|
There are so many Mega Man games by now that if you stood upon a stack of all their cases you'd probably experience weightlessness. They seem to come out so often that it's excusable if you start to look past them. But while there are a lot of Mega Man games, and a lot of platformers available for the Gameboy, the refined experience of the series makes it impossible to dismiss. At the opening of Mega Man Zero 4, Neo Arcadia is in trouble, of course. This time, it's completely under the rule of the evil Dr. Weil, and the place is a mess. Zero, our hero, must tip the balance of power between the humans and reploids to once again restore peace.
There are a few important differences between the platforming, jumping and fighting in this edition than in 3 (read the review here: http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=gameboyadvance&game=megamanz3). First, the use of cyber elves has been trimmed down from collecting a bunch of them to leveling up just one. You can power him up in different categories, and the system is much more like an RPG progression of choices and a lot less like Pokemon. You also collect fallen parts from defeated enemies to create chips to upgrade Zero's head, body or feet. There are lots of options, useful ones, like healing or resistance to instant death scenarios like spikes. This new feature also creates the feel of progression usually associated with RPGs. Zero's also got a new move in addition to his basic sword and gun – the Knuckle. Zero reaches out and grabs at the foe to finish him off – giving him a power from the bad guy. It can be a weapon with a few shots left, usually, or sometimes a shield. They're powerups, basically, but you have to use the knuckle move to get them. There's also a new weather system allowing you to control the forecast for a given area. It can be used to your advantage by making the level less hostile (if it's too hot you'll take damage, for example), and it will also make the boss a little less powerful if he depends on the environment. But if you make the game easier this way you won't get the skill from the boss once you defeat him, so it's up to you. Which brings up one of the most noticeable new features – difficulty. The Mega Man games are notoriously hard, and this one features an 'easy' difficulty setting. And it is pretty easy compared to 'normal.' So if you miss old school platform jumping and fighting but don't have the patience you did when you were a young pup – there you go. Mega Man Zero 4 does everything you'd expect from a genre as venerable as platformers but refines the experience as well as any game. The controls are smooth and consistent, the graphics are sharp and the fighting is satisfying once you put in the practice. There may be a lot of platformers for the GBA, but few are as solid as this series.
|
