A Very Flawed, Yet Entertaining Change to the Mega Man X Formula
The Mega Man and Mega Man X series is the prime example of a hit-or-miss deal. Games like Mega Man 1 and 2, and Mega Man X through X4 are fantastic examples of what great gameplay and story can do for a series. However, the gimmick got old quick, with Capcom never learning its lesson on how to be ambitious and give an aging series the proper upgrades needed to keep fan interest alive. That’s when they decided try something new with Command Mission, a new spin on the franchise that gave a confusing, yet fresh breath of air on a series that needed a proper send-off.
The story is nothing like the original series’. Mega Man X and his pal Zero are sent into this brand new world set one-hundred years after the events of the main series. A maverick named Epsilon has banded together a group of rebels wanting independence from their human masters. This rebellion has caused massive casualties, and X and Zero must go investigate and destroy the rebellion. However, things go out of hand when stockpiles of force metal—a new reploid enhancement material found in a meteor—fall into the rebellion’s grip. Building a ragtag force of unique and playable new friends, X and Zero build themselves their own resistance group to fight off the rebellion.
Right off the bat, the gameplay of Command Mission is nothing at all like the gameplay of the previous titles. Gone is the traditional side-scrolling platform style, and in comes an RPG style open world action-adventure. Okay, the open world part isn’t entirely true, as the game itself is pretty linear. The gamer goes through new areas from a command center as chapters in the story progress. However, it still has the feel of a Mega Man X game, with the settings being futuristic and expansive. Some of the corridor designs do copy each other, but each level still feels unique, even if monotonous.
The aforementioned characters are also a refreshing change of pace. Along with the return of Axl from Mega Man X7 and X8, we’re also introduced to many other new characters. The new blood goes as follows: Spider, a bounty hunter who joins after the death of a friend at the hands of the rebels; Massimo, a cowardly yet powerful warrior who’s trying to emulate his idol, a rebellion hunter; Marino, your typical thief with the heart of gold; and Cinammon (points lost for lousy name), a childlike healer. Each of them, surprisingly, has great character development and while the connection is lost due to the rush of the story, they still feel realistic in their motives and goals.
The gameplay is what sold this game for me. Unlike the sidescrolling counterparts, this game is a 3D adventure style that has you traversing through doors and obstacles in order to progress the level. You find items all throughout these levels, and you can roam around secret rooms and areas, much like a typical RPG works. While it’s not the advanced systems like gamers would find in The Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy games, it keeps it simple and easy to play for gamers who aren’t used to that particular style of gameplay, even though you’ll be left missing the ability to jump pretty early on.
The combat is by far the best aspect of the gameplay, however. Keeping the simplicity intact, the combat puts a lot of effort into making sure the leveling system works to your advantage and disadvantage. It’s a turn-based system akin to Final Fantasy, and it gives players the same strategy options of the system. You can choose to defend, use side items at the cost of weapon energy, and even heal up at a whim. You can even change party members without sacrificing a turn. This allows for greater depth of fighting style. I only wish they could’ve implemented tag move with two or more characters.
Hyper modes, which are transformations that are stronger than usual, allow for superiority over many enemies, though you’re given a turn limit on them to allow a cool-down period. The super moves, like X’s charged shot and Axl’s many transformations, also add to the great combat. The only thing that keeps this system from being truly outstanding is the Final Strike attacks, which destroy your opponent after you take off 75% of their health. That’s unnecessary and doesn’t accomplish much else other than annihilating an otherwise tough opponent.
The weakness of the game is the overall story. One, it’s very short, taking the average player about eight to ten hours to complete. Second, the characters, while solid, lack a great amount of meaningful development aside from X, Zero and Axl (with very bad voice acting to boot). Also, the bosses, while challenging, aren’t very memorable. The same can be said about the soundtrack, in which I can’t remember a single track that didn’t bleed into the rest of the game. In addition, the last chapter was filled with so much betrayal and confusing plot elements that I feel the story could’ve settled for a better ending than what we got. That’s a personal gripe, but it doesn’t take away from the overall experience.
Overall, Command Mission is a great change from the sidescrolling that made Mega Man so popular. A deep combat system, a different storyline, and new and greatly developed characters make this a standout in the series. If the levels were worked on a little more, the story were polished, and if the enemies had more depth to them, this would’ve been a fantastic title. Otherwise, this is mostly flawed, yet solid.
