Mega Man Zero (GBA)
+0 Story: It's been at least a century after the X series, and Zero wakes up from a long nap to find himself in the middle of an unfamiliar conflict...with no memory. It's the familiar "group of freedom fighters versus a corrupt government" conflict, but with a clever twist: the leader of the bad guys is none other than X, who has perpetrated atrocities against innocent Reploids in the name of protecting what remains of humanity following the devastating Elf Wars. It's a well-conceived premise that provides a blank slate for a new series without shying away from continuity, and the various characters and locations have enough personality to make the world feel alive. However, the story is depressing by Mega Man standards (see what happens if you permanently fail a mission, and consider that using Cyber-elves is basically murder), and it fails to flesh out how dire the world's situation really is—there's apparently an energy crisis, but the only sign of it is the obnoxiously low drop rate of Energy Crystals; and Neo Arcadia feels like some weird forgotten temple instead of Earth's last surviving city where basically all of humanity lives. More details about the Elf Wars would've been welcome, too.
+0 Graphics: The game looks good, but it's easily outdone by its successors. I'll save my complaints about Zero's redesign for the Polish category, because the character designs are strong, with fluid movements and effective dialogue portraits. The game's locations look appropriately gritty and lived-in, though the foreground can be fairly bland and the background somewhat repetitive in places. I'm not wild about the cutscene artwork; the graphical limitations of the GBA don't do the art justice, and the paintbrushy art style doesn't do much for me to begin with. The various menu screens are pretty basic; they get the job done with little or no flair. The special effects are good, though—the flickering lights in the Resistance Base, Blizzack Staggroff's ice beam, the heat shimmer in the desert, and the creative enemy destruction animations all make the game more vibrant.
-1 Music: In general, I dislike the heavily processed sound that basically all GBA soundtracks have, and it's especially pronounced in the Zero games. Sound quality aside, the music in the first installment doesn't get me pumped the way other Mega Man soundtracks do. Lots of loud melodies with really basic harmony and percussion lines; lots of slower tunes that feel more drab than dramatic. A few tracks are up to par, most notably Neo Arcadia and the Resistance Base; most of the rest are strictly average or outright boring to my ears.
-1 Sound Effects: What I said above about GBA soundtracks applies to the sound effects, too, particularly in the Zero games. This installment has perfectly passable noises, from the bippity menus to the vwooming Z-Saber, but the audio quality is rough. The voice clips are the worst offenders in this regard, though they're still more bearable than the ones in X4. Perhaps owing to the gritty tone of the game, the sound effects aren't as fun or charming as the ones in other corners of the franchise, but they get the job done.
+0 Control: Aside from some clunkiness with the Trans Server menu and Cyber-elf management, the controls are pretty smooth. Combat and movement are responsive, and customizable controls are a welcome inclusion. Unfortunately, there's no option to skip cutscenes, which makes it even more painful to retry boss fights after dying or redo the intro mission in the hopes of securing a better rank.
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Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
+0 Graphics: The game looks good, but it's easily outdone by its successors. I'll save my complaints about Zero's redesign for the Polish category, because the character designs are strong, with fluid movements and effective dialogue portraits. The game's locations look appropriately gritty and lived-in, though the foreground can be fairly bland and the background somewhat repetitive in places. I'm not wild about the cutscene artwork; the graphical limitations of the GBA don't do the art justice, and the paintbrushy art style doesn't do much for me to begin with. The various menu screens are pretty basic; they get the job done with little or no flair. The special effects are good, though—the flickering lights in the Resistance Base, Blizzack Staggroff's ice beam, the heat shimmer in the desert, and the creative enemy destruction animations all make the game more vibrant.
-1 Music: In general, I dislike the heavily processed sound that basically all GBA soundtracks have, and it's especially pronounced in the Zero games. Sound quality aside, the music in the first installment doesn't get me pumped the way other Mega Man soundtracks do. Lots of loud melodies with really basic harmony and percussion lines; lots of slower tunes that feel more drab than dramatic. A few tracks are up to par, most notably Neo Arcadia and the Resistance Base; most of the rest are strictly average or outright boring to my ears.
-1 Sound Effects: What I said above about GBA soundtracks applies to the sound effects, too, particularly in the Zero games. This installment has perfectly passable noises, from the bippity menus to the vwooming Z-Saber, but the audio quality is rough. The voice clips are the worst offenders in this regard, though they're still more bearable than the ones in X4. Perhaps owing to the gritty tone of the game, the sound effects aren't as fun or charming as the ones in other corners of the franchise, but they get the job done.
+0 Control: Aside from some clunkiness with the Trans Server menu and Cyber-elf management, the controls are pretty smooth. Combat and movement are responsive, and customizable controls are a welcome inclusion. Unfortunately, there's no option to skip cutscenes, which makes it even more painful to retry boss fights after dying or redo the intro mission in the hopes of securing a better rank.
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Mega Man Zero 2 (GBA)
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Mega Man Zero 3 (GBA)
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Mega Man Zero 4 (GBA)
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