As most of you should be familiar with me now, I will cut the intro bit and get right into the review of the game. I was browsing through the reviews of densetsu and found that there are reviews for Rockman Dash, Rockman 8, and Rockman X3. However, Rockman X4 was no where to be found. I decided to add a review of this great game on the site.
Anybody who is familiar with Capcom's work would recognize Rockman (Megaman in the states). The Rockman series can be divided into two seperate stories. The regular Rockman with Roll. That's the one with the really cute character designs. The other story is the Rockman X series. This is ther series with Zero and X. I personally like the X series better, because of their cool armors and Zero is one of my favorite characters ever made who wears armor.
Unlike the previous games made for this series, Zero is actually a playable character in X4. Although he cannot shoot anything out of his arms, his sword weilding abilities is a new addition to the Rockman series. The player can choose to play as either X and Zero. The gameplay is totally different while playing as both characters. Some of the bosses are also different. For example, Zero fights with Iris while X fights with Double.
The gameplay is the same as any other Rockman game when you are using X. Charge up the X buster, beat the first boss, then use that bosses weapon to beat other ones. X can also get armor power ups in different stages.
The gameplay with Zero is different and somewhat better than playing with X. Instead of getting the opponent's weapon, Zero learns different moves which can aid him in defeating other bosses and getting to different power ups. While Zero cannot get any power ups, he does not need any energy to execute his sword moves. I can conclude that playing with Zero is kinda like playing a fighting game, because you can chain combos just as in fighting games.
The story of the game is better than the previous X series. The general of the repliforce wanted to destroy Earth and sets up his weapon in space. The heroes eventually find out about the plot and tries to stop the destruction of Earth. Zero gets his information from Iris, the colonel's sister and Zero's girlfried. X gets his information from Double, a somewhat clumsy robot. The game is really good with excellent animated cut scenes, and the movement of X and Zero is also well done. The backgrounds are also better than the previous games. I would say that this is a big improvement from the previous three installments.
Here are the ratings I give for this game:
Gameplay: 8/10
Rockman games are generally fun. However, the only thing I would have to complain is the fact that the levels are too short and it is not as challenging as some of the other installments. The bosses are also easy once you know their exact pattern. Although the normal bosses are very easy, the final boss is way to hard, and I have only manage to beat him once with X.
Music: 7/10
The music is not as good as it should be. The opening song is one of my favorites though. It is sung by Yukie Nakama :) (for those of you who knows her). The music during the stages are repetative and tends to get really annoying.
Story: 8/10
Great story comparing to the other Rockman games. Althought not as developed as Rockman Dash and not as interesting as Rockman 8, it derserves to be one of the best in terms of short 2D action games.
Graphics: 9/10
An astonishing improvement over the other installments of the X series. The fact that the other ones were made for SNES might play a big factor, but I still think that the graphics are very acceptable even for the high standards today. There are no polygons used in the game. Most of the backgrounds and objects are drawn by hand, which gives an anime feel to the game.
Overall: 8/10
A must get for all Rockman fans out there. If you are not familiar with the Rockman series, this is a good installment to begin with. With this game, I have convinced a friend who does care for the Rockman series to a major fan of the X series. :)
The Rockman series is a copyright of Capcom and all rights are reserved to that company.
Feel free to email me at Tamahome2@home.com for more info. :)
