The Blue Bomb. Review

The Blue Bomb.

There is a great divide between formulaic gameplay and innovation. The NES Mega

Man series stuck to its guns a little too long, and with each tired iteration,

cries of “been there, done that” rang louder and louder. Arguably, the best Mega

Man games among that lot were 2 and 3.

Then Capcom tried something new with the first Mega Man X.”Suddenly,

Mega Man was exciting all over again!”The spiffy new dash move,

animal bosses and futuristic gloss shined on the SNES.”

But

fast-forward several years and look where innovation has brought us: X,

Legend, Battle Network, Zero,

and let’s not forget, Soccer.”Over

the past 15 years, Mega Man has repeatedly suffered from an

incurable case of sequelitis. After wearing out his welcome in one series, he

jumps ship into a new one.”Mega Man should slow it down and come out with one

sweet high-quality release or just retire from the game.

Ironically enough, the storyline of Mega Man X7 starts out

with Mega Man in retirement.” In the future, Mega Man’s name is just X.”Zero,

his long-haired, sword-wielding buddy, still hunts Mavericks, masochistic robots

out to make life miserable for everyone.” This story has become so weighed down

in its convoluted mishmash that you’ll long for the days when it was just wacky

old Wily at the helm.

There’s a new ally here called Axl.”He looks like Zero and X’s secret love

child, and sports the whiny, chirpy voice X usually has.”Axl’s arsenal includes

lock-on guns best suited for the 3D areas.”During the game, you can swap between

any members of your team and take advantage of their different abilities. It’s

perhaps the one clever idea amidst the many failed ones.

After an initial action sequence, there are the classic eight levels to choose

from, each guarded by a different robotic creature.”These are a sad and pathetic

lot of bottom-of-the-barrel design concepts.”When an Onion is one of the end-level

bosses, you know they’re reaching (it’s not a cool rapping onion like Chop Chop

Master Onion, either).”As always, beat the boss, get their souped-up weapons,

and ever onwards.

The game mixes 2D and 3D gameplay, mainly playing as a pseudo-3D scrolling

thing while occasionally moving into a full 3D affair. Unfortunately, the controls

simply don’t have the tight feel and snappy reaction rate necessary for a solid

action game.” It’s the same old variety of controls that the X

series has developed (dash, charge, swords, etc), but it misses the mark – unacceptable

for what ought to be the foundation of the game.

When

the game switches into 3D mode, the camera shifts backwards to an awkwardly

close behind-the-character point of view.”You then maneuver yourself forward,

much like Crash Bandicoot.“It’s goofy and out of place. Boss

fights are also sometimes done in 3D, yet there’s a noticeable lack of the patterns

on which all the great Mega Man bosses are founded.

Influenced by the RPG stylings of the GBA Battle Network

games, MM X7 features a chip system that allows you to upgrade

your characters.”When you rescue a Reploid, a helpful but lost NPC littered

throughout the levels, you earn bonuses to crank up weaponry and stats.”Reploids

can be killed before you make the rescue, so it pays to be quick.”What’s nice

about this system is that it allows you to build up characters, which is especially

handy as you try over and over again to get through a difficult level.

The three-dimensional cel-shaded character modeling is fine, but doesn’t suit

the gameplay as much as the old sprite-based graphics.”Little artistic details

and animations are lost in the transition.”Some of the environments, on the

other hand, gain from the added depth an extra dimension offers, like the lush

green backdrop of the jungle level.”

The music and sound dip into the same tired pool of Mega Man

effects and techno tunes.”After so many years, why not try something completely

new with the music?” How about some country tunes or pump up the blue bizzle

with some pimpin’ musizzle?” Seriously, after 15 years, something different

couldn’t hurt, including some actual talent for the voices.

Mega Man X7 falls into the same sad pit as the recent Mega

Man Network Transmission on the Gamecube. The Zero series

on the GBA trumps X7 with its tightened classic feel.” The

Mega Man Legend series (including Tron

Bonne) worked the 3D controls much better. I’m all for change, but it has

to come with improvement.” The Blue Bomber has bombed out.