 Since
the first entry in the series, Capcom's Mega Man has been one of
their most popular franchises. However, despite that the Mega Man
games all had fair-to-excellent amounts of success, the series never
advanced much in its span of over 15 games. All of them were fun to
play, but the problem was that they all played the same as the
previous game, with only better weapons, graphics, and sound. So, in an
attempt to change all that and start fresh, Capcom takes Mega Man into
the world of 3D with Mega Man Legends. They didn't stop there.
Capcom even added some RPG elements to give the game added depth and
longer playtime. So does it work out? Absolutely.
Starting off with a quick
cinema that looks surprisingly like a cartoon, the game explains Mega
Man's crash landing at a quaint little island that is rumored to have
treasure hidden away in tunnels below the surface. While waiting for
his ship to be repaired, Mega Man ventures off into the tunnels in
search of whatever valuables he may be able to find. Along the way,
Mega Man meets several people from a nearby town and quickly plays an active
role in the town's well-being. As result, it becomes Mega Man's job to
defend the town from the various threats that pop up from time to time
while he waits for his ship to be repaired.
 While defending the town from
pirates and giant robots or pirates with giant robots, you'll notice
that the game looks amazingly like a cartoon you'd see
on TV. The locations are colorful and nicely detailed, and the characters and
enemies are all distinct and have original designs. Special effects
-- like explosions -- are pulled off nicely as well. The bosses all have
their own slew of exclusive weapons that have appropriate animations as
well, most notably the last boss. This isn't the most beautiful game
ever made, but it does look pretty good for a PlayStation game.
Keeping in tradition of its
predecessors, Mega Man Legends features good sound effects backed
by a decent soundtrack. There is also a great deal of voice acting as
well. Unlike some of Capcom's other titles, the voice acting in Mega
Man Legends is very good. It's all standard cartoon dialog, but
it's at least done well. Also, the soundtrack is mostly the standard
platform material, but you'll probably find yourself humming one or two of the
game's better songs.
Controlling Mega Man is fairly
easy. It may seem a bit awkward at first, but once a player is used to
it, it's not hard to do at all. When he's not blasting
away at the nearest enemy, Mega Man can jump, climb, hang, walk, run,
or dash. There is also a lock-on button for battle which targets the
nearest enemy with your main weapon. It is similar to Zelda's lock-on
button, but a bit faster. All you need to do is hold the button down
and Mega Man will automatically target the nearest enemy.
No matter where you are in the
game, there is always something to do. There are several sub-quests
for the player to explore and most of them reward the player with
exclusive weapons they wouldn't have found anywhere else in the game. That's
not all though. Completing some sub-quests will result in the physical
change of an area. For example, one optional quest could possibly
result in the destruction of houses in the town's residential area.
You may then choose whether or not you want to raise money to repair
those houses. Little touches like this add on quite a few hours of
play if you take the time to explore them.
Overall, Mega Man Legends is
well worth the price of admission to anyone who likes platform,
adventure, or role playing games with more action than role playing.
Fans of previous Mega Man games, anime, or cartoons in general will
also want to give this title a look. Its a fine effort from Capcom and
a title worthy of the Mega Man name.
|
