| System: PlayStation/PC | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: Capcom | Sound: |
 |
| Year: 2001 | Difficulty: |
|
| Genre: Action-platformer | Rating: |
6/10 |
It’s been three weeks since Earth’s near collision with the space colony Eurasia. The disaster was averted by Zero’s heroics. Now, on a bruised and battered planet, tales of rampaging reploids are surfacing.
Certainly, Sigma failed. Eurasia was partially destroyed before impact, but the fragments still crashed and Earth is now nothing but a vast field of ruins. While survivors organise themselves to rebuild cities, a mysterious phenomenon called “Nightmare” is transforming nature and degrading installations.
Gate and his right-hand man Isoc, two reploid scientists, send eight investigators to explore the affected areas. Meanwhile, X is wary of their intentions (how insightful!) and sets off to investigate himself, also hoping to find Zero alive…
Mega Man X6 picks up right where its predecessor left off (if we don’t quibble about details or chronology). Many characters return (Alia, Signas, Douglas and Dynamo), there are still eight capsules to find, loads of power-ups, and unfortunately, still those static image sequences instead of the beautiful animations from Mega Man X4.
Few novelties then, but many aspects of the game have been polished. For example, the management of parts (upgrades) and the ranking system have been revamped (you can now collect all bonuses, instead of having to choose one from two). Additionally, the text dialogues now feature a few Japanese voice lines, and Alia’s in-game interruptions no longer break the action: a beeper sounds, and you’re not obliged to answer. Or so it seems…
For those joining late, Alia is a secondary character with a “mail-order catalogue salesperson” style, whose only function is to pour out unsolicited advice throughout the game. If you ignore her, she beeps, endlessly, and calls out to you over the beep. Besides, what’s the point of the beeper if she’s in constant radio feed? Why can’t we disconnect her? Or send her off to make sandwiches…
Regarding movement and combat, we notice several more optimisations: X is equipped with Zero’s laser sword, and reciprocally, the Z-buster appears much more effective than in Mega Man X5. I find the new armours reasonably creative and useful. Finally, the game is peppered with secondary missions: rather like in Mega Man Xtrem 2, you’ll need to collect items (DNA souls) to rank up, and rescue up to 128 lost reploids to earn equipment pieces. Very well, but couldn’t these dimwits get lost somewhere other than levitating above the void?
In conclusion, I quite enjoyed Mega Man X6, which I found particularly “technical”. What I liked less, however, was the high risk of permanently losing certain upgrades if you fail to save a reploid in distress before an enemy grabs them. Previous episodes were challenging too, but they gave room for error and let us try again. Another irritation: the architecture of certain levels ostensibly suggests the use of a particular armour (one that makes you immune to spikes, or another that allows flight). The snag is that you’re not allowed to change armour inside a level; but the levels themselves gleefully mix spike traps with impassable pits!
I read that this episode was snubbed by American fans, notably due to inconsistencies in the dialogues and numerous typos. Personally, I’ve never taken the Mega Man storyline seriously enough to care. It’s also criticised for excessively punishing (if not downright sloppy) level design. As long as it doesn’t involve a jet-ski rushing at full tilt and/or forced screen scrolling, I’m willing to tolerate almost anything (especially when the music is good).
Note that these flaws (and many others) have been corrected by a community of players through a patch.
Suggested order:
Commander Yammark (Amazon Area) > Ground Scaravich (Central Museum) > Blaze Heatnix (Magma Area) > Blizzard Wolfang (Northpole Area) > Rainy Turtloid (Inami Temple) > Metal Shark Player (Recycle Lab) > Shield Sheldon ( Laser Institute) > Infinity Mijinion (Weapon Center)
If a level seems too difficult, skip it. The priority is to collect power-ups everywhere, even if it means giving up along the way and coming back later.
