Spring Break
Old series fights strong on DS in 'ZX Advent'
Dave Goncalves
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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For damn near fifteen years, I've been playing Mega Man games.
Never before have they captivated me in the way that the ZX series has. The excitement around the release of the Megaman ZX: Advent has been building since September of last year. The new installment gives players a solid story, crisp controls, wonderful graphics and animations, along with a few extra goodies.
To those of you who are big on the Mega Man mythos, you know that this game is supposed to be the midpoint between the original Mega Man series and the Legends series. In respect to that, some things are answered but most are not. However, there is a continuation of the stories and answers to some questions brought up in the first ZX installment. In order to find out as much as possible, the player will have to play through the game as both characters, the female bounty hunter Ashe or the young abandoned reploid (a robot whose design and technology are based off of Mega Man X), Grey. Beyond that, not much can be told without spoiling too much of the game.
As far as gameplay goes, however, the difficulty between this game and the last has increased. The map system has been cleared up making it slightly easier to navigate, but the difficulty of each area has been raised through the lack of the strength of the Z-Saber (a laser sword that's used by a previous character) and the use of a new set of laser guns. Though charged, each shot can do a formidable amount of damage (and it's different between the two characters, Grey gets one giant powerful fireball and Ashe gets a laser that bounces off walls) it'll take a little more than just being able to dish out as much concentrated force as possible. Figuring out the patterns still remains a main theme with this installment, but so does trying to come up with new solutions, for instance, one boss speeds himself up in a situation where you're already slowed down. It's a difficult situation, but if you figure out the patterns, you should be fine. As far as commands go, everything feels a bit more natural as the shoot and dash commands have been moved to the shoulder buttons, making them a simple twitch of the index finger away. Controls on the DS feel perfectly smooth as the player will mostly just be jumping and shooting in hopes of not getting blown away.
Never before have they captivated me in the way that the ZX series has. The excitement around the release of the Megaman ZX: Advent has been building since September of last year. The new installment gives players a solid story, crisp controls, wonderful graphics and animations, along with a few extra goodies.
To those of you who are big on the Mega Man mythos, you know that this game is supposed to be the midpoint between the original Mega Man series and the Legends series. In respect to that, some things are answered but most are not. However, there is a continuation of the stories and answers to some questions brought up in the first ZX installment. In order to find out as much as possible, the player will have to play through the game as both characters, the female bounty hunter Ashe or the young abandoned reploid (a robot whose design and technology are based off of Mega Man X), Grey. Beyond that, not much can be told without spoiling too much of the game.
As far as gameplay goes, however, the difficulty between this game and the last has increased. The map system has been cleared up making it slightly easier to navigate, but the difficulty of each area has been raised through the lack of the strength of the Z-Saber (a laser sword that's used by a previous character) and the use of a new set of laser guns. Though charged, each shot can do a formidable amount of damage (and it's different between the two characters, Grey gets one giant powerful fireball and Ashe gets a laser that bounces off walls) it'll take a little more than just being able to dish out as much concentrated force as possible. Figuring out the patterns still remains a main theme with this installment, but so does trying to come up with new solutions, for instance, one boss speeds himself up in a situation where you're already slowed down. It's a difficult situation, but if you figure out the patterns, you should be fine. As far as commands go, everything feels a bit more natural as the shoot and dash commands have been moved to the shoulder buttons, making them a simple twitch of the index finger away. Controls on the DS feel perfectly smooth as the player will mostly just be jumping and shooting in hopes of not getting blown away.
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