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