| System: PSP | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Capcom | Sound: |
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| Year: 2006 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action-platformer | Rating: |
6/10 |
A remake of Mega Man X created in 3D, with a purely aesthetic intention, the title maintaining its traditional single-plane (2D) gameplay. Anime sequences have been incorporated, along with a second playable character: Vile, the recurring antagonist who wears a Boba Fett-style helmet. He’s the stereotypical shōnen “rival”: an perennial loser, a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal, and with an ego the size of a planet.
While the technical execution appears accomplished, I find the rendering uneven and uninspired. Moreover, the few differences that struck me, compared to the original 1993 title, hardly flatter its successor.
One detail in particular infuriates me prodigiously: the “dash + jump” from a vertical wall now works correctly only once in three attempts. I get the impression we’re now required to jump a fraction of a second before dashing. This makes negotiating certain jumps and bosses (Flame Mammoth) extremely hazardous. When you resurrect an immensely popular game, celebrated above all for its controls as tight as a gnats’ arse, you cannot neglect this essential parameter!
Another “improvement” I could have done without is the character shouting the name of his weapon with each shot, like in a manga! Do you realise that in a video game, the player fires every second, for hours? At most, make him bellow only when launching a charged attack…
And finally, I’m annoyed at having had to slog through the entire game controlling X - essentially an inferior copy of a game I’ve already completed two hundred times - before being allowed to try the new character, Vile, given that he’s the only original element in this title.
By the way, this guy is lying. Vile is a catastrophe! Less mobile than an asthenic snail, incapable of shooting and moving simultaneously. The developers don’t seem to have understood that the series’ success rested on the character’s agility and speed. And tell me I’m not imagining this; is there only one music track accompanying all levels when playing as Vile? How is that possible?
After a promising first impression, the aforementioned annoyances quickly dampened my enthusiasm. Mega Man Maverick Hunter X is a competent but forgettable (and thus superfluous) remake, unlike Mega Man Powered Up, which had initially horrified me. A book’s cover doesn’t make the judge’s clothes!
Suggested order:
Flame Mammoth > Chill Penguin > Spark Mandrill > Armored Armadillo > Launch Octopus > Boomer Kuwanger > Sting Chameleon > Storm Eagle
You can leave Flame Mammoth’s level without finishing it if you find it too difficult, but still get the boots.
Armadillo is susceptible to electric weapons, even when he curls up and bounces off walls. Don’t stop shooting!
[If any poetry lover is reading, in the French text, the gnats’ arse was a fly’s dick. – Ed.]
