Megaman, oh dear how many games have you been in? It seems that either the fans or Capcom themselves can't get enough of the blue bomber because he is everywhere! He already has about fifteen games (the original) excluding the legend series and also the other Megaman games such as Megaman Soccer or Megaman the Power Battle on Arcade. Seriously though, Megaman is a huge marketing franchise and he is literally almost as big (if not bigger) than Mario himself! Well, now most of you Megaman fans are used to the traditional Megaman series as well as the X series (which are my personally favorite). Now Capcom has generated a new series of Megaman, and that is none other than Megaman Legends! This is a 3D Megaman game and is purely action and RPG with an added touch of Megaman. This is like a N64 game, and speaking of N64 games I hear that Megaman 64 is the exact same thing as Megaman Legends and if that's true that is really lame by Capcom, however I am not fully sure on this. Anyway when I first played this game I didn't like the new look for Megaman and I immediately trashed this game. This is when this game came out in 1997 and then it took about three years later for me to come back to this and play it again to give it a final chance. It seems Capcom, who made this game of course, has outdone themselves because they now have three excellent Megaman series and hopefully they stay great! It seems that after finally beating this game after 15 hours of getting absolutely everything in the game I really liked Megaman Legends, but still it is the least liked series in my opinion. Let's see what's so great about this new version of Megaman and if you want to find out keep reading.
THE STORY: All right! Now to begin discussing about the new version of Megaman there is a totally new story that is pretty good. It isn't great, in fact it's a bit lame, but it is good enough to please me and practically anyone else who likes this game. Now unfortunately, there is no Wily or Dr. Light, or even a Sigma. You guys probably got bored of those anyway right? Well, Capcom has delivered new bosses, new settings, new everything! Megaman, his sister Roll, and his grandpa Barrel, are diggers which are excavators who dig up treasure. That seems to be the trend job of this game. Anyway, there aren't big continents (at least I don't think so) but rather islands. Megaman and his crew are in a ship, the Flutter, and they crash land into an island named Kattelox. At first they try to get the ship repaired immediately to leave, but then they find that there is a secret to the island. A treasure known as the Mother Lode is somewhere underground on the island and it causes damage onto the island every amount of years (it's not given). The mayor desperately asks you to save Kattelox and you agree of course. Now, you must discover the secret of the island and retrieve the Mother Lode if you are a great digger that is. I just added the last part for the heck of it, but that's basically the story. I probably didn't explain it to well because I feel like crap, but there's not much else to know. I wouldn't say it's a great plot, but once the pirates are introduced then the game really gets started and that's why I gave the story such a high score. Overall, story doesn't start off great but it is good.
THE GAMEPLAY: I cannot determine whether I can accept the new game play of Megaman. Along with the action elements are some RPG elements as well. As you may know, Megaman is an action game where you go through levels shooting down enemies, beating bosses to advance further into the game and of course collect new weapons. However, in this legendary new version it is closely related. Instead there aren't levels after levels which you can automatically go to. The setting is real life, sort of RPG, and you walk around to find your next destination. Also, what I really like about this game is it has a huge sense of realism into the game. There's malls, cities, banks, cars, people, vending machines, houses, etc. The whole scenario is like real life. Now with that being said, there are dungeons which usually are the levels in which Megaman does his stuff in. Usually, the whole freaking island gets involved and sometimes your fighting the pirates in the middle of downtown! There are two modes that Megaman is in (at least that's what I call them). It's just like an RPG, when he is in battle or if he is safe where he cannot use attacks. When safe you explore and find out what next to do to get closer to solving the mystery of Kattelox or you go out of the way and get new items and extra equipment. In battle, it's likewise but with Megaman being able to use his weapons. Even though there are numerous bosses in the game you don't get weapons from them. You have to search for them and sometimes you have to gather junk items and have Roll turn them into a weapon for you. Also, Megaman uses two weapons: his buster and then his special weapon. There are many special weapons in the game. Another RPG aspect of the game is that Megaman equips himself with parts on his buster to enhance it. There's rapid, energy, strength, and also range. That's basically the functions of what Megaman does as far as equipment and such. The game play itself is just action packed Megaman surrounded in a 3D world. He can jump, roll, dodge, sidestep, and many other functions to help him in battle. Very innovative version of Megaman and looks like a N64 game (which is neither good or bad), but it is addicting and with many mini games to ante up the fun there is no stop to playing this game. Finally, for a Megaman game it is pretty long. If you do every side quest (there's tons of them) and collect every item and weapon it can take up to about 15 hours, which is quite long for an action/RPG game. Overall, the game play of Megaman is pure action but I do think it is quite repetitive.
THE CONTROLS: Here is where the game takes two separate turns. You are able to change this in the options mode, but both ways are pretty bad. That is the movement of Megaman, yes movement is basically the utmost important aspect of controls. Megaman moves all over the place; he goes back and forth and also from side to side. The default controls have the side to side buttons being the directional pad and having up and down as turns. This is extremely confusing and I immediately changed it. However, the change wasn't that great either because then the side to side movement buttons became R1 and L1 and I could use the directional pad to move Megaman any way I wanted. It sounds good, it is good, but it still doesn't satisfy me. The controls, especially for a 3D action/RPG game, should be a bit more responsive. I struggled a lot with the controls through the game, but not too much to ruin the fun. The other buttons are fine and easy to accustom to. Then, of course, there is the camera which is actually good considering this is 3D. I wouldn't say the controls are great, but they aren't to bad. All I can really say though is that it does take a bit of time to really get used to them.
THE SOUND: Unfortunately unlike most Megaman games this one doesn't have good music. Well, it sort of does in a way but overall however it's just there. The music doesn't allow me to feel for the game or to hum a tune while shooting down ugly looking robots. I personally didn't give much notice towards the music and even the final theme wasn't very impressive. Now, I'm not saying that the music is utter crap, but it's nothing special. The music usually sounds like elevator music or slow rock. The tunes were a bit relaxing like in the Apple Market or even in Downtown. The dungeons have no upbeat music or anything which isn't good for an action game. Then, there are the sounds which are half good and half crap. I'll start with t he crap and bluntly say that the voice-overs are the worst of its kind. Megaman sounds like a freaking girl (I'm not surprised, for every version on the Playstation he sounds like a wuss)! Rolls voice is pretty annoying too and anyone else who talks in the game doesn't talk too much to dislike. I think that the sound effects are good other than the voices. The megabusters shots sound cool and so does the sound of Megaman jumping. Everything is pretty accurate and the sounds are very clear. Overall, the audio is the worst part of the game but it's acceptable.
THE GRAPHICS: What can I say? When dealing with a Megaman game graphics don't mean anything to me, but in this game it seems Capcom put an extra 'umph' into this baby. In fact, I think they didn't put enough 'umph' because the characters are very jagged and ugly looking. Elbows are as sharp as knives and the facial features such as dimples, cheeks, aren't done well either. Character designs are all similar, just in different patterns. Enemy designs are different, but not too impressive. If you've played Final Fantasy 7 then you'll know what I'm talking about. Megaman Legends suffers the same graphical dilemma. All that aside though, the graphics are quite nice. The backgrounds, although very repetitive, are nicely detailed with great colors that show even the smallest parts such as a switch or a little crack in a wall (which usually have items). The special effects when fighting bosses such as fireballs, lasers, etc., look really cool. One last thing that I think I really like about the graphics is that they are accurate to the setting that the game is given. For example, the Apple Market looks like a real mall/market type of place with various shops and they have glass windows, signs, and other stuff to show off the setting and time zone very well. Then there is the downtown, uptown and city hall areas that have buildings, roads, and even cars moving about at a constant pace. I was impressed by how accurate the graphics were to the setting, because believe it or not some games suck at this. Of course all games showcase the setting and time zone (it's a necessity) but most usually aren't so impressive. The only problem here is the character designs, everything else is great.
THE CHALANGE: I didn't have too much of a tough time with this game. Some of the bosses are tough and even some regular enemies can take out a lot of damage on you, but you need to be prepared and also skilled to not die. For a Megaman veteran I can imagine this game wouldn't be too hard for them, but if someone new to the series (where have you been?:P) or to any action/adventure game may have more of a difficult time with this game. Finding every item and weapon does take extra time. I beat this game in 15 hours and 7 minutes, which normally could've been beaten at 10 hours and 35 minutes. There are a lot of sidequests in Megaman Legends and you could be missing out on a lot of stuff if you choose to overlook them. The final boss is quite hard, as is other bosses, and that's where the main difficulty of this game comes from. The enemies and finding items is all that is tough. Other than that there should be no problem with this game. Everything else is pretty easy. Overall, the challenge is medium.
RE-PLAYABLE: Without any new plots or new items to find after beating this game the only thing left worthy of replaying this game is just experiencing Megaman Legends all over again. Most people don't get all the sub quests first time through, so there are some things to replay this game for. I personally got every weapon in the game, yet I couldn't upgrade them to the maximum power for all of them. They cost a lot of money, so all I can do to replay this is get more money and get everything perfect. All of those things equal the replay value. There isn't many hidden items or places to go to. Getting the best equipment and upgrading your weapons to the highest possible power is all I can think of to play Megaman Legends over unless you wish to just play it again for the hell of it. Overall, Megaman Legends doesn't have major replay value, it's above the average action game though.
OVERALL: This new Megaman game has a lot of potential to be a great hit! I already consider it a really good game but there were some minor flaws. I have yet to play the sequel, Megaman Legends 2, but if it's got the same concept it will be fine. With all these new systems coming out the 3D action game will be more common then a 2D side scroller unfortunately to some, but if those future games turn out to be as good or hopefully better than Megaman Legends then there is a bright future for all action games. The only thing I wish was a bit better in this game was the controls, a better soundtrack, and to be a bit longer. I hate when your enjoying a game so much and then you beat the game shortly. Great games should last long. Anyway, that's all I have to say about this game. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!
NAME: MEGAMAN LEGENDS SYSTEM: Play Station, Nintendo 64, PC, Play Station Portable
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