Mega Man X5
Capcom
Shooting Platformer
PSX
1 Player

The Concept: Mega Man (or Rock Man) is another character that needs no introduction; since the early days of NES when we fought the eight robot masters, arm cannons have been blazing. SNES saw in the introduction of a new warrior, a robot with the ability to discern between right and wrong: X. This, the fifth iteration of the X series continues the grand tradition of arm cannons and blowing shit up.

The Execution: To me, Mega Man X was a classic, the best action game on SNES. Really, most any Mega Man game is worth playing (Well, maybe not Mega Man Soccer). Part of the appeal is the difficulty of the games. There's a sense of accomplishment in finally mastering that tricky part of a level, or figuring out how to jump and dash to avoid the malicious intents of the bosses. Unfortunately for it (very unfortunately) I just didn't feel it as much with X5. Maybe I hit my groove or something, but the game was honestly, pretty easy most of the way through. X4 made you make a choice about whether tyo play as X or Zero throughout the game and your choiuce affected your play because you couldn't switch, making some bosses hard and some easy. Giving a choice before each level seems to take some of the challenge out. In all actuality, the game is generally much harder to play as X. As badass as Zero is and as much as I like playing as him, it shouldn't be because he's better. Also, it seems some areas are inordinately hard and some bosses almost impossible. Again, this imbalance is irritating. The final straw was that, to get the special armors that make X better in this game, one must collect all four pieces rather than being able to get a piece at a time and gain the benefits thereof.

All right, now hold it right there. I'm sick of complaining; on to the good parts. I think by this point, the series has reached its peak style-wise. The sprite graphics, while dated, are very well done. I personally think that the sprite method just fits so well for the type of game (Ugh, X7 take note). Mega Man is supposed to be fast, brutal, and over the top yet genuinely enjoyable (Again, X7 take note). This game delivers in spades in a lot of cases. I don't really know what to say about it other than it's the X we know and love.

PS: The final stages are nostagic in a lot of places, from instant death beams to repeat bosses of the original Mega Man and Mega Man X

PPS: Sigma, while resembling his form in MMX, is a real BITCH to fight. I'm still working on it.

PPPS: Oh yeah, a rating

****** 6/10