Chadius: My Non-rant of Megaman X6

Franchise power can only go so far. Sometimes you expect a little more from a sequel (i.e. Final Fantasy 9 vs 6) but people will upset if it's too radical (i.e. the OPPOSITE of my opinion of FF8.) But when the series does the same thing as its previous episode and is worse?

Now you're in trouble. Mega Man X6 commits so many gameplay flaws that I wondered why Capcom even made this game. The poor english translation makes me wonder why they puiblished it in the US.

Sigh... Where do I begin? The story. Useless. Mega Man X5 had a great plot that was nice and thick. You found the origin of Zero, questioned his nature, and proved in the end that he was definently a good guy.

But in X6? The plot is useless and meant to stall for time instead of having something meaningful.

Story Holes

SPOILER ALERT!!! STOP READING NOW UNLESS YOU KNOW/WANT TO KNOW THE PLOT!!!

Ahem. 1) Zero's alive (like they were really going to kill him off.) You fight his Nightmareish clone (which barely makes sense) and Zero appears to join X. Zero was repaired by someone, but we don't know who. We'll find out in MMX7, so this episode was useless.

2) Gate. The evil scientist for this episode is Gate. The in-game story doesn't explain it very well. He made very powerful reploids (*cough* Maverick Bosses *cough*) that his colleagues destroyed out of fear. He gets disgruntled, leaves, and finds some debris that contains stuff. He takes the stuff and uses it to rebuild his destroyed creations. Then he decides to take over the world 'cause his powerful army is really coolX0r to the MAX!!!!

GEEZ. He only lasts for this episode, anyway. His appearance is really useless. Because for no apparent reason...

3) He revives Sigma. Yes, he REVIVES SIGMA. Sigma just reappears after you defeat Gate. The only positive part is that he wasn't behind the plot. He hasn't fully recovered, and he's insane. So, because he has no use in this game, I must ask- WHY IS HE HERE?

I know Sigma = Dr. Wily, but he had no reason to be here. Now, for my final complaint...

4) ZERO'S DNA. Gate uses Zero's DNA (that was the "stuff" I was talking about) to revive his deleted reploids. Reploids have DNA now? It's never been stated before. Why do I feel that they just threw this in as a plot device?

Summary: Please don't make a crappy plot for your game. The plot doesn't have to be RPG-level of thickness, and it can be 1980's NES style (i.e. your girlfriend has been kidnapped. And I'm trying to take over the world using my powerful army. Just try to stop me!) But if you're going to put a plot it, make it an ADEQUATE one. Don't concentrate so much on the plot if it's that poor.

Gameplay Woes

Yes, it's the same as last time. Actually, it's worse than last time. It's clear that MMX6 suffers from gameplay issues that should have been fixed by a better level designer or more play testing.

1) If you don't have the right weapons, you can't win!

a) Example: If you go to High Max without a special attack, you can't hurt him. Because I'm not warned of this beforehand, I can't help it if I got up to him without weapons. In fact, Im forced to lose all of my lives because the continue point is right before I fight him. If there's no way I can win, the game should put me somewhere else. Maybe at the midpoint? Why didn't any playtesters complain about this?

b) Second Gate Stage. There is a section you HAVE to mid-air dash in to pass. This means Shadow Armor X and X are screwed. Because I choose my armor BEFORE entering the stage and I'm not warned about this, I have to lose my lives because I wasn't supposed to use that armor. WHAT? Where were the warnings? Why was I not told of this? Or better yet, why didn't any playtesters complain about this?

2) Zero's crappy weapon control. UP + Square: Sentsuizan. It makes Zero go DOWN. The UP attack should NOT make Zero go DOWN. Try a simple experiment. Grab a rope (press UP while next to one.) When an enemy approaches, jump up and hit it. Many people will press Square to attack. The problem is they were holding UP to grab the rope, so guess what? The user presses UP + Square, and Zero performs Sentsuizan. Zero dives forward and DOWNward and does not stop until he hits the ground (or the bottomless pit, or the spike bed.) Since I can't disable this weapon, it just gets in my way. I haven't found a use for Sentsuizan, either (since Zero's somersault Ensuizan gets the job done.) Play testing should have revealed this.

3) Painfully short stages. Shield Sheldon's Laser Institute and Infinity Mijinion's Weapon Storage stages are incredibly short. It's as if the level designers just threw platforms around randomly, and said "that should last for a two minutes." There are only eight stages, so they have to be worth while stages.

4) Giga Attack Overuse. The giga attacks are way too abusive in this game. The bosses are nothing compared to them. Here's a tip: run right in front of Rainy Turtloid and use Shadow Armor's Giga Attack. The cresents will blow off the crystals and take half of his life. And that's IF you approach from the backside.

I'm supposed to use the boss' weakness against him, not the guaranteed to kill attack that always works! This is a clear and obvious gameplay imbalance issue.

5) Obvious lack of playtesting. Think the Shadow Armor's invulnerable to spikes? Go to the Recycle Lab and touch the upside-down. You will die. For another treat that doesn't require too much travel, get to a point where you have to duck to avoid being crushed by the compactor ceiling. While ducking, release down on the D-pad. You will stand up and be crushed by the ceiling. WHAT? If there is a low ceiling and you try to stand up, you should not be crushed. If anything, I should not be able to stand up. Why didn't playtesting reveal this?

The entire point of playtesting is so people can reveal the little flaws and errors in your games BEFORE it's released to the public. These errors should have been checked, and I shouldn't be complaining about it. I should be proud that Capcom released such a game, but instead I continue to live in shame that I love the Mega Man series. If you don't give me good games, how am I supposed to like the series?