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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good X game that had the potential to be great, February 1, 2003
[I want to apologize for making this review so long, but I felt as though this game needed to be explained thoroughly.]
Mega Man X6(2001). Part six of seven.After the somewhat disappointing X5, another sequel appeared less than a year later. How is this possible? According to another reviewer, apparently both X5 and X6 were created at the same time by two different teams under Capcom. For the most part, X6 is a combination of X5's style and X3's complexity. It contains the same graphics and classic gameplay as the previous two X games, but there are several features to this game that set it apart from the others. Here's the breakdown: PROS:
-THANKFULLY, THERE ARE NO MORE MANDATORY ALIA MESSAGES! Capcom realized this mistake from X5 and made this feature optional. A small "!" appears in the corner when you reach key points in the stage and if you ever need them (true MM junkies don't) just press select. Finally, we get completely uninterrupted gameplay!
-The difficulty has been Vamped up drastically. This can be a good thing and a bad thing (more on the bad later). The good thing is that the game is no longer a cake-walk to beat like X4 and X5. The enemies will definitely give the player something to keep busy with.
-Perhaps the most non-linear X game in the series. By that I mean all the levels are vast, containing two different exits, and large arena-rooms to explore. Plus, the secret items are all cleverly scattered. You have to do more thinking than ever before to obtain some of them.
-The sound effects are slightly different than before. Now the explosions really let out a BANG! Also, some of the stage tunes are a return to X4's techno hardrock style, namely the Heatnix, Wolfgang, Mijinion, and Shark stages.
-Rescuing the 128 different reploids. This adds even more depth to X6 and allows the player to gain enhancements by rescuing them.
-X can now use the Z-saber! While it is not very good as a rapid attack weapon, it does help to reflect projectiles in the heat of combat. CONS
-Okay, now the bad thing about the difficulty: SOME AREAS IN THE GAME LEAD TO POINTLESS FRUSTERATION. When I say that enemies come in endless waves, I mean that they throw everything and the kitchen sink at you. It comes to the point where even a veteran MM gamer cannot make it through each stage without losing lives. THE NIGHTMARE SYSTEM DOES NOT HELP THIS. Often times annoyances like meteors, fireflies, blackouts, and impassible silver blocks will take more effort to get through than normal stage enemies, which is nonsense. AND ITS ALL RANDOMLY GENERATED.
-THERE ARE TOO MANY NIGHTMARE ENEMIES. In some stages like the museum, most every enemy you face will be one of those. A little more variety in the bestiary would have benefited.
-Besides the four tracks I mentioned, the rest of the music is dull, boring, popish, and often annoying. I personally cannot stand the museum stage tune. AND WHAT'S WITH THE GRUNGE INTRO TRACK? This does not even fit with the X universe!
-LEVELS ARE NOT RANDOMLY GENERATED LIKE THE BOX CLAIMS. Okay Capcom, I don't care if the levels were actually random or not, but it's a really bad move to make a boast about a feature that's not there.
-Once again, the bosses are rather easy to beat. This is a bit of a letdown after how incredibly hard some of the stages are. Contrary to this though, the mini-boss High Max, seems almost too difficult to beat.
-Like the whale stage in X5, THE REPEATING JUNK-BALL MINI BOSS IN HEATNIX'S STAGE GETS TEDIOUS AFTER GOING THROUGH THE STAGE MORE THAN TWICE. It hurts the most when you're going back to rescue just one reploid.
-The story pretty much shot down the drain with this game. The cutscenes, though voice-acted in Japanese, drag on for a looooooong time. Like I said with X5, BRING BACK THE ANIME CUTSCENES! Zero should either be here to stay or gone for good. None of this "dramatic death and resurrection" junk. One other thing, STOP RESURRECTING SIGMA! Play X6 for the gameplay itself, not the story.
-Once a reploid gets caught by a nightmare, he can never be rescued again. In order to get him back, you have to reload the game. This can get annoying with some reploids.
-X can obtain two excellent pairs of armor (Blade, and Shadow), BUT GETTING THEM REQUIRES YOU TO ENDURE THE RANDOM NIGHTMARE SYSTEM UNTIL THE RIGHT HAZARD COMES ALONG IN A PARTICULAR STAGE. You can't acquire anything else without them. X6 as a whole is a fun, challenging, and more often than not, a frusterating game. However I only recommend this one to experienced gamers, as this is one of the hardest MM titles to date. With a bit more work, this game could have easily been a classic. Despite all the shortcomings, it succeeds in retaining the classic 2D gameplay that makes Mega Man games what they are. I'm only being so critical on this game because I am an incredibly big MM fan who cares about the series. The story is the weakest part of X6, but give the game a chance. It's at least worth playing through one time. Get equipped with bubble lead all over again and go give it a shot.
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