Megaman Zero
Knux Five

Introduction

It is the year 22XX. After the world's longest anti-virus scan, one of the greatest Maverick Hunters is reawakened in the middle of a civil war. He will have to fight for his people... but against his greatest ally? You are Zero. Megaman Zero is a strange, yet workable, hybrid of Megaman X and something akin to Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.

The Story

After the Reploid Wars, Zero went into exile, fearing that he had the Sigma Virus. The only way he could be sure would be to essentially run Norton's Anti-Virus for 100 years. During his exile, Neo Arcadia - the city of unity, was built. Naturally, the government goes crazy and arrests Reploids for anything they do. Dr. Ciel, a human, leads the remaining reploids out of Arcadia and to an abandoned city. While on a routine raid in an energy mine, the resistance is being badly beaten. Ciel finds Zero, and when there's no other option, Ciel uses her Cyber-Elf to unlock Zero, who in return kicks the enemy's butt, but something's disturbing about the enemy- They're modeled after X, one of Earth's greatest heroes. Zero doesn't make the connection, as his memory has been wiped clean. Zero will face off against these X-Bots and will track down their creator.

You are Zero, your enemy is X.Your mission is to save the Resistance, defeat your finest ally, and figure out what's really going on.

How Good is it?

Right off the bat, it's not a standard Megaman game. There's no "Brady Bunch of Bad Guys" screen, instead, you select missions when talking to Dr. Ciel. The world is expansive, just like Metroid or Castlevania. You can go anywhere. As that's more of a "presentation" aspect, I will move onto gameplay.

Zero begins with a hand-held blaster, but shortly gets his Z-Saber, along with a Boomerang Shield and Energy Pike. All these weapons can gain power with experience. As you fight, you will also gain the powers of nature, which will be combined with your weapons. The Cyber-Elf system most resembles Pokémon. As you progress, you will gain Cyber-Elves. Some are temporary (Energy refills, save from a fall, etc.), some are permanent (Double life bar, more energy, etc.), all are limited. You use that elf, you'll never get it back. The big boys need to be fed before they can be used though. Lives are reworked. Lose all your lives on a mission, the Resistance fails that mission. You have to be strategic on how you spend your lives.

Not for the kiddies. They'll most likely get fed up with the game. Those who have played Metroid and Castlevania, or the Megaman games, will most likely get the best experience. I personally found the game to be pretty good, but I am a fan of all three series previously mentioned. I got the story, and I got the exploration aspects. I never did beat that final boss, but it's a great game otherwise. If the ending somehow skews my opinion, I will amend it. If you see the game cheap, grab it.

Knux Five