![]() ![]() It's interesting to see the new challenges that can be created by intermixing enemies from all across Mega Man's career, much like in the Game Boy games. +1 Stages: MM7 brings back some classic enemies for a fun nostalgia kick-Properide, Driver Cannon, Sniper Joe 01, DeluPipi, Petaforth, Kerone, Gobots, Turbo Roader, and Count Bomb NEO are some of the many foes adapted from MM1-6. On its own merits, MM7's control is perfectly adequate with a few nitpicky hiccups, but there's a definite decrease in precision from the NES games. The new MMX-style password screen is pretty intuitive, though, and easy to handle. It's odd, too, that it takes a moment for most weapons to deploy after hitting the fire button, and it's disconcerting for the Mega Buster to take so long to charge (and to not give much indication that it's starting to charge). There's also an inconsistent delay with some of the special weapons-it's normal to wait for your projectile(s) to clear the screen before firing another one, but there's sometimes an extra split-second wait that's caused me to smack into an enemy as I'm frantically mashing the attack button. Mega Man also gets a little awkward to control when using the Proto Shield I'm sure it's a deliberate design choice that you can't go from standing still and firing to running and firing without letting go of the fire button for a moment, but it makes regular movement surprisingly tricky. The shop is seriously clunky, however-between all the dialogue you need to skip through on subsequent visits, and the backward way the buttons are mapped, you'll probably end up accidentally leaving the shop or nearly buying things you don't want more often than not. +0 Control: If you've grown accustomed to the NES Mega Man games, Mega Man might feel a little sluggish and floaty in this installment, but the movement controls are as responsive as ever. I prefer my sound effects a bit heartier, but the light-and-fluffy approach works well with the game's overall aesthetic. +1 Sound Effects: The rippling coo of Noise Crush, enemy explosions that sound like they're a bubble being popped, the "boing" and "poing" of pretty much everything in Spring Man's stage.the sound effects are as distinctive as ever, and a little more playful than usual, going along with the feel of the music and graphics. But I think the instrument set holds parts of this soundtrack back from being as great as they could be. And the first Wily fortress theme is succulently dark and foreboding. And the ending theme in this game is tied with MM5's for my favorite in the entire series. Don't get me wrong: I love that warbling digitized cat. However, the music does border on a little too goofy or chipper at times (Auto's theme and Spring Man's stage, pardon the pun, spring to mind), and I think the instrument set is partially to blame-if it weren't for the sheer difficulty of the battle, it might be tough to take Wily at all seriously with a digitized cat warbling out the final boss theme, for example. Though many of the tunes may not be as catchy as the melodies of yore, the soundtrack employs a variety of styles and maintains an upbeat core throughout even the most serious tracks. +1 Music: Bravo for continuity-like MM2, the intro theme here is an adaptation of the ending theme from the previous game. The graphics themselves aren't really the problem it's the break from tradition, plus the expectations set by MMX of what an SNES Mega Man game should look like, that have caused MM7 so much grief. People complain about the comparatively oversized graphics, but, like the later Game Boy games especially, MM7 recalibrates the gameplay to better align with what's reasonable for this graphical style. +2 Graphics: Credit where credit is due: character designs are full of detail, backgrounds are complex and varied, animation is clean and plentiful, and stuff blows up real good. ![]() ![]() Plot and character development abound, setting a new standard for the storytelling capabilities of the series. Light's lab in ruins, Mega Man swears vengeance and almost breaks the First Rule of Robotics, which raises some interesting questions and seems to tie in slightly to the introduction to MMX. We meet Bass and Treble, get to know them as friends (or at least friendly rivals), and are betrayed by them. It's a direct continuation of MM6 that reveals Wily's clever contingency plan and features a city under siege, a prison break, a museum break-in, and plenty of appearances by Proto Man. +2 Story: Without question, this is my favorite story in the series. ![]()
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