Mega-Man X7

Mega-Man X7 is a unique game in a long running series of past games. It follows the story of Zero, a character who was supposedly sealed off in the previous game. In Mega-Man X7, he is back as if nothing has happened. In this game X, the hero of past games has decided to retire and leave the fighting to Zero, who is now faced with a full-on war against the Maverick Menace.

Disappointing Graphics

This is the 17th Mega-Man game, but it’s definitely not the best one in terms of graphics. Past games have been known for their beautifully developed sprites. The backgrounds and sprites fall flat in this game, and what’s more the animations are off too. The sprites don’t look as if they are walking at all. Instead they glide along the map in an oddly smooth way, as if they’re not quite touching the ground. Attack animations fall flat, and in general the animations just don’t look good.

Completely Different Gameplay

After 16 other Mega-Man games all following the same jump and shoot style of gameplay, Mega-Man X7 has gone in a completely different direction. Mega-Man X7 goes with an auto-lock feature that turns the game into a button masher. Whether this is a bad thing or not depends on who you are. If you found past Mega-Man games too challenging, Mega-Man X7 might be a relief. If you played the game because developing a skill for combos presented an appealing challenge, Mega-Man X7 is going to fall flat.

Unfortunate Camera Angles

Throughout the game, Mega-Man X7 has some 3D sections that involve a lot of platforming. These sections are incredibly difficult because the camera is angled in such a way as to rob the player of all depth perception. On top of this, camera angles can’t be adjusted, leaving the player no other choice but to die repeatedly until they manage to get through.

Reduced Boss Mechanics

One final change is that the bosses in this game are no longer the mechanics-based dances that they once were. Instead, bosses simply have a ridiculous amount of health, and players are forced to kite the boss wildly around the edges while trying to get swings in.

Luckily, Mega-Man X7 does re-add a positive from a previous Mega-Man game, Mega-Man X3. The feature from the previous game is the ability to quickly and easily swap characters, so you can fight the boss relatively unimpeded. Unfortunately, the boss is still fairly boring to fight, but you’ll get through it a lot easier with this feature.

With so many fantastic games in the Mega-Man series, this one is safe to skip. The innovations added by the developers don’t really work for the series, and there are many areas that really should have been reworked before publication.

Pros:

• The beginning Cutscene is Exciting

Cons:

• Everything else

Mega Man was always a 2D action platformer. When the second generation of gaming consoles introduced 3D graphics, just about every franchise had to give it a shot. Unfortunately turning a 2D game into a 3D game is ridiculously hard. What’s even more unfortunate, is that Mega Man X7 falls victim to many of the pitfalls that occurred during such a tough transition.

Story

The story of Mega Man was forgettable to say the least, essentially a rise of evil robots who pose a threat to the peaceful way of life. A simple excuse to have good robots, battle evil robots, and for our Protagonist Axl to make waste to their latest foe.

Gameplay & Camera

The fresh coat of 3D paint on Mega Man X7 looks great and aged well. With a thick black line around your character and enemies makes it easy to distinguish foreground from background. Unfortunately, this is where the new ideas in Mega Man X7 stop being any good. The controls are on par with the rest of the series, but much like other 3D platformers of its time, but the camera is poorly used. All too often the camera shifts from behind the player’s back to a side view or vice versa, mid-jump. This along with having the camera on an angle or behind the player can make it hard to judge distance and where you are relative to the platform you’re attempting to jump onto. For a game that is primarily about jumping from one platform to another, this is unacceptable. I could perhaps excuse this massive error if the game used the 3D environment to do something more than just adding the simple choice of jumping to the platform to your left or to your right. Sadly, this game rarely builds on the new 3D aspect of the gaming medium.

Boss Fights

Boss fights are a blast. It is extremely fun to dodge and weave enemy projectiles in 3D space while also navigating the environment. This also adds more variety since some bosses are still fought only in 2D while some may have similar fighting mechanics, but are in 3D. This gives the player a whole new sense of how to fight their opponent and for its time acts as a great showcase as to why the jump from 2D games to 3D games is so amazing for gamers and developers alike. I’m a big fan of classic boss fights like these, something I’d like more modern games to have as well.

Admirable Difficulty

Something I’ve always admired about Mega Man is its difficulty. You get three lives to complete a level and if you can’t do it then too bad. The game requires precise jumps that will give you a small heart attack if you barely make it, much like the rest of the Mega Man series.

The game does have some issues here and there with its level design and camera which can lead to unfair deaths, but all in all this game still feels like it’s made for hardcore Mega Man fans and those who like a challenge. The main appeal to any Mega Man game is that when you complete it, it feels like you’ve overcome a really challenging obstacle and this game delivers that same feeling. I just wish it wasn’t needlessly frustrating at times.

Pros

• Good graphics with a nice style
• Fair controls
• Great boss fights
• Great character abilities

Cons

• Extremely poor use of 3D camera
• Poor use of 3D levels
• Occasionally almost guaranteed deaths