthless (well, the charge attack still works);
Hedgeshock can – for lack of a better term – “spin-dash” her way
through small cervices, but she’s short, can’t climb walls and her
standard attack is fairly weak; Bifrost is massive and can chomp his
way through blocks, but he’s slow and unwieldy; and Vulutroid can scale
walls and hover for long distances, but his standard walk is more of an
uneven hop. Alone, each transformation seems extremely specialized, but
by combining them all, Ashe and Grey are granted powers well beyond
those of the other Biometals.
Another
improvement – at least in my opinion – comes in the form of the
protagonists themselves. Both Ashe and Grey hold a shared advantage
over their predecessors in their civilian forms; they’re actually
equipped with a weapon. Granted, it’s a standard plasma cannon (not
unlike the one used by the original MegaMan in his first three
adventures), but it’s better than walking around completely unarmed.
Better yet, it is actually put to use, as both of their intro stages
are played entirely in human/Reploid form. Another difference is in how
the characters themselves are composed: while Vent and Aile were pretty
much the same person with different genders and a barely-noticeable
specialty; Ashe and Grey differ vastly, and I don’t just mean that in
the context of their storylines. For example, each character has their
own unique charge shots: Grey wields a standard buster shot, while Ashe
is armed with a laser shot not unlike the Gemini Laser from MegaMan 3.
Another difference between the two is that, in certain A-Trans forms,
they gain their own unique abilities – for example, when utilizing
Siarnaq’s abilities, Grey’s charged attack is a giant shuriken that
acts as a boomerang, while Ashe gains a Leaf Shield-style barrier. FALCON KI-oh, sorry. Wrong game.
Of
course, there are a few other changes to the game, but they simply
encompass various fixes to earlier features. Case in point: the map
system. In the original ZX, the map was practically useless,
only showing which stages connected, while forgoing any information
about how to navigate the stages. Advent fixes this mess entirely,
opting for two different maps: one that shows the various paths each
area can take, while the other shows a fairly basic view of the stage.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Oct. 30th, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| It takes everything that made ZX great, adds some awesome new elements to it, and even fixes a few of the problem. Awesome, truly awesome. |
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Graphics |
| Pretty much the same as last time. That’s not really a bad thing, but it’s a bit underwhelming. |
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Sound |
| The music’s good, but the instrumentation and sound effects feel a little primitive. Nice voice acting, though. |
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Replay Value |
| Two different experiences, unlockable mini-games, various collectables, an unlockable hard mode and an awesome fun factor – what more could you want? |
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Comments |
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November 24, 2007 |
JORGE |
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MMMMMMMMMMMM
TA CHIDO PERO NO ABLO INGLES
JEJEJEJJEE
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