| System: Game Boy Advance | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Capcom | Sound: |
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| Year: 2002 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action-platformer | Rating: |
8/10 |
Ciel, escorted by a group of resistance fighters, is exploring an underground complex in search of Zero, all while being pursued by Neo Arcadia’s soldiers. One by one, the rebels fall, but Ciel manages to find the capsule where Zero lies dormant and awakens him in extremis…
And so the story begins. You are Zero, a former warrior robot who’s left wondering how he ended up here—100 years after saving the world, at the bottom of some dingy cave, with a pretty blonde begging him to rescue her.
He obliges, vaporises a few scrappy robots, and escorts the damsel back to her HQ (that of the resistance). There, he becomes the saviour of a handful of persecuted Reploids living under a tyrannical regime…
Ironically, this brutal regime—supposedly protecting humans from Reploids—is led by … a Reploid (a certain Master X, rumoured to be a past hero himself), and all its defenders are … machines! But hey, who’s keeping track of logic at this point?
As for the game itself, this is the first time I’ve seen a Mega Man game exude such style (perhaps because Mega Man himself is no longer around). The graphics are meticulously detailed, the cut-scenes left a strong impression, and the sound effects are incredibly immersive.
What about the gameplay? Well, it’s brutally difficult, no doubt about that—the limited “continues” and the portable console’s tiny screen make for a challenging experience. That said, the controls are solid, the weapons plentiful, and the action is broken up with “downtime” at the base, where you can chat with various characters and snag some bonuses.
What didn’t sit well with me was the concept of cyber-elves—those electronic pixies you have to pamper to make them grow and enhance your abilities. If p*k*m*ns start infiltrating my favourite series … we’re going to have a problem.
