Mega Man Zero 4

NOTE: This review was written by me years ago, but it's never been posted on GB, so enjoy!

***************

Capcom’s Mega Man Zero series, unlike past Mega Man series, has been consistently strong, and without mentioning spoilers, is set to end on a high note. This would actually be a good thing, since history has shown that things tend to go wrong when Capcom approaches number six in any Mega Man series thus far (see Mega Man 6, Mega Man X6). Whether the Zero games will avoid that pitfall remains to be seen, but so far it hasn’t skipped a beat, and Mega Man Zero 4 (Z4 hereafter) continues the trend.

The story begins with the humans fleeing their sanctuary, Neo Arcadia, which is now under the control of Dr. Weil, Zero’s nemesis from Z3. Of course, Dr. Weil doesn’t approve of insubordination, and promptly sends out his thugs to deal with the humans. Naturally, Zero comes in to save the day, but the humans aren’t too fond of Reploids—after all, they’re the ones who started the whole war in the first place (dating all the way back to the Mega Man X timeline, no doubt). Soon enough, Dr. Weil unleashes his plan to wipe out humanity and nature, and it’s up to Zero to take out the bad doctor.

The gameplay of Z4 is largely unchanged except for a few significant improvements. First of all, there’s only one cyber elf now, but it can be strengthened. By feeding the elf with crystals, you can increase the number of skills available to Zero in each of the three categories: hacker, nurse, and animal. You can equip as many skills as you want, but if you go over the elf’s current capacity level, you’ll adversely affect your mission score, thus lowering your rank. However, if you stay under the capacity level, you won’t lose points. Only by defeating bosses can the cyber elf’s capacity level be raised. The great (and bad?) thing about this new cyber elf system, apart from not being penalized for using them, is that using cyber elves is no longer a one-time deal, thus adding another layer of customization to Zero’s abilities. The other way of customizing Zero, via chips, makes a return in Z4, but instead of collecting CDs, you now collect parts from defeated robots, and use those parts to create chips. You can acquire chip recipes by talking to the humans or reploids at HQ, while other chips can only be created by trial and error. The drop rate for parts is fairly high for the most part, but getting parts from some midbosses may require exiting and reentering the stage a few times.

Each stage that contains one of the eight main bosses can be made easier or harder via the new weather system; choosing the more difficult path reaps greater rewards, namely a brand new EX skill. Previously, having a high rank would net an EX skill, but Capcom opted to make it easier for players to acquire them. As a result, rank doesn’t serve much purpose other than bragging rights.

There are now only three weapons available to Zero: the Z-Saber, Z-Buster, and the new Zero Knuckle. With the Z-knuckle, you have access to various types of weapons, but for the most part, the other two weapons can do the job just fine, especially since both the saber and buster get EX skills, while the knuckle doesn’t get any. The only time you’ll really use the knuckle is when it’s clearly suited for the task at hand (like pulling things out). None of the stages ever require creative use of the Z-Knuckle, which is a bit of a letdown.

Ultimately, Capcom’s goal with Z4 was to create a game that was less punishing, thus making the whole experience easier to bear. That’s not to say that Z4 is a walk in the park; it has its moments, but it isn’t anywhere near as difficult as past games. The Zero series could potentially be over if the ending is any indication, though there are some loose ends that could leave room for another sequel. If it does truly end, at least it’s ending on a good note.