Fourth Memory

Well whats a Mega Man site without a review of the games? Simple, it's a Mega Man site that doesn't have a review of the games. Yeah that was a bad joke, but--anyway--here it is:

Lock and Load. It's time for another grandiose adventure into the Realm that is the QuickTake...or so I thought. I think I really enjoy doing those quick little reviews. They let us (yes, there's officially three people behind the Database now) review a lot of games really quickly and fill up on our review quota faster than anything else has to date. However, when I tried to do a QuickTake for one particular game--Mega Man X4--I was not so lucky.

You see, this game has left me with a bad taste in my mouth ever since I was mostly Nintendo-only, and it came out on both Sony and Sega's machines... I've since grown to understand most every game system out there, but my dislikes for Mega Man X4 numbered far greater than it being released on two systems I didn't own at the time. I own a PSX now, and I own the game as well--I got it for about five bucks. What I've written below is, unfortunately, not in any particular order. I've tried to be open-minded about the whole experience, and I think I should state from the start that I do like the game, sort'a...but mostly because it's in a game series I really enjoy.

It's time to start raggin' on the Mega's, boys and girls. I love this series so much that I'm entitled to speak up and tell you about what I thought was the worst in the series--and I mean that with all my heart and soul. Mega Man X4 was bad on so many levels that I didn't know where to start when I began to write this supposedly short review. Seriously...it's hard to pick what I disliked the most about this game. So much of the X Series was either left in the dust or totally run down in the street, backed over, and then peeled out over the ribs of. For starters, let me say that being able to choose between X and Zero was a nice idea, and that Zero's game is the nearly redeeming factor of this game. As for X? X got the short end of a short stick. So many of the gameplay mechanics were lost or so badly done that it felt like a true step back.

You see, before (and after) X4 came out, I thought X3 was the best in the series. There was a steady upgrade from one game to the next. The upgrades in weapons, the explosiveness of special attacks, the things you could go out and get had gotten to such a point that simply adding more things for X4 would have been great. I mean Mega Man's game evolution kind'a cut out on him at IV on the NES. You'd get eight levels, then boss levels, then true boss levels. The refinement came in the levels themselves and the bosses AI. The overall idea of each game past IV was basically the same (with VI sporting some kickass background and level detail) in each one. I should point out I've never beaten Mega 8...I hated Mega's voice that much...though someday, I do plan to go back and see it to the end...maybe with the volume down...

The X series, as I said, had grown up getting bigger and better with each one. And X4 was the brick wall sitting in the center of the road of the progression of the X Series. Like Mega Man 8 finally signed Mega's tombstone, X4 nearly killed X and Zero. Instead of having four Sub Tanks, you had two Energy Tanks and a Weapon Tank. Forget for a moment that the Weapon Tank is almost completely useless as all your Special Weapons go to full power when you die, but not having the comfort space of those last two energy tanks is sorely missed. Hell, I'm good at the X games, but I like having all my Tanks for a couple reasons: 1) I might use them all the first time I ever fight the last boss, 2) I like to collect everything in the game and 3) Sometimes I just outright forget to go fill all of them up--and X4 had no good place to do that...unless you count the beginning of Frost Walrus Stage.

Speaking of useless add-ons, I hated the Life Tank, or whatever that thing was. X4 made you start with one less life than all the other games in the series. In the place of that, you could pick up a tank that would start you off with two more lives per continue... meaning you started with 2 instead of 3, and were latter able to start with 4... What kind of stupid add-on is this exactly? It's not like the game's so hard you'll die often. If anything, the Life Tank just makes it take longer for you to die when you want to head off to another level without completing the one you're in.

Other than the two Energy Tanks, one Weapon Tank, and the useless Life Tank, there were Heart Tanks. Looking for Chips? Looking for Robot Ride Platforms? Keep looking. That was the last game.

To top off the special weapon problems, some of them were badly executed, needing X to aim differently depending on what he was doing...but in doing so, you also had to think harder about what you were going to do as some of the weapons really were only used as eye candy or hit that one badguy that it was used for because the game didn't reward you in any way for owning them. In X3, you used certain weapons to take out certain walls and such, so did X2. You had none of that in X4--well... maybe once or twice, but they didn't open up any areas that really helped you. You used the web to get the Cannons, and the laser (I think it was) to get a capsule in Magma Dragoon's Stage. Other than that, they were all pretty useless. I did like that Zero's attacks could be done with controller commands as well as one other weapon button, but like I said, Zero is what somewhat redeemed X4.

The armour upgrades in X4 were badly done, each of them. The helmet was pointless as it allowed you to shoot off normal shots of your special weapons without loosing any power. However, in order to do damage to most of the baddies in the game, you had to charge the weapon. After getting the headbut in X1 (which I did actually use), radar to find items in X2, and a map of the level in X3, I was expecting some new upgrade involving seeing hidden items or something. Instead I get to shoot off free special weapons. With my special weapon energy coming back after I die, I didn't really have to worry with this. Beyond that, what does a helmet have to do with your arm cannon?

Then there was the Body Armour itself. It gave you the Nova Strike...an attack that let X fly through the air and do a lot of damage real quick-like. The trouble was that even though you were invincible when performing it, you usually didn't make it all the way across a badguy, so you ended up hitting them on your way past. This was due in part to Capcom deciding to use some of the PlayStation's "power" to make big badguys...Look at the size of Walrus for example.

Then there's the cannon upgrades. There are two upgrades here, one of which is basically useless...and since you can only get one of them, it kind'a defeats the purpose. One lets you store charged shots (though it doesn't let you fire off one right away when you let go of the fire button), and the other lets you fire a big blast that leaves behind big plasma orbs that do more damage to anything around. Which one of these sounds more useful to you? X1 let you Super-Charge your buster. X2 let you charge in each hand. X3 let you charge in both hands and then fire them fast enough that they combined and flew across the screen, hitting lots of stuff...and X4 gives you lots of small charges, or one super-charge that leaves behind plasma to hit enemies? Which one sounds more useful? --and for that matter, where did my second cannon go?

And then there was the mother and father of all useless upgrades, the Boots. Whose stupid idea was it to give me hover? I purposely played X5 without the Fourth Armour because I hated this upgrade so much. X1 you got to dash. X2 you could dash, and air dash. X3 you could dash, air dash, and dash up while in the air. What's the logical progression of this? Very good: Dash Down. I'm talkin' a body slam that would hurt enemies and maybe drive Metools into the ground, you know? What do I get instead? Hover. Ok, I can deal with that--no, wait--I can't dash up either? What kind of ripoff is that? Fine, Fine. I didn't like the upgrades.

I'd bet you can accept that and see my point and all, but you're still saying "Is that it? That's not really a reason to hate this game." For the record, I never said I hated this game, or if I did, I don't. It was just really badly designed. Instead of the long levels, divided by Mini-Boss rooms in X3, we got fairly short, easy/hard levels. I mean that in the way that lava coming from above or below, falling at you down a hill, or otherwise, has always been bad. Meanwhile, half the ice level is just you jump dashing quickly. And then there was the Speeder level that you had to keep doing over and over again because, unlike X2, you were forced into your speeder for a whole level instead of deciding whether you wanted in one or not. And that Lab that Split Mushroom was in? Simple with a bad miniboss...and what was with timing you as you went through Cyber Peacocks stage? How many people living still don't know that you have to get through that stage really fast to get a heart tank and upgrade part (or was that energy tank? I don't recall now). And then there was the same unevenness trouble with bosses. Split and Owl come to mind when I think of easy bosses. Dragoon is top dog in this game for hardest boss (except maybe Colonel), and Slash Beast was pretty difficult as well. But that was with X. With Zero you had different badguys that were hard and different ones that were easy. It was like only certain bosses were designed to fight either of the two main characters.

Did I say yet that every level, especially the final levels, was short? Did I mention a simply play mechanic like not being able to save during the final levels was changed? You aren't supposed to be able to save in the final levels! It's one of the things that makes them more difficult. I'll admit, I'd have liked to save between the two sets of final levels in the Mega Man games (or a password, I mean), but in an X game without extra final levels, and levels that are easy at that? Why? I mean, X4 would have been better with a password feature as well as a save feature. It had just as much stuff (or less) to keep track of as X3. When you start adding in all the parts and such in X5, I bet the password would be a bit harder to come by (or at least longer). In X4...you got three save slots, and each one took up a full one block of memory on a memory card. Save three game saves and you've taken up as much space as a Grand Tourismo save. That's insane...and even more insane for a game that most gamers would consider a rental due to the low bar of quality it provided.

OK, fine. Don't want me to talk about the levels? Ok, let's go see this story, hm? I've seen one to many websites dissing X5 and X6 with the whole "There's no Anime in it so it sucked" reviews. I might loose a reader or two, but I have to say that if you feel that way, you aren't a fan. I know you've been told before that X1-X3 didn't have Anime in them. I'm sure of it. Then you say "The Anime was the Evolution of the Series." Then I say "Anime is what killed Mega Man." Ever played Mega Man 8? Good for you. I couldn't make myself get further than one main Boss. I had to watch someone else play it because I couldn't—it was so painful. And "But Bass," he pronounced it like the fish, "why must I fight you?"... and then why did Dr. Light have Elmer Fudd's voice?

—in any event, I'm trying to say Anime doesn't make the story. Story makes the story. I bet a good portion of all of you didn't like Final Fantasy VIII. But why? The video sequences were great. Oh, wait...the story. Forgot about the story...hm. I mean, just forget for a moment that Sigma shows up in the two opening sequences, ok? But follow me into the realm of the X fan who didn't want another Wily. In all honesty, I got to play X3 with a clear mind, and to have X and Zero figure out, before the final levels, that Sigma had come back...I was generally shocked (just a little). I knew they needed him for at least one more game as the series had progressed up to the point that it was time to finish Sigma off. And what's worse is that in either ending of X3, Sigma died. He was dead. I can explain his life and rebirth in every X game...but the gap from X3 to X4 still confuses me a bit to this day. His Virus self (the aftermath of his battle with Zero [X4 Anime] which made his reploid consciousness become virus-like) was destroyed at the end of X3 by an anti-virus. I believe, now, that Sigma came back because the anti-virus didn't kill him. It just put him into a bit of a coma or something for a while.

But even if I got that right (and I think I did), why show Sigma at the very beginning of the game if he's not going to show up until sometime later? Skip that part and ask yourself this question: "Did you really believe that RepliForce was the villain of the game?" If you say yes, then I have to meet you. Even X was doubtful, and he's naive. Yet, we went and killed them all, didn't we? Remember I said the game was unbalanced? I don't like being forced into a battle in any game (mostly RPG's), and I didn't like that I had to fight Colonel halfway through X's game just to move onto the last four guys and then fight him again later. I liked it even less when I discovered that Zero never had that fight. What happened in Zero's game instead? He got an Anime Sequence of a fight with Colonel. That means X's game has one more boss fight than Zero's...seems a bit unfair. And the final levels? It was a big cannon to destroy the world. Wasn't this where RepliForce was escaping to? Why was it a big cannon? I thought they were leaving to go attain peace for them and other reploids on a colony in space. I find it hard to believe the Maverick Hunter's had every intention of killing off RepliForce for the whole game, and I found it harder to grasp that General and Colonel both somehow missed the fact they were creating a weapon that could destroy the Earth.

Another very small gripe I had at the end was that in X games one through three, there was a vertical shaft leading to Sigma. X1's was long, X2's was pretty long (and I want to know where that other transporter goes), and X3's was short, with ridges that made it hard to get into the room, but it was still there. The only vertical shaft you had in X4 was the one that lead down to the eight bosses. And then Sigma's boss battle was a really strange one, I have to say. His first form (if you can call it that), is only his second form, with a cloak. All you have to do first is burn the cloak off. This just touched me as a way for Capcom to extend that battle for longer than it would naturally take. And his last two forms weren't exactly tough...they just spewed a lot of firepower at you.

Oh, and one thing about the Boots again (the last thing I'll say), is that the only place they're actually useful is when you're fighting Sigma's second form. At one point he has electricity running up the walls and along the floor in the room, and you can jump out and hover. The trouble is that you don't hover quite long enough and you'll end up hitting the floor or wall just before the electricity runs out. Kind'a unfair.

As for his last two forms...it's kind of original that you fight them both at "the same time", and that they have different life bars, but their origin didn't make to much sense to me. Sigma's last form in X1 was a big wall creation with his head in it. It worked for the game. In X2, his last form was a wire-frame, graphical representation of his computer virus self, projected by the main computer. Easy but long battle, really, and a good use of the technology in the game pack. In X3, Sigma was attempting to create an all-purpose, all powerful body from reploids him and Doppler had been taking captive. In X4, Sigma had two final forms. One was a big one with a laser cannon...the other was...a mesh of melted reploid head on the floor. Um...I'm so happy that X5 kind'a cleared up that head thing, because otherwise, I really don't know where the hell it came from. But, keep in mind it was a long couple years gap between X4 and X5. For that long amount of time, I didn't understand it one bit.

Statistics
System: PlayStation One
Company: Capcom
Game Style: 2D Platforming Action
Players: One Player
Save Feature: 3 Save Files / One Block Each
Price: $29.95
Rating: 5.6 out of 10
Favorite Character: Zero
Least Favorite: X...
Review Date: 10/20/2002
Only Edit: 03/07/2003

And the final scenes? They ended the story, but there wasn't really any last thoughts by X as he stood out on a cliff or something. Heck...there wasn't really any story to be ending in the first place. X3's ending was better in this regard as it ended like X1...and each of the previous X games has X's worried thoughts at the end of it with the final levels blowing up behind him. Truth be told, as I've said, the only real redeeming factors of the game are the Anime Sequences and Zero...and Zero has more sequences than X, and his scenes are better, and Zero has better gameplay too. This is even shown in X5 when we learn (at the end), that it was, in fact, Zero who beat Sigma in X4. That's how the story goes, muns, whether you beat the game with X or Zero in X5, each says Zero destroyed Sigma in X4.

My biggest trouble with this game is that I am all but forced to like it because it's one of my favorite video game series. None the less, it is the worst of the six (or seven or eight) games.

Tyler N. Sewell, Mega Man X Fan, gives the game..
...a 4.3 out of 10 for X.
...a 7.2 out of 10 for Zero.
...a 5.6 Overall. (Not an Average).

Let me also make note that there was, in fact, a few other reasons I didn't enjoy this game. At one point I was able to rattle off 22 of them to a friend in an IM. I can think of one right now (Load Time), but it was mostly a fault of the system...even if it did get covered up pretty well in the last two games (mostly X6).

Huntermun's Second Look © Tyler N. Sewell 2003