MegaMan ZX Advent Review || PR for your PSP!

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»MegaMan ZX Advent
"R.O.C.K. on...all over again!"

Graphics: 8

Gameplay: 10

Sound: 8

Replay Value: 10

You know, to this day, I’m still surprised at the amount of positive critical acclaim that MegaMan ZX received when it was first released last year. I mean, in reality, the game was basically a fifth MegaMan Zero, with a few features cut out and some added – the most famous, of course, being its Metroidvanian stage design. Best of all, it was the first MegaMan game in a long time that wasn’t spoken of by the vast majority of critics in a tone generally reserved for such terms as “root canal”, “castration” or “involuntary anal violation”. Needless to say, the critics were happy, I was happy. It was like a fifth Zero, and anyone who’s looked at my earlier reviews knows that I loved the Zero series. Now the sequel’s finally made it to the States, and in a record low four months after the Japanese release, no less, and I’ve got to say, Inti and Capcom have made a good thing even better.

Much like its predecessor, Advent offers players two different storylines to follow, each with their own unique protagonist. One story puts players into the role of Ashe, a feisty young girl, who’s eager to stake her claim on any and all bounties, which is all she knows. She was orphaned at a young age due to a Maverick attack and was raised by bounty hunters. The other centers around an amnesiac Reploid, referred to only as “Grey”, who is discovered by a pair of bounty hunters in a mysterious laboratory and inadvertently awakened.

Despite the vast difference between the set-ups for each storyline, they come to the same conclusion: the protagonist meets up with one half of the devious duo from the original ZX: Pandora and Prometheus, the character our hero/heroine first encounters depends on whichever storyline is chosen. After this encounter, our hero/heroine finds him/herself in for the fight for his/her life, which ends up with them being rendered unconscious. Both characters awaken in a Hunter camp, and join up with the people who saved them. Soon, he/she is assigned his/her first mission: transporting a newly-found Biometal to Legion Headquarters, where the Sage Trinity – effectively a trio of human-turned-Reploids who govern the entire world – are situated. Upon departure, the devious duo makes a second appearance, demanding the Biometal. The protagonist refuses, and before you can say “Rock on!”, the Biometal megamerges with him/her and turns them into a Mega Man – namely, Model A. Impressed by this new development, Prometheus decides to spare our hero/heroine’s life and invite them to take part in the “Game of Destiny” – where Mega Men battle in order to determine which of them is the strongest. Left with the proposal of knowledge regarding his/her mysterious past, the protagonist is left with no choice but to participate, but even with the amazing abilities of Model A, can Ashe/Grey stand a chance and survive the Game of Destiny?

Rock on! Oh wait, the translation ruins that pun. Never mind.

For the most part, the game’s mechanics remain the same as in the original ZX. It’s another MegaMan Zero-meets-Metroidvania type of game, where most of the actual platforming mechanics are taken from the Zero games, but the various stages are interconnected through some form of hub map, much like the case in 2D Metroids and all 2D Castlevanias since Symphony of the Night. Many of the features from the first game also return: the optional quests/mission requests, hidden chips that augment Ashe/Grey’s abilities, boss weak points – all return and end up maintaining their appeal from the first game.

But of course, ZX Advent’s got a host of new changes. We’ve got a new pair of Mega Men to deal with, both wielding the brand-new Biometal Model A. Model A’s got a few standard abilities, that differ from the Biometals from the first game. At first, Model A only wields three attacks, all buster-based. There’s the chargeable buster shot, a homing shot – by holding down the homing shot’s assigned button, a field appears that scans enemies that come into range, and when the button’s released, each scanned enemy is fired upon; and Model A’s penultimate attack: the Giga Crush – which causes Grey/Ashe to fire wildly, attacking everything on-screen and dealing mass amounts of damage. Model A also boasts a Biometal gauge – much like the alternate forms in ZX – and use of the latter two attacks drains it: the Homing Shot only a little at a time, while the Giga Crush requires a full gauge and drains it entirely. Don’t fret though; this time, the BM gauge refills automatically, albeit slowly, and BM energy icons are plentiful.

Believe it or not, this isn't Engrish.

Of course, there is more to Model A than just those standard attacks. Namely its special ability: A-Trans. While in ZX, Vent and Aile collected the four other Biometals – Models H, F, L and P – Ashe and Grey are only able to obtain the aforementioned Model A, but really that’s all they need. Upon defeating one of the bosses, Model A copies their DNA and Grey/Ashe are able to transform into their downed foe. Each transformation boasts their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Chronoforce’s swimming ability is unsurpassed, he’s unaffected by attacks to his back/shell, his icicles are devastating and his charge attack slows time immensely, but activate him on land, and he’s pretty much worthless (well, the charge attack still works); Hedgeshock can – for lack of a better term – “spin-dash” her way through small cervices, but she’s short, can’t climb walls and her standard attack is fairly weak; Bifrost is massive and can chomp his way through blocks, but he’s slow and unwieldy; and Vulutroid can scale walls and hover for long distances, but his standard walk is more of an uneven hop. Alone, each transformation seems extremely specialized, but by combining them all, Ashe and Grey are granted powers well beyond those of the other Biometals.

Another improvement – at least in my opinion – comes in the form of the protagonists themselves. Both Ashe and Grey hold a shared advantage over their predecessors in their civilian forms; they’re actually equipped with a weapon. Granted, it’s a standard plasma cannon (not unlike the one used by the original MegaMan in his first three adventures), but it’s better than walking around completely unarmed. Better yet, it is actually put to use, as both of their intro stages are played entirely in human/Reploid form. Another difference is in how the characters themselves are composed: while Vent and Aile were pretty much the same person with different genders and a barely-noticeable specialty; Ashe and Grey differ vastly, and I don’t just mean that in the context of their storylines. For example, each character has their own unique charge shots: Grey wields a standard buster shot, while Ashe is armed with a laser shot not unlike the Gemini Laser from MegaMan 3. Another difference between the two is that, in certain A-Trans forms, they gain their own unique abilities – for example, when utilizing Siarnaq’s abilities, Grey’s charged attack is a giant shuriken that acts as a boomerang, while Ashe gains a Leaf Shield-style barrier.

FALCON KI-oh, sorry. Wrong game.

Of course, there are a few other changes to the game, but they simply encompass various fixes to earlier features. Case in point: the map system. In the original ZX, the map was practically useless, only showing which stages connected, while forgoing any information about how to navigate the stages. Advent fixes this mess entirely, opting for two different maps: one that shows the various paths each area can take, while the other shows a fairly basic view of the stage.

Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Oct. 30th, 2007

Review Recap

Gameplay

It takes everything that made ZX great, adds some awesome new elements to it, and even fixes a few of the problem. Awesome, truly awesome.

Graphics

Pretty much the same as last time. That’s not really a bad thing, but it’s a bit underwhelming.

Sound

The music’s good, but the instrumentation and sound effects feel a little primitive. Nice voice acting, though.

Replay Value

Two different experiences, unlockable mini-games, various collectables, an unlockable hard mode and an awesome fun factor – what more could you want?

Comments

Comment Posted on: November 24, 2007

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