Zero 4 review

02-27-14 01:43 PM

tornadocam is Offline

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tornadocam

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Today I am going to be reviewing and critiquing the final game in the Mega Man Zero collection. So, today's review will be Mega Man Zero 4.

Story: 8
In the time line, Mega Man Zero 4 takes place shortly after Zero 3. After, the death of the guardians Dr. Weil has taken over Neo Arcadia. Weil, has set up a dictatorship. Anybody, who speaks against Weil is automatically executed and that goes for humans and reploids. Some of the humans decide to escape and form a new settlement near Area Zero. Area Zero, was the site of the space colony crash from Mega Man X5. The humans there are against reploids because they feel like they are the cause of this mess. Zero, tries to warn them that Weil is going to attack and execute everyone and they need to hide. The humans in the new settlement will have none of it though. They tell Zero they cannot trust him because, the reploids led to the maverick wars, then reploid civil wars, then the elf wars, and now Dr. Weil. Meanwhile, Commander Craft under orders from Weil attacks the settlement. Zero drives them back and soon the humans realize that Zero is on their side. Zero and the resistance realize that they are going to have to find a way to defeat Weil's army and possibly even kill Weil to save mankind.

I liked the plot of this game. I like plots that give history lessons in them. Zero 4's story does that. Moreover, it was nice how they referenced the X series in this game. Mega Man X5 is referenced as were the space colony crashes. Zero even comments saying "it was a painful reminder of a war that occurred several centuries ago". However, I really did not feel a lot of creativity in this plot. If anybody played the last game the players knew Weil would take over and set up a dictatorship. So, that was nothing new. It, would have been nice if this plot had some more creativity. Still, its a good plot that leads up to the game nicely. Thus, I give it a solid 8 out of 10.

Graphics & Controls 9
The graphics were much improved from the previous game. In my critique of the 3rd game I said how some of the later backgrounds looked fuzzy as well as had static in them. Zero 4, does not have that in this game. It was like Capcom did not rush this game. The backgrounds are very nicely done in this game as they look like real places. In addition, the sprints are very nicely done. The people in this game look like real people, and they are more defined then the last game. Moreover, the enemy soldiers look more like enemies this time instead of zombies. So, I was glad to see that. Furthermore, the game did not seem to lag at all, which was nice.

The controls in this game were also much improved from the third game. Zero does not feel sluggish at all. The 3rd game appeared to have a few sluggish parts in it. I can tell that Capcom put more time in developing this game than the 3rd game. Thus, I give the graphics and controls a good solid 9 out of 10.

Sound: 8
The music in this game was for the most part good. There were no tingles in this game, which is very good, because I hate tingles. However, some of the stage's theme was more like hard rock. I am more of a soft rock guy, so the head banging tunes really did not go other well with me. In addition, the enemies' weapons really sound decent. Some of their weapons sound like machine guns. Zero's, weapons also sound nice and powerful. The explosions, in this game sound more clear than they did in the 3rd game. So, Zero 4, had a good sound to it. I wanted to give a higher rating since there were no tingles in the game. But, the hard rock was a little bit of a turn off for me. If you like hard rock than you will like the sound to this game. Thus, I give the sound a good rating of 8 out of 10.

Addictiveness and Depth: 6
Zero 4 is a fun game to play due to the plot and the graphics. However, unlike the other Mega Man Zero games , this one suffers a little in the lack of depth. On, the other hand this is a good game to play it just could have had more depth to it.

The depth in Zero 4 suffers more than the other games in this series. There are not many things to unlock in this game. The previous Zero games the player could unlock several mini games by beating the game a certain way. Zero 4, has that ability but not as many games as the other titles did. Also, the other games were infamous due to the number of cyber elves that could be downloaded for power ups. Zero 4, has cyber elves to download but not as much as the other titles. In addition, Zero does not have many power up options like the other games did. Zero cannot get other pieces of armor in this game compared to the 2nd and 3rd game. If Zero can wear different colors of armor in this game; I have not been able to find out how. What, keeps the depth rating from being lower is that there are still items to collect. They are some power ups in this game, as well as elves to download. Therefore, I give the depth rating a 6 out of 10. I was really hoping this game would have the depth that the second game or even the 3rd game had. Do not get me wrong there are still items to collect, but not as much as the other games.

Difficulty: 10
Zero 4, really shines on its difficulty. This game is up there with the 3rd game in difficulty. Some of the stages are nightmares, mostly due to enemy placement. Enemies have more powerful attacks in this game and are more numerous. So, many times it is easy to get hit, surrounded and cornered. In fact, I can remember loosing lives in the game quite a bit. In addition, some of the stages require the player to beat the clock. Beating the clock is very hard in this game for several reasons. First of all, its the enemy placement, sometimes you will need to decide rather to fight enemies or ignore them due to the clock. Second, a lot of the beat the clock stages have mazes to get through, which only slows you down more. The bosses in this game are also very difficult. Moreover, the bosses require quick reflexes and skills to beat. Creativity is not so much a factor in this game as it was in others. But, if you are going to beat this game you better have good reflexes and skills. In other games they gave you power ups and armor pieces to deal with the enemies. However, in this game there are not many power ups and if they are armor pieces in this game I have not found them or unlocked them. Thus, this is a very difficult game prepare to be challenged and lose a few lives in this one.

Overall: 8.8
Zero 4, is a good and fun game to play. But they are a few negatives. The first, being the toned down dept in this game. I do not know why Capcom took out some of the items that the previous game had. I would have thought that Capcom would have kept the same items as well as add new items in this game. After all, this is the last game in the Zero series. To be honest, I was shocked that this game had the least amount of depth in it. I could understand the first game not having so many items, but the 4th and final game not having so much depth was shocking. In addition, I do not understand why they had to go to a hard rock theme for this one. The other three titles had a rock theme, but it was more of a soft rock theme. The heavy rock theme in this game really did not make sense to me.

Now for the positives, this was a fun game to play and it was a nice conclusion to the series. I like how the story tied the X series games into this. As I mentioned under the plot section I like games that give a history lesson. I also thought the graphics in this game were much improved compared to the 3rd game. The fuzziness and static that were in the 3rd game were not in this one. Moreover, it seems like Capcom put more time into developing this game and it shows in the graphics. Second, I really liked the difficulty in this game. Yes, the difficulty will cause you to pull your hair out as well as do a few stomps in frustration. But, I like difficult games like that. Zero 4, really challenges you skills and reflexes to master this game. In fact, I will be honest I have not made it to the final boss yet, that is how hard this game is. Is Mega Man Zero 4 as good as Mega Man Zero 2? The answer is I do not think so, because the second game was just hard to top. However, this is a fun game and a nice piece in the series. Thus, I give the overall rating of this game a good score of 8.8. Zero 4, does have a few negatives, but they are minor negatives. To some players these negatives might not even be negatives as they were to me. For example, some players like hard rock music and some prefer soft rock. The question becomes would I recommend this game? By all means I would recommend this game. It is a good game. If you want to see how the series ends then play this game. If you like challenges then play this game. I hope you pick up this game and have fun playing it; just be prepared to be challenged.

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03-05-14 03:04 PM

Davideo7 is Online

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Davideo7

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Here's a tip: You don't need to place a comma after the first word of so many of your sentences. Fix that issue and your reviews would be near perfect