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By Anthony Swinnich on July 18th, 2008
Mega Man games, much like the titular character, have the potential to be more powerful with added features. While abilities in the games are gained by defeating bosses, innovation has come at the cost of time. Let’s face it – we’ve been playing Mega Man for over 20 years. Occasionally, Mega Man comes across a power that has little value. In the same way, some of the features added to a game are useless or even detrimental to the experience. Mega Man ZX Advent does an admirable job fixing a few of its predecessor’s flaws while maintaining a "classic" feeling in the gameplay, but there are several features that would be best left unused like so many of the Blue Bomber’s less potent "upgrades."
"Advent will kick your ass."
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Right off the bat, Advent will kick your ass. The game has one of the most unforgiving set of beginning levels ever, partially because there are so few save stations in the game. They usually appear at the end of the level after the boss, so don’t expect to get through many, if any, of the levels on your first try. This is similar to how the old games played, and while it’s nice to be challenged, it’s harder to accept it given the genre. Castlevania makes save points a convenient pit-stop before boss battles, and Metroid typically does the same, so it’s jarring to have to play through entire levels again when they’re as deviously designed as the ones found here.
If you can accept the game’s difficulty though, Advent is a highly enjoyable title. The game expands upon the original Mega Man ZX’s Biometal formula and allows you to turn into boss characters as well as other "Mega Men." They aren’t always the most useful transformations for battle, but they have their place for gamers looking to unearth all of the game’s hidden gems. There are so many secrets in this game that it’s likely that most gamers will abandon the search before it’s completed. And while the map system is not only readable when compared to the one found in ZX, but useful as well, it would have been nice if the touch-screen allowed you to make some sort of notes on where unreachable objects rest. There’s always next time around.
"The core gameplay remains as solid as ever."
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A map notation feature would also help with the game’s many fetch sub-quests. While the annoyance usually outweighs the rewards, several of these "missions" dole out supremely helpful items, like energy tanks or offensive upgrades. Maybe the missions could have been color-coded for importance, because there’s nothing worse than getting a watermelon when you’re hoping for something to bolster your defense.
The core gameplay, however, remains as solid as ever. Memorizing enemy patterns and level layouts has a certain charm to it, and there’s something satisfying about eking out a victory against a boss with one bar of health left. While it’s irritating to find that toward the end of this title, like so many other Mega Man titles, that you have to run the gauntlet against just about every boss in the game, it’s nice that Capcom hasn’t forgotten the elements that make this series what it is. ZX Advent will be just another Mega Man game to some, but fans will appreciate its small moves toward modernizing the series. | 
