Let's play Mega Man X7 (text version)

[ChaosVortex]

So, I've been NOT playing this game for a long time, for one reason and one reason alone.

Since I know this is such a horrible game, I wanted to turn it into something like what the Nostalgia Critic or AVGN does, and use my misery of playing the game and turn it into a comical effort, as well as review the game. Unlike those two though, I do things that are family friendly, clean, and wholesome. (No potty mouth)

This is me playing a blind run of one of the worst Mega Man games ever to have been born...

As much as I love this series... I played the intro stage alone, and this game is just abysmal. I can fully understand why this is the worst of the series.

So let's.... *sigh*... jump right in. Into this... this... mistake of a "game", if it even still classifies as that. This... is....

MEGA MAN X7

A non-video, commentary review
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How this works: Since I do not own a real camera to record and edit footage, and I'm unwilling to buy it, you're going to have to make do by either actually PLAYING the game, viewing already recorded footage of the game, or just read along. I'll be pausing the game to make a comment, and as a result, I'll have to stop every now and then to give my comments. This will totally kill my time displayed in "playing the game" but I hope that doesn't affect the gameplay. Here it goes.
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Alright, so I put the game in my PS2 and my memory card in. Let's start it off.

Now to be fair, I have played X6 and X8, so I'll be making a lot of comparisons to those games. Seeing as how X8 was actually FUN compared to X6, I'm going to NAIVELY say this will be a step up, but still keep my expectations lower than X8. Let's see what this game does with that. GAME START-O

So here's an intro. As I expected, the graphics are PS2 graphics, but a step down from X8. This game looks like it'll be fun from that intro, but I see it's not all 2D platforming.

We're also introduced to a new character. Axl. He was kinda alright in X8, and this is his debut game. Anyway, pressing start. I do enjoy that the game says "MEGA MAN X7". Reminds me of X4.

So we start with the intro movie. There's a guy who's been given some money, and some reploids are about to break in.

? ? ?: This is it. Ready to rock?
Axl: I'm always ready.

WHAT IS... WHAT IS WITH AXL'S VOICE!? Alright. Okay. Yeah, my expectations of this game just fell. The voice acting doesn't sound that great.

So they break in, and this dude kills this other guy, and this other reploid takes this case of money... or whatever it is, and hides in a closet (assume what you will). There, his partner finds him, and apparently this guy's name is Aluce.

Well, his so called friend decides to backstab and shoot him in the chest. And then we see him... morph into Axl. Aluce then proceeds to be in shock and say "How did you do that?"

Now we're given a brief explanation of what's happening. Mavericks attack, yadda yadda we know this, intro to X and he's such an awesome hun-... oh. He's... leaving the Maverick Hunters. Why? Because he's tired of fighting and doesn't agree with their methods of fighting.

Okay X. So let's do the math. There's at least 8 Mavericks in every game (aside from them reappearing in the final stages), and you've been through 6 games. So after ripping apart over 48 mavericks... NOW you decide that what you've been doing is wrong? Whatever.

So X is leaving the Maverick Hunters.

X: "Why must reploids fight one another? I've had enough violence!"

WHAT... WHY... HOW... WHY DOES X SOUND LIKE THAT?

My gosh... X and Axl... I don't know what's wrong with them, but they don't sound right. They either sound whiny, or just... it's terrible. We're moving on.

So since X left, another organization called Red Alert was born. Apparently that guy from earlier was Red, and they were the ones to hunt down Mavericks. Now Red and Axl are leaving Red Alert, and "this decision will change destiny itself." Thanks game for trying to make this all so dramatic. I really don't care.

So Axl says he'll become a hunter on his own... and it's INTRO STAGE TIME! Finally, that was really long.

------------------
INTRO STAGE
------------------

So let's get the controls with Axl, who we're playing as. He shoots with Square, Jumps with X, dashes with Circle, and does some special move (probably copy) with Triangle. All L and R buttons do nothing, but that's probably weapon related.

Pressing select when the game tells you will get Axl to monolouge (in text) about hints in the game. In this instance, it's about the laser in front of you.

I also notice that Axl doesn't have rapid fire like he did in X8. You have to mash Square to rapidly shoot. Holding X lets him hover. So basically, he's Falcon Armor X. His running animation is faster than how he runs, which looks... really off. I hate it.

So the R2 button is used to switch your ability to lock-on. And dashing twice while dashing will make you roll. That... might be bad for me.

THESE TEXT EXPLANATIONS TAKE FOREVER. I can't press a single button to scroll through it. They don't get to the point fast enough.

Anyway, Triangle is called A-Trance. You use it to steal abilities. And... I just died. They turned the game into a 3rd person 3D perspective. They threw bombs and killed me... and Axl goes "OOOOOooooooh" and hovers, flashes, and then disappears.

.... WOW. That's... where to begin.

Aside from how poor this animation is, how Axl dies is... it's like he's ENJOYING IT. "Oh I'm dying... I'm OOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooh sweet death! Mmmmmmmmm"

So I stole this robot's ability and he skates around, and again... animation is weird. I bet if I keep commenting on the animation, I'll be typing forever. My energy bar is decreasing, so Im gonna put it to use, but this guy THROWS A BOMB SO SLOW, and you have to stand still while you throw it. If this is all that A-Trance offers, WHAT'S THE POINT OF USING IT? You're better off shooting these things. The A-Trance refills once it's done though, at least they were nice to allow you to reuse your crappy ability. Oh joy. Here's a little something I'm going to refuse to use.

I went into a room with spinning sonars, and there was a room I missed, and with how this game is set up, I killed myself to check it out. The game wouldn't let me go back, so I committed suicide.

If you look past the terrible animation, and just try to play the game at your best... it's a little fun I guess. It's like playing Mega Man Legends, except that'd be more fun and interesting. Anyway, there wasn't a room I missed. The game's graphics played a trick on me I guess. Moving on. Some walls in this game are climable, and others aren't, but you can't tell which ones they are. Keep shooting things, and you get to the security door. You attack it when it's red. Not hard.

Onto part 2. Axl's on a road.

Axl: "Phew! Somebody please tell me I'm through the worst of it."

I think Axl was voiced by some random fat kid off the street. Honestly.

Axl gets attacked, and Zero pops in.

Zero: "I can't believe I'm back here again, What the heck happened? They really made a mess."

......................

Okay so... when I originally heard Zero speak years ago, it sounded like Naraku from Inu-Yasha. NovaMan XP once said he sounds like an old man. But in any case... his voice is terrible. I think the problem is that... he sounds like he DOESN'T CARE. You'd think Zero would be cool and collected and full of energy, but he just sounds like he's tired of this hunting job, and here he goes again. Boy Zero, how enthusiastic.

So now I'm playing as Zero. Finally, something I can enjoy! I think...

Zero can double jump by double tapping X, and he slashes with Square... but they look so slow and delayed... this doesn't sound good. This stage takes place on a road like in X1, complete with those giant bees.

When you slash in mid-air, you can't control where you're moving unlike the past games. Again, not a good thing.

You can KINDA dash jump off of walls, but it's nothing like the past games. This engine is not like the past games at all. This is totally new, and it feels butchered.

If you stay under a bee and just randomly slash, it goes down. Nothing hard. Nothing fun. Just stupid.

I like how Zero can just MOVE THROUGH THE PROPELLER of the destroyed Bee, and be standing inside it, like half of his body just assimilates in the bee. The graphics in this game are just OUTSTANDING. Capcom needs an award.

Random walker enemies from X1 appear. They just... appear. In thin air. You can tell Capcom really tried with this game's graphics. Just keep slashing and they're dead. Again, not hard. Not fun. Another bee. Repeat the process with the earlier bee.

Game switches back to 3D at this point (ugh). Random enemies appear and stuff. I don't really care. Zero can reflect bullet attacks with slashes.

Another Bee, but it's in 3D. And yes, you can just stand under it and slash. Thing is... you're not really exactly standing under it. You're under it yes, but this time, you're also INSIDE it. It doesn't hurt you or anything, it's just poor graphics. Thanks Capcom.

So the bee explodes. I REALLY hate this 3D perspective. I can't see what's up ahead.

Now we teleport into part 3, and it's 2D. We head into a COMPRESSOR COMPRESSOR COMPRESSOR COMPRESSOR... wait, that wasn't hard at all.

Huh. The compressors in X2 were harder and more thrilling than this.

So Axl runs into Zero, and Zero tells him to wait. Axl asks him if he's stupid and that he's in danger. GOTTA KEEP MOVING ZERO. LISTEN TO HIM HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING. Zero asks him if he's connected with the incident (that has yet to be explained. The cars and roads are destroyed, and there's no explanation.) Axl doesn't know what he's talking about, but then he sees "it coming" and leaves.

Giant robot scorpion falls from the sky.

Zero: "What's going on?"

Okay. I know if you read that, it sounds like a question... but he didn't say that. This guy's voice is so terrible, he doesn't really ACT. Again, Zero just makes a statement as if he's uninterested. "What's going on."

I'm hating this game. So you "run" (really walk" because deflecting shots do nothing and the screen moves so slow). You catch up with Axl, and Zero says "You got some explaining to do."

LUCY! YOU GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DOOOOOOOO

Axl says he'll tell him later after he takes care of things. He also knows who Zero is, and says he can handle it. He says you can call him with the L2 if he needs a hand. First off, this is the equivalent of a CHILD telling a POLICE OFFICER to call him if he needs help. I think Zero can handle things... but I'm guessing this game is going to MAKE me use Axl.

So after Axl says he'd take care of things, he runs off. Thanks for that.

Zero: "Hmph. Well, this has become a real pain. I want a full explanation after this is all over!"

Okay, so Zero said that 3rd sentence with a little extra oomph, like he's upset. The thing is... I don't buy it. This is still terrible voice acting. You can tell he doesn't really care. Also, the game gives a real close up to Zero's face and shows his pixelated mouth not moving while he talks. I wish this game wouldn't exploit it's own flaws. Oh well, I'll let it go because this IS the first Mega Man X PS2 game.

So you fight this scorpion bot for real, as a boss battle. I died because I didn't care, and the game just loads back to the title screen. At first I thought it was turning itself off, but it just loads to the title. No Game over. Nothing.

So I get back to the scorpion boss again. Im so used to real gameplay that actually feels like a Mega Man game like X8, that playing this game feels so off. So yeah, I had to switch to Axl because Zero SUCKS at close combat. Like I said, the game practically MAKES you use Axl. Zero is supposed to be EXCELLENT in close combat, so why is he so terrible in this game?

Anyway, plot time, and there's a load of it. And a load it is indeed...

Axl [in high-tech hexagonal handcuffs]:  "I'm not gonna run off, so could you
take this thing off?  It makes me feel like a criminal..."

Zero:  "FEEL like a criminal?"

Axl:  "Err... OK, maybe what I did was wrong...  But, like, we were a perfect
team, dontcha think?  When we kicked that big dude's butt, I thought, yeah,
we would make a great combo!"

Zero:  ". . . "

Thanks for that response Zero. Although nothing really is explained, I think Axl needs some duct tape across the mouth.

Axl:  "So where's X been lately?  I haven't seen him around."

STOP TALKING LIKE YOU LIVE HERE AND YOU KNOW EVERYBODY.

Zero:  "Sit tight.  He's just beyond this door."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[[ Within Maverick Hunter Headquarters ]]

Zero:  "Here he is."

Signas:  "Nice work, Zero."

Ugh... Signas... your voice. WHY IS IT THAT NONE OF THESE VOICE ACTORS KNOW HOW TO... Y'KNOW... ACT!? He sounds so UNINTERESTING.

X:  "So you're the one who caused all this trouble."

You too X. Stop talking please.

Axl:  "I guess so.  I had no idea they'd sent that kind of gear after us."

X:  "Gear?  Who's after you?"

Axl:  "I left Red Alert.  Believe it or not, I'm a hunter."

Signas:  "Red Alert?  You mean that gang of wannabe vigilantes?"

Shut up.

X:  "Do you realize how much damage your internal bickering has caused?"

Shut up.

Axl:  "I apologize for that.  But I had to leave.  As for what happened as a
result - that's the way it goes."

Shut up.

X:  "That's the way it goes?  Do you have any idea... !!"

SHUT UP.

Signas:  "X, cool it.  Alright Axl, why don't you start by telling us why you
left?"

Axl: "Red Alert changed.  They're no better than murderers now.  They used
me.  We used to only attack the bad guys... But not anymore.  I couldn't take
it."

Zero:  "They're going to come for Axl, no doubt."

Good. They can HAVE him. It's not like he's worth anything.

Signas:  "This is our chance.  Red Alert has caused us far too much trouble."

This is never explained but okay.

X:  "How can you say that?!  If we fight, we'll fall right into their hands!
We can't allow this madness to continue."

I'm starting to think everyone here is just mindless. Either that, or this is very poor writing. Very very very poor writing. Or maybe it's both. Probably both.

Axl:  "I know what you mean, X, but we can't talk them out of this.
Sometimes fighting is the only choice."

X:  "That's quite enough!  You need to back off and pay the dues for your
crimes!"

"pay the dues for your crimes!" These voice actors, I tell ya.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[ Transmission incoming ... ]

X:  "Alia, what happened?!"

Alia: "Unidentified transmission. Feeding to monitor."

Alia sounds bad. No surprise there. I'd also would like to say she sounds like a robot, but then again, you can call me Captain Obvious.

Red:  "You getting this, hunters!?  I am Red, leader of your friends here at
Red Alert.  I never imagined our little friend would end up in your hands,
but in any case, I want Axl back, Now, don't you worry.  I know he won't come
back easily..."

No. That's okay, you can have him. He's yours.

Red: "So how about this?  Like you, we are hunters.  We've trashed
our share of Mavericks.  So how about a duel?"

I left my deck at home. Besides, he's yours. We don't want him.

Red: "A duel to determine who the
real Maverick Hunters are.  I'm sure you won't mind if we use the Mavericks
that we've captured so far."

Uh, dude, why do you wanna fight? We don't want him. He's really just a criminal in our hands at this point (for no reason or any charge I might add), so if you want to negotiate terms, we can not fight and ju-

Red: "So, the last one standing wins!  If we lose,
we'll surrender Axl to you.  And if we win?  Well... We'll leave that to your
imagination!"

... you're not listening are you?

X:  "You've got to be kidding.  Axl has nothing to do with us.  We won't
fight the likes of you for his sake."

Red:  "Well, pretty big talker, for a retiree!  We could care less about
deadbeats like you.  We just want Axl.  He IS there, isn't he?  Now you just
sit tight, my boy.  Ahahahahah!"

YOU. CAN. HAVE. HIM. Why did you just assume we'll fight for him? If you want him so bad, why not negotiate? Did ANYONE think of that?

Alia:  "They're already on the move.  Mavericks are showing up across the map!
 I'll check for damage."

Okay, whatever.

Axl:  "I'm sorry... This is all my fault."

DARN RIGHT IT IS. EXECUTE HIM.

Zero:  "Well this is turning into a real mess."

Axl: "X, you said I need to pay my dues, right?  So, make me a
Maverick Hunter!  Me and Zero make a great team, and together we could take
care of Red Alert!"

No. No. No no no no no no no. No. No. Just... no. No. No.

No.

No.

...

No.

X:  "Are you mad?  You have no business as a hunter!"

Yes.

Axl:  "I'm serious!  It would be a perfect chance to make up for my
wrongdoing."

No.

Signas:  "If you had just gone back, the problem would have been solved.  But
I can see that won't be happening."

Yes. Wait. What? He's already in handcuffs. Just tie him up some more and ship him back!

Axl:  "?!"

*sigh* I'm guessing Axl REALLY wants to play and he won't take no for an answer. It's obvious they don't want Axl around. This kid won't get a hint, and this response is just a prime example of how stupid he is.

Zero:  "Right.  These aren't run - of - the - mill criminals.  They won't
listen to reason.  And even if Axl did go back, which he won't, would they
stop their misdeeds?  I don't think so."

Axl: "Zero, you're my hero!  Heh... I knew you'd understand!  I always
thought you and X were so cool... I want to fight!  I want to be a
Maverick Hunter!"

NO.

X:  "Not just anybody can become a hunter, kid."

YES. YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH TRAINING. YOU HAVE TO GET CERTIFIED. YOU HAVE TO BE CLASSIFIED. YOU'RE JUST A KID WITH A GUN. IN FACT, YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE THAT THING. YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT KID!

Zero:  "We're not getting anywhere with this.  I'm ready to go."

Axl: "No, wait!"

No! Go!

Zero:  "I'm going by myself.  As for you... You can do as you please."

No, don't say th-

Axl:  "Yeah!  X, if I catch all the bounty hunters, you've got to promise me
you'll let me be a Maverick Hunter!"

No, please do-

X:  "Talk is cheap.  Prove it to me first."

...

[ X hands Axl his pistol back ]

X:  "And don't forget this."

Axl:  "OK!  I won't let you down."

... did he just really...

Did... did he just... did he just...

Why?

Why X? If you're SO against fighting, why would you let THIS KID go out FIGHTING MAVERICKS. Why would you just randomly let some oddball off the street go out and play cops and robbers with REAL COPS AND ROBBERS? And another thing, if you're against fighting, WHY would you just hand him his gun back? I mean, it makes NO SENSE! This whole thing makes NO SENSE!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

X:  "Another pointless conflict has begun..."

ANOTHER POINTLESS STORY HAS BEGUN AS WELL.

Signas:  "X, don't overthink this.  This time our only choice is to fight."

No. It wasn't. They just want Axl. We could negotiate, but I'm assuming logic has been erased from everybody's programming in this game. I mean seriously...

X:  "We've made this mistake time and time again...  Why must Reploids
continue this accursed cycle of aggression?"

Stop being so whiny X. Seriously, I thought you were much cooler than this. But if I could add to your list of mistakes, you just made the mistake of handing over a gun to a little kid so he can go shoot things. Good job. I hope you feel accomplished.

[[ End scenes between intro stage and the 8 Maverick stages ]]

So yeah, I'm aware that Axl is some type of "skilled" hunter that can hunt Mavericks but be honest. Would you REALLY want him to be a hero? If you say yes, please go see Rez.

I'm saving here, and I'm gonna stop playing, because I'm unentertained and I think this is enough text for now. Until then

SEE YOU NEXT TIME! [/Mario]

[Majikn]

Axl really has no place in any game except Command Mission.

[Xero]

Why even put yourself through this torture?

[TheRedPriest]

Axl really has no place in any game.

Fixed that for you son.

[ChaosVortex]

Alright. Here's part 2 of this INCREDIBLY awesome game. I left this off after beating the Intro Stage.

I forgot to comment about the process of saving the game. Let me explain.

Alia gives you the option to go to Stage Select, Save the game, or End the game. I want to Save, so I select it.

She then asks again if you want to save the game (like you were unsure). The cursor is already on no, so if you are impatient, you'll have to do the process over. Press up and hit yes.

The game then starts loading. Apparently it won't let you save there. Now you select the save data. You select it, and again, it asks you if you want to overwrite it, with the cursor on no. You save. It says to press the X button.

Now it gives you no more options. It just says to select save data to save again. I already saved! I just want to go back to the stage select!

So I press random buttons and find out triangle lets you to either save again, or go to results screen. I select the results screen. Thankfully it doesn't ask me if I want to go back again like I'm unsure.

I'm back at Alia again, who is asking me if I want to go to stage select, save, or end the game. I select stage select, and of course, she ASKS ME AGAIN if I want to go to Stage Select.

This process annoys me because it's tedious. In every Mega Man X game, including X8, it was save and go, like how it should be. It was simple, quick, and effective. This game takes WAY too long explaining things, loading screens, and just is overall very slow.

I will say that the music in this game seems to be fairly good. I won't say it's awesome, but I guess it matches the series. Point goes to Capcom for that.

Anyway, we're at the stage select screen.

-Deep Forest-
"We're detecting energy from deep within the lost woods! Find it!"

-Air Forces-
"A mysterious ship has been spotted 5 miles in the air! Destroy it now!"

-Cyber Field-
"A virus has escaped through a crack in the electrosphere! Destroy it!"

-Central Circuit-
"Use the Ride Chaser to find and destroy the time bomb in the circuit!"

-Lava Factory-
"The lava energy factory suffered from an attack. Recapture it from the enemy!"

-Tunnel Base-
"The Special Defense base has been taken! Use the Ride and retake it!"

-Radio Tower-
"Take back the central radio tower!"

-Battleship-
"A menacing fortress that commands the seas. Destroy it to halt its advance!"

Alia: "Red Alert has selected these 8 stages as the locations for the duel. Select an area with the directional button, and press the X button to go! Use the R1 Button for Rescue File, L1 for Options."

Thanks Alia for telling me what I already know. I mean, just like how you were USELESS in X5, I don't need you to tell me how to play a Mega Man game. I did just fine in X1-4. And about the options and rescue file, it's listed right on screen too, so that was unneccessary.

Also, I noticed I can't see the names of the Mavericks I'm able to choose from. I can only see their faces. I wish I could see their names like the previous games, because THEN I can actually formulate a battle plan. Like how Mega Man games are supposed to go, electricity would beat water, water would beat fire, and fire would be grass (for example). How am I supposed to know their elements if I don't know their names? All I can go by is the name of their stages. Thanks Capcom for making a Mega Man game that lacks a key element to the series. You rock!

Anyway, I'm going to go with... uh... let's do Air Forces.

It doesn't start yet though! Now I have select a character, or the first implemented in this game, a team! You choose 2 characters and they go on the mission with you. I wonder what the roster looks like?

It's Axl and Zero.

...

... that's it.

WHAT'S THE POINT OF MAKING ME SELECT A TEAM OF TWO WHEN THERE ARE ONLY TWO PEOPLE TO CHOOSE!?

Seriously, what's the point? Do they give me the option to just choose one? No. I guess the point is to choose who goes first, but still, this annoys me. It's like they REALLY think I'm going to have a hard time choosing who's going on my team for this one. I'm insulted that they think I'm that stupid. Maybe it's because they KNEW this game would be terrible, so obviously anyone who bought has a mental problem.

I'm guessing that you can play as X later so he's unlockable but... that's STUPID. Think about it, X is the main character in this game. I mean, it's in the NAME OF THE GAME. "Mega Man X". Why is he UNLOCKABLE? Have you ever played a Mario game where Mario is unlockable? How about a Sonic game where Sonic unlockable? This doesn't make any sense at all. There are people who bought this game to play as MEGA MAN, not... whoever this kid is!

Anyway, after spending ten minutes deciding who I wanted to choose my team since the roster has SO MUCH variety, I'm ready to go.

It's Wind Crowrang. It just shows a picture of him, with the Red Alert symbol, and his name. The announcer says his name, so that's good. Problem is, after they do that, it starts to load the stage.

Well, this is the first PS2 X game, so I'll cut it slack on this, but I want to point out that they fixed this in X8. When you select a Maverick, while they're announcing the Maverick you chose and showing off their flashy effects, the stage is loading. X7 has a problem with multitasking I guess.

So Zero is shipped to a bunch of planes in the sky by... plane. I'm riding on top of planes. The turbulence and wind seems to have no effect on Zero (or his hair for that matter).

Oh no, Alia is calling me. "Can you hear me? Zero?". At least they bug you with the select button, unlike in X5 where you're forced to listen to her. Anyway, after she continues to tell me the obvious, I start the stage.

And now... I'm already hating this game again. Why? BECAUSE I SAVED A REPLOID. Yup, I saved a reploid named Derek. This tells me Capcom is going to be making me do stupid stuff to save reploids and if I don't get to them in time, they die. I'm sure there will be reploids dying that I'm unaware of. I'm assuming like X6, I can't go back to the stages and save them either. If they die, they're dead for good, and any reward they hold is gone too. I think this was also in X5, and we hated it there. Why do they keep thinking we LIKE this crap?

Ugh.

So I make it to ship by ship, deflecting attacks, killing things, and I notice that the flame from the ships don't hurt you or burn Zero's hair. No graphical surprise there. Anyway, I fell off and died. I start off at the beginning. Alia won't shut up. I get on a red ship that's about to crash and I save Ray. But I ALSO SEE A HEART TANK. I try grabbing it by jumping and stuff, but this 3D perspective is so darn awful that it explodes and I die, and I miss the tank. I'm gonna try getting it again.

Alia won't shut up. Anyway, I died. Back to results, and I get ranked. As it turns out, I DIDN'T rescue Ray. I guess I missed him too. That's GREAT. Alia asks me if I want to retry so I select it and she asks me AGAIN if I'm sure. YES. I'M SURE. Moving on.

I save Ray this time, but I miss the tank. Again. I'll try again. I miss it again. I try again, and ... wait, I guess I got it. I don't see it, so I died. Anyway, I don't care, as long as I got it. I save, and then I start the stage again. I go leftward this time and save Nigel. I go right, get on the exploding plane, and jump left so save Harold. I save Jeff too (he came out of nowhere), and I REALLY hope that I don't slash someone and that kills them. You can't tell if they're enemies or not by the way they appear.

I'm tired of deflecting shots, so I use Axl to shoot stuff down. I make it to the red plane and I fly off to part 2. I randomly appear on another big plane, and I get zapped by this huge laser out of nowhere.

... wait... this must be... META KNIGHT'S SHIP!?

No, not really. But it made me wonder... anyway, I head forward, and even hiding behind walls is no escape from this laser. It turns out they want you to jump over them. I save Kelly too. I shoot the tar out of these lasers and this bird appears after they explode. Shoot it down and you move on. You're inside the small ship now to part 3. (part 2 was short)

Move forward, and you save Barry. Shooting guys, locking on, shooting... I'm starting to feel like playing Syphon Filter instead. Keep going, save Yamaguchi, go down some stairs, and I die. I know I'm dying a lot, but I don't blame any lack of skill, I just blame this game. I try this part again, and I just skip most of the enemies and go to where I left off. Camera angle is bad (I can't see anyone but myself), and I just shoot in random directions to defend myself. I grab some blue orb, save Bert, and I go back and I try to save Mo but HE GETS SHOT. Great. I hope he didn't have anything. I look online, and apparently he had a 1UP. Nothing to cry over, but still. I save Emitt. I save Damon. I save Silver. I save Kim.

I'm realizing that the inside of this ship is MUCH LARGER than the exterior. That makes sense. I enter through a door, and it's BOSS TIME!

This battle takes place outside on the ship. I like the music.

Axl: "This isn't like you. Cooped up in a place like this. I thought you'd fly straight at me, full force?"

Wind Crowrang: "So you're never coming back?"

Axl: "You know my answer to that."

Wind Crowrang: "Heh, you never change do you?"

Boss fight starts. I'm given the whole WARNING WARNING deal, which is nice. But... the battle isn't in 2D. I guess I have to shoot him off in the distance, since he's in the background. Problem is, I'm in 2D, and he isn't HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SHOOT HIM if I can't FACE HIM? Well, nevermind, I guess you can shoot him, it's just awkward and you have to adjust to where he moves. I died, so I try again. This battle is actually a little fun, and he's a little difficult. I realize that Axl SUCKS at damage, so when he's close, you need to switch to Zero to do any real hurt to Wind Crowrang. Axl is only good as a meatshield and to attack when he's in the background.

Well, I died, so I gotta do the stage again. I'll save and try again.

At the results screen, I seemed to have also killed Herbie. I NEVER EVEN SAW HERBIE. THAT'S BULL. I look online and apparently he had a weapon chip. Thank you Capcom for being unfair!

So I power up Zero with the chips because I hate Axl. let's do this over. Alia asks me twice if I want to go back and I say yes to both.

So I get back to Wind Crowrang, and they're nice enough to have me start at the boss battle.

Zero: "Before I destroy you, let me ask you a question. What is your real purpose? It can't just be getting Axl back."

Wind Crowrang: "I wanted to see..."

Zero: "?"

Wind Crowrang: "See if the Reploid that fascinated him so was really all that great... So, let's see what you're worth!"

I just realized something. If they want Axl back so badly, why are they trying to kill him? This makes as much sense as Resident Evil 4, where they infect the president's daughter so she can be shipped back home and get everyone else infected. Too bad everyone in that game is trying to KILL HER. I mean, geeze. Everyone in this game is stupid.

I died again, but I notice a very cheap way to fight Wind Crowrang. If you hide on the beak of the ship, and just hop up every once in a while to shoot, you do damage and dodge nearly every single attack. I died 2 more times.

I had to get him to keep doing a dive on the beak and on the head to avoid and do good damage with Zero. Whenever he landed on the head, I slashed him once or twice, and then got up to avoid another dive. It came close, but he exploded with a finishing blow with Axl since Zero was low on health.

Axl gets WIND CUTTER
"This weapon releases a boomerang that slices through enemies that come within its trajectory."

Zero gets... wait... did he get nothing? Please don't tell me he didn't get anything. I mean, I know I finished the blow with Axl, but PLEASE tell me this is a joke.

So I save the game and decide to replay the stage to see if Zero got anything. It turns out Zero did get a weapon. Souenbu. The game just wouldn't tell me what it was I guess. You can change Zero's weapon with the right C-stick, and then press Triangle to fling these cutter things that arc like Boomerang Cutter from X1.

Anyway, I'm done here. Until next time!

[Majikn]

Axl really has no place in any game.

Fixed that for you son.

Right I get that you hate Axl, but take me seriously for a sec.
Command Mission was an entirely different kind of game altogether, and it DIDN'T focus on Axl. He was just a guy in it, and he was actually useful in a party.

If Massimo was the main character of X7, I feel like we'd be making fun of Massimo instead because all the voice actors in X7 were ridiculous. It's not Axl's fault that X7 sucks, the game merely "justifies" his bad rep because it was his debut.

Not to mention he also just doesn't belong in the gameplay of the main X games, nor would ANY character besides X and Zero (Vile not counting as a separate party) which is why I said only Command Mission is an exception.

I feel like if Chris Nolan made a movie about Axl, it would be an awesome-ass movie.

[NovaMan XP]

Reading this ALMOST makes me want to play X7 again, but then I remembered I sold it, thank God.

Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that GameStop sells X7 new for 30 dollars, whereas X8 is 20...?

[ChaosVortex]

Actually, I hate him in Command Mission too. He's just a snobby kid, that's what I hate. In X7, he's the worst because of that voice, and the game focuses directly on him. He literally replaces X, and the game is just horrid.

The only time I've ever actually tolerated him (and this includes ZXA), was in X8, and that's because he was fairly useful and actually fun to play as. I still hate his character though. Besides, it feels like he grew up a bit in X8, whereas he's still a whiny kid here.

Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that GameStop sells X7 new for 30 dollars, whereas X8 is 20...?

"Huh. X7 is more expensive. I guess it's better."

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Majikn]

Actually, I hate him in Command Mission too. He's just a snobby kid, that's what I hate.

Snobby is not the word I'd use. At all.

I'd say he's cocky and enthusiastic, which for a KID is an okay thing. He might be arrogant, but it's just a deliberate character flaw, and nobody's perfect.

In X7, he's the worst because of that voice, and the game focuses directly on him. He literally replaces X, and the game is just horrid.

The only time I've ever actually tolerated him (and this includes ZXA), was in X8, and that's because he was fairly useful and actually fun to play as. I still hate his character though. Besides, it feels like he grew up a bit in X8, whereas he's still a whiny kid here.

He's stupid in X7, but yet you just said EVERYONE is stupid in X7. I agree with that statement, and it's exactly why I don't think it's fair to cite X7 as a reason for him being bad, especially when you say he's got a better character in X8. That's my whole point. You even like his gameplay in X8, which is something I don't even agree with, which would have been a point for my side—that he's, in fact, not all that bad.

He has the same character in X8 that he does in Command Mission, and he earned some respect from me in those games alone BECAUSE of his character. I downright hated Axl until X8 came along.

I'm gonna get it thrown at me eventually that Axl was CREATED in X7, and with X7 being #####ty that must mean Axl was just a bad idea. I agree that he WAS. I'm just saying he gets more hate than deserved. He wouldn't have been hated this much if he was just introduced as a random party member like the other players in Command Mission.

[ChaosVortex]

My first opinion of him was Command Mission, and I hated him. He's the worst of them all in X7.

[Yusuke]

This is my order for Mega Man X7.

X and Axl

Tornado Tonion (Use Gaea Shield)
Splash Warfly (Use Volt Tornado)
Flame Hyenard (Use Splash Laser)
Ride Boarski (Use Circle Blaze)
Snipe Anteater (Use Moving Wheel)
Wind Crowrang (Use Snipe Missile)
Vanishing Gungaroo (Use Wind Cutter)
Soldier Stonekong (Use Explosion)

As for Zero, I follow the same order except I start with Soldier Stonekong. Now on to the weaknesses. The weaknesses does jack ##### other than make the bosses cry like little bitches. It's like Capcom gets the basic idea of an X game, but forgets the fact that the weapons does more than make bosses cry like little bitches. It is suppose to take fair amount of their health. Also the Glyde Armor is #####. Oh wow, the arm parts allow me to charge my weapons. ##### the other games for allowing you to actually get a change in your buster and yet still charge your weapons. If the Glyde Armor is supposed to be new, then why the ##### did Dr.Light not actually make the Glyde Armor able to charge your X buster to another level. Cleary comparing this to the one to Mega Man X will show just how stupid this arm upgrade is. Also, why the ##### does Dr.Light's capsule make this extremely annoying noise.

Now for Mega Man X. What I would do is just rescue all of the reploids in Soldier Stonekong, Splash Warfly, Ride Boarski, and Vanishing Gungaroo's stages, then I would save it in save slot 5. All I would have is just all reploids from Splash Warfly, Ride Boarski, Vanishing Gungaroo, and Soldier Stonekong's stages. No heart tanks, no e tanks, no dead reploids, no reploids rescued from other stages, etc. I would give Axl and Zero the same amount of power ups that Alia rapes me with in those pointless scenerios where she will not shut the ##### up about those Goddamn reploids. Zero and Axl would have four upgrades each on the top. Then when I want to play as X, I would just go to save slot 5 and play it. When I save, I wouldn't save at save slot 5, I would save at save slot 1.

[ChaosVortex]

I'm not gonna read any of that because I'm doing a blind run and I don't want to be spoiled, but thanks.

[NovaMan XP]

Wow, good job, now let's tell him that Bass makes an appearance at the end too.

[Yusuke]

Wow, good job, now let's tell him that Bass makes an appearance at the end too.

I love the Zero's ending where it gave a little hint of the cyber elf war.

[ChaosVortex]

Okay, so I'm back to playing this game. Let's see what's up next. We're introduced to a cut scene.

Axl:  "Oh yeah!  I forgot to tell you.  This is the reason I ran away from
Red Alert."

[Axl morphs]

Axl: "Cause I can copy the shape and abilities of Reploids."

[Axl morphs]

Axl: "But it's far from perfect.  Even with the Copy Shot, I can only copy the
form of Reploids my own size.  For the rest, it's only possible to copy their
abilities."

Zero:  "Where did you learn such a skill?!"

Axl:  "Heh!  That's the thing - even I don't know where I picked this up."

I was just walking around and someone threw away this thing and a fully functional gun!

Zero:  "You don't KNOW?!  How could you not know?"

Well, when I was little, my mother dropped me on my head. The doctors said I would suffer from something called dain bramage.

Axl:  "Dunno...I don't remember.  Red found me, and I've been defeating
enemies ever since."

"Duh-no.... I don't remember derp derpity derp."

And so we're back to Stage Sel- ... wait. I know that music from that cutscene... That's from Command Mission. ... huh. So anyway, I think I'm going to try out Deep Forest. No strategy here, I'm just going here because I know a little bit of what it might look like already. I'm sure I'll get the next Maverick's weapon wrong, so I might as well get a little extra weapon for support! Zero and Axl are on my time an- wait... no, let me select again. Maybe I should choose AXL and Zero. Yeah! No, wait that's stupid. Zero and Axl. Sorry about that, it's just SO HARD TO CHOOSE FROM.

Soldier Stonekong!

So we start the level and I like the music. I notice there is a tree behind me so I figured it was hiding a secret. It was so I grabbed it. I kill some monkeys, save some reploids, and I can copy shot a Ruinsman that takes SUPER LONG TO COPY. He sucks anyway. I died in a pit because Axl wouldn't hover for some reason (X8's controls were SUPERB compared to this awful crap). I noticed that thing at the beginning of the stage is back. It's a bright and shiny orb. What is it?

So I continue, save more reploids and there's a giant rock. I save the guy in front and the rock starts to move... VERY VERY SLOWLY. I stand behind a pillar thing and when the rock touches it... it explodes. But not a REAL explosion, that'd give it too much credit. The rock sorta disappears and it just leaves a little explosion animation behind. It's like as if it was a balloon rock and it just popped.

I messed around in the pit up ahead because it's weird how Axl can slide down the wall, but if you look closely, he's not even touching it. I died in the pit because again, AXL WOULDN'T HOVER. I'm holding X and he doesn't hover. I wish you could just TAP IT like in X8 but nooooo. So I get back to that pit and there's another slow rolling rock. It rolls to the edge and when it touches the edge, it doesn't fall down the pit. It... again... makes an "explosion pop". Now that's just ridiculous.

By my little explorer instinct, I found Fred hiding in a secret spot. I wonder what he's holding? And for randomness, where I found fred, I just held left on the branch I was wall sliding on, and it creates an infinite loop animation. Just something stupid I decided to do for no reason. Keep going forward, saving reploids, climb monkey rock heads barfing rock balls... and this stage is actually enjoyable. It's just straightforward and 2D. I'm just moving along a- DOOOH I SPOKE TOO SOON. The camera just shifted to where it's behind Axl. WHY DID IT DO THAT, I WAS ENJOYING THIS. I guess they wanted me to see what's ahead, but due to the camera, a lot of it I can't see ironically. I notice there are spikes up ahead, and an area to the left filled with spikes. Knowing that Axl can copy, I'll put it to use and experiment with a Ruinsman. After taking forever, I use the A-Trance and I move along down that path to see what's there. There were two reploids over there. So anyway, I move along back by copying another Runeman again (taking forever). Now there are spikes above and below me, and the game shifts back to 2D, and wouldn't you know it... I got shoved up into the ceiling. Trying again... I make it back to that spot.

So I try copying another Runesman and I accidentally fall into the spikes in the process. Axl REALLY seems to enjoy the embrace of those spikes a bit too much... "OOOooooooohhh"

...

So let's try this again. I just LOVE this copy shot. Don't you just love wasting valuable time doing mundane things? Anyway, I save the reploid in the spikes, move along, and I find a Dr. Light capsule in the trees. Too bad I can't USE IT because X is TOO MUCH OF A PANSY. I walked back to see what else I missed and I died in the process. There wasn't anything, so moving on. I found a Sub-Tank (I think) in the trees. It was just sitting there. It doesn't appear in the menu though. Strange. Onto Part 2.

Part 2 starts with a bunch of rock monkey heads spinning around shooting rocks out their mouths and occasionally trying to pull a Thwomp. Just spam Axl bullets and they're gone.... and boss time?

Axl: "The great and wise Stonekong. How could you of all people, do such a thing?!"

Soldier Stoneking: "We... We have already strayed from the path. Now all we can do is stay true to our beliefs, wherever they might lead us."

Axl: "But what Red Alert is doing is wrong."

Yeah, what they're doing is wrong. They're a bunch of Maverick Hunters that are just randomly sending out 8 Mavericks they "captured" to do their bidding. Plus the fact that this sounds familiar *coughsigmacough*.

Soldier Stonekong: "I know that! Both you and I know they are being manipulated!"

*COUGHCOUGHSIGMACOUGH*

Soldier Stonekong: "I fight for loyalty, Ready yourself!"

So the battle begins with the classic WARNING alert, and the battle takes place in a circlular arena where you fought those stone monkey heads. Except the pits are on fire. The battle starts and he just WALKS INTO ME and kills me. I was low on health, and that... that was just a cheap shot. They started the battle WAY too close to Soldier Stonekong, you dont have any reaction time.

Now to the results. It turns out I rescued everyone from that stage. Awesome. I power up Zero some more, save, and then head back to the battle.

So Solider Stonekong is pretty much an ape version of cloud, complete with a glass baboon butt. I get damaged again at the start of the fight (seriously, how do you dodge that?) and he moves around. He has a somewhat simple pattern, but GEEZE these bosses take FOREVER TO KILL. I wonder if that wind weapon does anything...

It does very little. Anyway, I'll just shoot him from a distance and slash when he's up close. Axl seems to be my best bet for this unfortunately. I do use Zero to double jump over a huge rock he throws around every once in a while though. So you keep doing this, and he explodes while yelling "GOOD JOB".

Yeah, thanks.

Axl gets GAEA SHIELD
"Creates a frontal shield that deflects enemy attacks."

... it's just a shield. I wonder what Zero got. I guess I'll have to play to find out.

If you hold down Square, Zero uses the Gokumonken to shield against projectiles that fly in front of him.

Anyway, yeah, that's enough for right now.

[NovaMan XP]

The shiny "orb" is an extra life, if I remember right.

[TheRedPriest]

Right I get that you hate Axl,

... I don't think you do.

but take me seriously for a sec.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! No.

Command Mission was an entirely different kind of game altogether, and it DIDN'T focus on Axl. He was just a guy in it, and he was actually useful in a party.

Axl had NO place in Command Mission.  He wasn't assigned to the mission, wasn't involved at all in any way.  He just HAPPENED to show up at the same super secret base/island X and Zero had been sent to and walked in like a cocky little mother #####er just like the #####ing mary sue he is.  I never used him past any section I had to as I found him to offer nothing of value the other characters didn't have a better answer to.  The best thing about him was they gave him Spider's super mode power and that wasn't even HIS.  Totally worthless character in every single way.

If Massimo was the main character of X7, I feel like we'd be making fun of Massimo instead because all the voice actors in X7 were ridiculous. It's not Axl's fault that X7 sucks, the game merely "justifies" his bad rep because it was his debut.

Ok, seriously now.  Axl wasn't the only reason X7 sucked.  You could have debuted Zero in it and the game would have been all kinds of ass.  But Zero isn't as #####ty character.  Even Massimo isn't really a #####ty character.  Axl is.  And the fact he's such an awful AWFUL character only made X7 WORSE.  The fact on top of making him such a god awful character they shoe horned him in as the main is what REALLY burns most peoples asses.  Axl didn't get a bad rap because he debuted in a #####ty game, he got a bad rap because he was an exceptionally #####ty character who debuted in an exceptionally #####ty game.

Not to mention he also just doesn't belong in the gameplay of the main X games, nor would ANY character besides X and Zero (Vile not counting as a separate party) which is why I said only Command Mission is an exception.

Axl doesn't offer anything gameplay wise really, I agree.

I feel like if Chris Nolan made a movie about Axl, it would be an awesome-ass movie.

I think you need to stop drinking bleach.

[ChaosVortex]

Alright, we're back with another run of X7, and before I start, I'd like to point out something. This isn't necessarily part of the game, it's just me commenting on the box.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

As implied by the front of the art, we see X, our main character, and Zero and Axl in the background. I think like past box arts, we can conclude that the character up front like usual, would be character the game focuses on, and the characters in the back are extra additions and attractions. OBVIOUSLY, this is deception since X is an unlockable character. I've already stated how I feel about that, so let's turn to the back.

Here, we're given a short description of the game, and the first thing you read is this:

"AXL, A New Hero Is Born!"
Mega Man X, his courageous pal Zero and new playable hero Axl propel this all-new 3D Mega Man action-adventure into the future. Follow our heroes as they battle monster machines and huge bosses in fully interactive, vast worlds to combat the Red Alert Syndicate. A unique mix of traditional 2D and 3D perspectives bring all the action to life. Mega Man X7...
The Future is now!"

Oh, unique is DEFINITELY a word you could use for this game. I just REALLY hate how the front cover lies to you though, and the back tells SOME of the truth. Like, Axl being the main star (This should just be called Mega Man Axl), and it lists things that are new in this game.

"NEW IN MEGA MAN X7"
+ Multiple Game styles in one: gameplay and camera angles adapt to each stage
+ Execute the new change combo attack by switching characters at any time.
+ Introducing a mysertious new hero

That first bit LIES. The camera does NOT adapt to ANYTHING. It just shifts against your will.

In fact, the WHOLE case and game itself is just a deceptive tactic to sell the game. I mean, think about it. Mega Man X's mug is what most likely sells the game, so the only way they can get this game off the store shelves and eat through the customer's wallet is to... what else? Have Mega Man X on the front! Imagine how the game would sell if the game sold looking like this:



That's right! Your mind is thinking, "Who is this guy?", and even though the title says the name of the game, the box is what tells the story. This has been the case for games and movies alike for years. If Capcom was honest about this game, they would have put Axl in the front, but the truth is, they make more money if people think that X will be the main star of the game, who is an icon people respect and recognize.

So yeah, I speculate that Capcom deliberately deceived their fans and customers by having the front of the box art this way. Just about everything else tells the truth, however. The back of the box is about Axl. You open it up, and the manual has a closeup of Axl. Even the DISC itself is just Axl's HEAD! This game is LITERALLY Mega Man Axl in disguise! What a load!

[spoiler]
(This image has been reuploaded below in case it cannot be seen.)[/spoiler]

Anyway, I hope I get to unlock X sometime, like say in mid game or something. I'm getting tired of playing a Mega Man game that doesn't REALLY have the main character in it. I hope they don't make me wait out until the 7th Maverick or something before unlocking him.

So let's tackle this next part of the game. We start off with a cutscene.

[Camera focuses on a shaft and then to Axl and Zero]

Okay.

Axl:  "Like I said, my friends in Red Alert are all really skilled Reploids."

Zero:  "Er, except I heard they were mostly criminals?"

Axl:  "No, no!  They don't do anything bad...well, at least most of the
time..."

Zero:  "What's your point?"

Axl:  "I'm serious!  They really didn't do bad... until suddenly...
Suddenly everyone changed..."

Zero:  "Suddenly?  What do you mean?"

Axl:  "When the Maverick hunters, even the Reploids - stopped following Red's orders!"

[Camera focuses on a shaft and then fades to black]

Okay. I don't get why the scene cuts away like that, but whatever.

Let's choose a Maverick. I'm going with... a hard decision. I know the fire boss must be weak against water or wind... and so I shouldn't do fire just yet. I'm gonna take a shot at Cyber Field.

Snipe Anteater. Maybe he's weak against the Wind Cutter weapon.

So we start off in a digital level in a 3D perspective, and Alia is bugging me. She tells me the transmission is bad and that I'm on my own. That's fine, you're useless anyway, Alia.

I seem to be unable to fall off the stage. I move forward and apparently, Alia bugs me again. Okay... I thought you said I was on my own... but I guess not. She says, "We've... located the DNA Core energy... Former generation... samurai...Axl...Go through the wall..." Whatever. So I walk up ahead and there's a samurai, and Axl seems to be the only thing that hurts it.

Great, so I'm assuming former generation reploids can't do squat, and the game will force me to use Axl. Well it turns you can really hurt it with anyone, you just have to attack it from the back. That's good, I was about to be upset for a second.

So we move on ahead, and the samurais can move through walls and there's a reploid named Su that I cant reach. I guess I have to copy the Samurai to save her. I save Daniel, and I realize it sucks to be a Samurai. Why is there a Samurai in this stage anyway? I save Su and Rosetta, and I go on ahead to use a teleporter. Part 2 now.

So we start and Alia bugs me saying "... I've found...new info! Looks like you've been transported to a zero-gravity...ronment... The floating switches...can send... to the rear area..."

I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU COULDN'T HELP ME WOMAN? SILENCE!

So now I'm in a confusing area where the screen flips me upside down in some areas. I see a heart tank and I need to use another Samurai copy form to get to it. Well, I can't move through the wall, so I guess it's not that simple. I manage to nab the heart tank, save other reploids with Zero, because Axl is low on health. So I walk around, flip up and down, and I see a Dr. Light capsule in the distance. There seems to be lag every now and then. Nothing big, but noticeable.

What I hate are these terrible camera angles. I mean, hit detection is so off because of this, so there's no skill involved here. Most of the time in this game... you're just swinging your sword around or hoping you shoot something blindly... because you can't really shoot accurately. This game is just... so poorly done. You can tell Capcom tried here and there, but the implementation of this game just falls flat on it's face. It's like as if they were constructed a walking robot from scratch but forgot about the legs. I think that's the best way to put it... it's just that bad.

So I save more reploids, and I go to the teleporter. Part 3? Nope. Boss time.

Snipe Anteater:  "Hohoh!  Very well!  But you've forgotten your true
mission."  [ Snipe Anteater then turns around ]

Zero:  "...?  My true mission?"

Snipe Anteater:  "I see data buried deep within you... Is it memories of the future?  Or false images of the past?"

Zero:  "..."

Yeah, that didn't make any sense to me either.

Snipe Anteater:  "Blue - the lies that have infested the earth.
Red - those destroyed and sealed away forever."

Zero:  "Hm!  I don't know what you saw, and I don't care either.
My ''true mission'' is to defeat you, here and now!"

Snipe Anteater:  "Hahahah... You certainly are driven."

Zero:  "I don't have time to listen to your prattling.  Ready yourself!"

So you fight on this clear cylinder thing and he just moves around. When he stands still, slash. Shoot him with Axl if otherwise. He shoots out little exploding ants, which really don't do much, just stay clear. He then shoots missiles (which killed me) because I didn't know how to avoid him. The camera angle is also stupid here (surprise!). He also shoots some "spinny cycle thing" at you. Both my weapons don't do much, so I'm just gonna slash and shoot. What gets annoying is when he spawns little flying bots that shoot you. I can't seem to kill them, and they don't seem to disappear, so you either have to run around a lot, or just take hits while slashing or shooting. This is pretty difficult, and I can't seem to win. I'm thinking about coming back to him sometime later, since I did save a bunch of reploids and his stage is easy.

Checking the results, I saved them all except for Rin. I applied a shock absorber to Zero, and I'll try again one more time.

Snipe Anteater:  "Hohoh!  So you've come, little one?"  [ Snipe Anteater
then turns around ]

Axl:  "Isn't it about time for your retirement?"

Snipe Anteater:  "Ah-hah, this little one is a big talker!  Shouldn't you
concentrate on being granted hunter status?"

Axl:  "Ah, man!  You always were good at figuring people out..."

Snipe Anteater:  "Hohoh!  Yeees.  And of course, I know why you're here too.
So why do you think I'm here?"

Axl:  "Know thine enemy, is it?  You're a real pain, geezer."

Snipe Anteater:  "Hohoh!!  Now, I want you to fight like normal.
I need to get good data on you, boy!"

Axl:  "Fine with me.  I'm no good at holding back anyway."

Well, he's still hard. Didn't I collect a Sub Tank in Stonekong's stage? I don't see it on my menu. What the heck? It's so hard to tell if you've collected something in this game.

Anyway, yeah I can't beat this guy. I can knock him down until he summons those laser shooters. I can't dodge those things.

Well, this run was a failure. I'll save for now and try another stage sometime later.

[NovaMan XP]

To unlock X:

[spoiler]
You have to save a certain amount of reploids... 64 I think.
[/spoiler]

[Majikn]

Right I get that you hate Axl,

... I don't think you do.

but take me seriously for a sec.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! No.

AND YET YOU DID! But that's good, because now we have more to talk about.

Axl had NO place in Command Mission.  He wasn't assigned to the mission, wasn't involved at all in any way.  He just HAPPENED to show up at the same super secret base/island X and Zero had been sent to and walked in like a cocky little mother #####er just like the #####ing mary sue he is.  I never used him past any section I had to as I found him to offer nothing of value the other characters didn't have a better answer to.  The best thing about him was they gave him Spider's super mode power and that wasn't even HIS.  Totally worthless character in every single way.

In the game, he had at least like, one use, to be fair. For me, that meant I used him more than most of the side characters, which, for me, were useless. I mostly used X, Zero, and Cinnamon. He had about as much place on the team as any of the other crappy characters, even if he should have been introduced in a better way.

I thought Mary-Sues were supposed to be unbelievably perfect. Axl is young and arrogant, and thus not perfect.

Ok, seriously now.  Axl wasn't the only reason X7 sucked. You could have debuted Zero in it and the game would have been all kinds of ass.  But Zero isn't as #####ty character.  Even Massimo isn't really a #####ty character.  Axl is.  And the fact he's such an awful AWFUL character only made X7 WORSE.  The fact on top of making him such a god awful character they shoe horned him in as the main is what REALLY burns most peoples asses.  Axl didn't get a bad rap because he debuted in a #####ty game, he got a bad rap because he was an exceptionally #####ty character who debuted in an exceptionally #####ty game.

I'm still trying to figure out the real grounds for why Axl is a #####ty character and the others in Command Mission aren't. I didn't really like them OR Axl, but used Axl more, is what I'm saying.

I feel like if Chris Nolan made a movie about Axl, it would be an awesome-ass movie.

I think you need to stop drinking bleach.

Actually it's Lysol spray, and I'm a step ahead of you. 3 days clean.

But seriously: Take Axl's raw character, get a supposedly exceptional writer, and see what happens. That's all I'm sayin'.

[Camera focuses on a shaft and then fades to black]

Okay. I don't get why the scene cuts away like that, but whatever.

This made me lol

[ChaosVortex]

To unlock X:

[spoiler]
You have to save a certain amount of reploids... 64 I think.
[/spoiler]

I'll address anything that I haven't gone over in my final playthrough in the end. If I miss anything then, you can call it out.

I'm still trying to figure out the real grounds for why Axl is a #####ty character and the others in Command Mission aren't. I didn't really like them OR Axl, but used Axl more, is what I'm saying.

To be fair, if Spider replaced Axl entirely (like say, if he was a Maverick Hunter instead of him), I'd hate Spider less, but hate him for the fact that he ruins what Zero and X have together.

Like the saying, "Two is company but three is a crowd", If X and Zero are best friends, then Axl and anyone else is just another "friend" that butts in.

And it COULD work, but there are problems with Axl already. One, he's introduced way too late in the series. Two, his attitude doesn't match X and Zero's vibe. And three, his design also clashes. In my opinion, if X is blue, Zero is red, then Axl should be yellow and not whatever color scheme he went with. You also have to acknowledge the fact that technically, Axl is a reploid, and X and Zero are not.

[Majikn]

red blue green also works.

[ChaosVortex]

Axl's not green, and that personally bugs me. Maybe if you needed a fourth member. But yellow is such a better candidate. It bugs me no matter what if there's a trio that's going for that pattern and screws it up personally.

(Example: In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are three "Gadget Monsters". One is red, one is yellow, and then one is green.)

Posted on: 28 October 2010, 04:54:23

Well, here we go again. This time, I'm gonna try another Maverick Stage and see if I can make up for that amount of fail I had earlier. This time, I'm going with the Radio Tower.

It's Tornado Tonion.

... wait. Who? What the heck is a Tonion? Is he supposed to be an Onion? What the heck kind of Maverick is this?

... anyway... we start off in a spiral staircase stage. Not like I haven't seen this before in X4 and X5. Thing is, I can go left and Zero is stopped by an invisible wall. I do like the music though. There are random spinning gears rolling around. Alia warns me of strong energy readings and that I'm very close, so I should be able to see it. She also assumes it's a giant Mechaniloid, and that I should approach it's weak spot. Anyway, it turns out to be in the middle, and random reploids need saving are on the staricase. Just keep dashing around and avoid the mechaniloid's attacks. Soon, when you make it to the top, you'll jump upward, and Alia says the head is the weak spot. It's a 3D perspective battle now, and it's a giant Hermit crab-ish robot. You can only shoot it, so Zero is useless. Onto part 2.

More stairs, and Alia says there's an even stronger energy reading than before. Keep going forward, save reploids, grab a heart tank, and soon enough it's boss battle. I'm not gonna bother explaining this stage. It's just a basic staircase stage with enemies in the middle of it every now and then. It's just too basic to really note anything.

Tornado Tonion:  "Gahahahah!  Welcome to my silly, silly stage!
Here goes nothing, yah!"

Oh lord, this guy is one goofball alright.

Tornado Tonion:  "Bo-woing!  Gahahahah!"

Zero:  "..."

Tornado Tonion:  "What?  No funny??  But I try so hard, so hard! OK, try again, yah!"

Zero:  "OK, I get the picture.  Let's get this over with."

Tornado Tonion:  "Ooh!"

Heh, I actually enjoyed that.

Anyway, battle start. It's a 3D battle. Touching the outside barriers hurt you, so stay inside. For some reason, the Gaea Shield does the best work on him. He spins around and when he runs into it, he bounces back and it does some damage, I think. How does this shield even hurt him? It's a shield. He runs into it and spins around and goes "Ahhh!"

This guy is really easy. I should have gone for this guy first. "I make wall, yah?"

Anyway, keep pressing on and he goes down. He explodes yelling, "You didn't laugh, yet!" I never died once.

WHY SO SERIOUS!?

Axl gets Volt Tornado
"This weapon unleashes an electric tornado. Can use RAY GUN!"

Don't... get... that last bit about the ray gun... but okay...

I managed to save everyone, except Lily. Again, never saw her.

Funny thing, this stage wasn't really that bad. It was actually fun. Granted I'd rather play a 2D boss battle any day, but it was enjoyable. But that's really weird. The whole stage was just a spiral staircase where you move from the left to the right. There was nothing really new or inventive, it was just fun. If this is the best stage this game has to offer, then oh boy... I'm gonna HATE my life right now knowing it's all downhill from here.

I max out Zero's power, saved the game, and we'll pick this up again later!

[NovaMan XP]

..huh, I always thought he said "YOU DIDN'T LIKE IT!"

Also that last bit about Axl's weapon description, just equip it and you'll see.


Get equipped with Laser Hairdryer!

[ChaosVortex]

And here I go again! Back for more X7 torture. Here's a cutscene!

Zero:  "So you said they suddenly changed?"

Axl:  "Yeah...  One day, Red suddenly asked me to hand over the copied DNA data...  He'd never asked me to do that before..."

Oh yeah. That's right. I almost forgot about DNA data. DNA in the X series is stupid. They should have never considered Zero's remains in X6 as "DNA". Here, Axl has a major role with DNA data here in the series, which in my opinion, just takes the series further downhill.

Zero:  "You don't mean?!"

Axl: "Exactly - soon after that, they started getting more and more powerful."

Zero:  "So they used the DNA data?"

No. Steroids. Duh.

Axl:  "I think so...  But Red didn't tell me everything.  All I know is that I was used!  For my stupid ability!"

Alright. Stage Select. Since I got an electric power, I feel safe enough to try the water level. Battleship.

Splash Warfly.

So we land on a battleship, and Alia contacts me to tell me absolutely useless information. I'm attacked from enemies all around in a position that I think is 2D, until I press down and realize I can actually go downward. Something explodes in the background, and I save some reploids. Move forward and the tower on the ship explodes and falls over, but doesn't destroy the ship. Such an UNREALISTIC explosion, but hey, this is X7. I'm not caring at this point. The camera then shifts behind you. There's a bird-jet thing that's spins around on a platform shooting bullets in random directions. I guess I have to shoot at it. You can actually run close to it and shoot it without taking damage from the platform. After it explodes, you leap into the sea as if you're posing for a Free Willy movie poster. Part 2.

You land on a ship that's in flames. The Runnerbombs, according to Alia, are suicide bombers trying to sink the ship you're on. Too bad the ship isn't ACTUALLY sinking, so I can take my time. I'm blocked by a wall with some kind of defense that I guess I'm supposed to destroy, but I just took a shortcut by climbing a wall nearby. I took damage from the flames that are acting as a barrier to force me to fight, but I took it so I could save the reploids up ahead before they die. Move up ahead and three robotic sea serpents come up. Shoot them down and you jump into the ocean again. Part 3.

You're on another burning ship. There seem to be no enemies around, but guess what? PICKLE SURPRISE! Of course, they just pop out of nowhere! How foolish of me to assume that wouldn't happen...

Of course, I'm saving hidden reploids because I figure Capcom likes hiding stuff like that. There's some enemies in this game that bring back memories of X1 it seems. Practically every enemy from the Intro stage of X1 appear in this game at some point. I'm trying to dash up ahead, but by pressing circle too many times, I roll right into the fire and take damage a few times. Move up ahead, and it turns out the ship is actually a transformer. A very bad graphically designed pixelated transformer. I know this because the camera zooms in close enough to see the awfulness. So it transforms into this robot tank and you have to shoot it down. Every time you destroy a gun positioned at the base of this giant bot, it opens up and shoots fireballs from it's mouth. Shoot down all the guns and it explodes. Simple enough, although stupid. I mean, all I did was destroy it's guns. I guess the robot went, "Oh noes! I can't defend myself! *asplodes*". I mean, seriously.

Now it's boss time... wait, a part 4? Okay, now it's a 2D stage on wrecked ship remains. You move forward, save reploids, shoot some enemies and... that's it. Before you know it, it's over. Shortest 2D portion I've played through. That's disappointing.

NOW it's Boss time.

Splash Warfly:  "Kee-hee-hee!  You've made it this far, but this is the end of the line!"

Zero:  "Hah!  Your battleship lies at the bottom of the sea.  Don't you think it's about time you made your escape?"

Splash Warfly:  "Idiot!  This is all according to plan!"

Zero:  "What?"

Splash Warfly:  "You've turned this into the ideal battlefield for me! Kee-hee, take this!!"

Okay... so this battle begins on three wrecked ship platforms in a 3D perspective. Oh joy. The problem is the camera WON'T POINT TO WHERE HE IS. SERIOUSLY? Yeah, Capcom wants me to manuever the camera on my own while doing several other controls in this game. Thanks a lot for that,

So I'm just walking around and I don't know where he is. I'm using Zero's Raijinshou, the electric attack, which is used by dashing and then pressing Triangle. It seems to do some work on him.

The annoying part of this battle is that Splash Warfly often jumps out of the water, only to jump back in and say, "Later!"

However, if you just stand on the red platform, and wait for him to pop out, just dash there and do a Raijinshou. He'll take damage, and hop back in the water. Rinse and repeat. He's dead, and that really wasn't that hard with the weakness.

Zero gets SUIRETUSEN
With D-Glaive equipped, press the triangle button
"Equip the water blade-armed D-Glaive to launch a pulsating thrust attack!"

... in my pants.

More results, I saved everybody. Woot. I max out Zero's Power and Speed skills, and Axl has nothing. Of course. I'll save here for now, and I'll go tackle... oh... yeah... I'm not looking forward to this next one...

... ugh.

[NovaMan XP]

I HATE YOU

YOU FOUGHT HIM WITH HIS WEAKNESS BLAH

Without it, that fight is the most frustrating thing in the game.

[ChaosVortex]

Well I beat him and it was easy, nah-nah-nahnah-nah. Get over it.  

Okay... I'm back for more X7 after this Halloween break. Here's a cutscene!

Axl:  "Red Alert has changed completely...  They aren't the friends I knew
anymore."

Zero:  "Axl..."

Axl:  "All they cared about was their own power-ups, while I devoted myself to data collection."

Don't worry. You won't be getting any power-ups anytime soon. I promise.

Axl: "At first I thought it was to help them, but...  The scale of their thievery escalated.  Soon I couldn't stand it anymore, so I jumped ship.  And..."

Zero:  "And?  And what?"

Axl:  "Hahah, it..it's nothing!  It's just... Nobody in Red Alert had the ability to use DNA data to power-up Reploids..."

Zero:  "So there's a missing link?!"

Zero sounds like he suspected it or something. Anyway, Capcom keeps giving me cutscenes to the story to get me involved but it's doing absolutely nothing for me.

Wait, one more cutscene...

Alia:  "The rescue of the captured Reploids is progressing smoothly, thanks to those two."

Signas:  "Hmm, yes."

Alia:  "But it's causing a lot of damage.  Is there nothing that can be done?"

Signas:  "Not much.  Even Zero has his limits.  Axl is doing good work, but he's still a child.  We can't expect much more with their present abilities."

X:  "........................ ........................
Zero, do you read me?  I'm going, too;  take me with you."

YES. ABOUT TIME.

Alia:  "X?!"

Zero:  "Okay.  Do as you please."

X: "To finish things... I've got to do it, to finish this once and for all!"

Signas:  "Yeah!  Let's show that Red Alert how it's done!"

That line from Signas makes me want to punch him in the face but hey! I don't care! X is back on the team, and that's all that matters! It's time to select a Maverick!

I got a water weapon so I guess I... oh... oh no.

I heard about this guy... and... I'm not sure if I can do this. Maybe if I just prepare. I'll just put some cottonballs in my ears to stop any bleeding that may occur.

Alright, so I'm heading to the Lava Factory.

Now that X is on the roster now, I can select him.

Alia: "Now you can play with X! Glad to have him back!"

... that sounded dirty Alia...

Uh... yeah, it's X and Zero. Adios Axl, and good riddance. Now I can try to actually enjoy this game maybe...

So our next Maverick up is the infamous Flame Hyenard. We move forward, with my first time playing as X, and I notice there are some detonating bombs laying around. Alia tells me not to touch the lava because it's hot (no really, I'm serious), and I'm shooting some Mets.

But OF COURSE! There are reploids who need rescuing before time bombs go off! I'm gonna LOVE this. Alia also tells me to use DNA from the winged reploid, but I ditched Axl so NO THANKS. I decided to try out X's charge shot and...

HOLY CRAP.

THAT THING IS HUGE.

THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE BIGGEST CHARGE SHOT I'VE SEEN.

...

SERIOUSLY. THIS THINK IS FREAKING AWESOME. What in the heck was X DOING in his "time of peace"!? For someone who doesn't want to fight, it's like he took is sweet time giving his buster one HECK of an upgrade! This thing is MASSIVE!

I do laugh when you shoot a robot with a mid-charged shot though. X yells, "Stop it!". My goodness X, why do you talk like you're a 6-year old girl being picked on? "I've had enough of violence! Stop the fighting! Stop it! Mommy!"

I must say, it's WEIRD playing a Mega Man game where Mega Man or X actually know where to shoot automatically. I've never had X point his buster upward to shoot. I'm used to just adjusting.

Anyway, now that I have X, I need to adjust controls. I'm gonna be using charge shot and dashing a lot so...

I'll just switch Circle's functions with L1's. I'll dash with L1 and change players with circle.

Okay, this should feel more comfortable.

I must have gotten used to Zero and Axl's terrible voices, because I'm not used to X's. "It's up to you." These voice actors must have failed their classes in acting or something, or maybe they didn't have any to begin with. Keep moving forward, shooting things, and saving reploids AS FAST AS YOU CAN because chances are Capcom strapped them next to a time bomb. Like... now. Leon just died. I died trying saving Steve by falling in the lava after beating a sea serpent. Move forward and there's 2 serpents. I skipped one to save Jim, and I noticed that there's a capsule nearby. Inside is Dr. Light handing me a Buster Part, but it must ONLY be used for good. That's right X, no slaughtering orphanages for you.

There's a reploid up ahead that I can't get him because I need Axl's hover. I don't care THAT much enough to get him, so I'll pass him up and enter the telporter beneath him. Part 2.

We're inside the factory and it's all in 3D. You can potentially fall into the lava here, but the platforms are so big, this shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, unless you're trying to save a reploid named Chuck and you get knocked into the lava by spinning sonars...

... twice.

Those sonars here are DEADLY because of that.

So I saved Chuck and I got knocked into the lava again which took my last life. I get to the results and see what I accomplished.

Obviously Leon is dead, but two reploids named Roy and Paul also kicked the bucket. *sigh*

Anyway, I power up X with a chip, and head back to the stage.

So I start in the factory again and I make it to two serpents real fast because I skip all the enemies instead of wasting my time. I'm slashing them with Zero until one hits me... and instead of falling backward on the platform, I fall into the lava. HOW DOES THAT WORK? That... ticks me off.

...

... so I'm GOING back to these serpents again...

FREAKING SONARS.

I manage to grab a heart tank and... sonars knock me into the lava again.

So we keep trying, dodging smoke, sonars, mets, flying shooting bots, and giant fat robots of different types... until we get to a teleporter.

Boss fight!

Flame Hyenard:  "Hrk...Agh...It...It hurts..."

Zero:  "So you're that Hyenard. You've been diagnosed with a malfunction.  You must come with me."

Flame Hyenard: [turns around]  "Oh, it's YOU that's causing my suffering! Then if I tear you to pieces, the pain will stop!"

Zero:  "Ah!  The sickness is already in its late stages. I don't think he'll come quietly."

And... here it comes. For those who don't know, this guy has been known to be the most annoying Maverick. It's not because he's hard or anything... it's his voice and yelling in battle. And now I'm going to experience it firsthand.

So now we start the battle and... wait... I thought he was right in front of me? In the cutscene, he was in front of me. I guess not. Well, he jumps off this horse (I know it's probably not a horse) on the border and... wait... there's two of them? Okay, so they start attacking me and I'm attacking back and...

BURN B-B-BURN TO THE BURN B-B-BURN TO THE GROUND BURN B-BURN BURN B-B-BURN

............................. ............................. ................

Who... who in the heck voiced this guy? Did they really check this out before playtesting it? I mean, the guy must have been SCREAMING in the microphone. This isn't great quality at all... it's annoying. REALLY ANNOYING.

Alright, I'm D-Glaiving these guys. So I whack em and they explode, and I notice his health hasn't gone down. I guess... there's more to it than that. The mechanical horse or whatever it is shoots missles and more Hyenards come down to attack. This battlefield is huge, and yet I don't know where he really is? I'm checking around, and guess what... you gotta climb this mechanical thing he's riding on. This is annoying because while you're taking your time figuring this out, this jerkknob is screaming 24/7 BURNBURNBURNTOTHEGROUNDBURN.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone went out and kicked a puppy after playing this stage.

So I decide to climb this mechanical horse thing that's attacking me, and of course, he's HIDING on it. I know this because he turns around and says "Attack reformation!" and my D-Glaive actually damages his health. So he runs around with two other Hyenards yelling... of course... BURN BURN BURNBURNBURNTOTHEGROUNDBURNBU RBURBURNBURNTOTHEBURNBURNBUBU RNBURN.

Please let this Suiretusen joust END THIS MADNESS.

I seem to slowly slip off this giant robotic horse. It's because they didn't really program this game very well so that I stand firm on this thing.

Hyenard picks up his pace the faster his health goes down. Just keep up with this annoying process until you make the final stab and he BURNS TO THE GROUND.

...

... ugh.

... just ugh.

I feel bad just making that joke. That and the fact that this was just a pain.

Zero gets BAKUENJIN
While standing, press R2 button.
"This weapon creates an immense circle of flame by hitting the ground with energy."

Anyway, that's over. I'm glad X is on the team. At least Capcom was nice enough to let you unlock him halfway through the game. I've got three Mavericks left to go, and I'll do that another day.

[NovaMan XP]

KEEP PLAYING

WE LOVE READING TORTURE

[ChaosVortex]

Sorry about the wait. I've been busy. Back with another part of X7. Here's a cutscene. Again.

? ? ?:  "Heheh...You're something else."

Red:  "Who goes there?!  Show yourself!"

I wonder who THAT is.

? ? ?:  "Don't you find the Maverick hunters to be a bit too much of a nuisance?"

Red:  "Maverick hunters?!  Well sure, I don't like them... But they've got nothing to do with us.  We'll do as we please, hunters or no.  Get lost! I don't even know who the heck you are!"

Yup. It's Sigma. I mean, he's right there... in the background of the scene. DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING.

? ? ?:  "Me?  Let's just say... I'm a sympathizer with your cause."

Alright, we're here at Stage Select, but before I go any further, I'm nabbing that capsule at Soldier Stonekong's stage to get the Feet Parts. I prefer to call them the Leg parts, or boots, because "feet" sounds silly. I can now glide like the Falcon Armor, and according to Dr. Light's directions, it's controlled like how Axl glides in X8. Meaning, the programmers KNEW how to make him glide properly, they just didn't want to. Of course Dr. Light tells X to use them only for good, and X gives him a holographic pinky promise (Yeah, I made that part up).

So I try out the Leg Armor and... wait... that's not like Axl's ability to glide, or like the falcon armor...

X just... sorta dives his head forward... and literally glides. No wings or anything. He just... glides. It's like... if he was tied to a string and just... flew...

... I'm sorry. THAT'S JUST SILLY. I mean, that's gotta be... I can't take this seriously. I'm going to be laughing everytime I glide now... It's just so stupid looking.

By the way, I finished the level. After you get to the part with the flying monkey heads and you beat them, the game loads to the boss room. After it's finished loading, it shows your character teleporting out, only to load back to the results screen. What a waste of time loading...

Let's try Snipe Anteater again, and kill two birds with one stone. I'll nab the capsule, and destroy him this time.

I nabbed the Head parts. Dr. Light says he never imagined me to meet him there, and that he wished to have given them to me in person. These head parts can attract items, although weak. Anyway, I grab it and move on. I just dash jump to both teleporters and don't fight, and I make it to Snipe.

Snipe Anteater:  "Hahahah!  Splendid!  Even better than expected."

X:  "How long must this madness go on!"

Snipe Anteater:  "Hahaha!  Let me ask you - how long has this madness been going on?"

X:  "?!"

Snipe Anteater:  "The annals of history contain endless records of war... The ''madness'' will never end."

X:  "You're wrong!  We can create a world without war.  Utopia is not just a dream!"

Snipe Anteater:  "You can't build a utopia on top of the graves of rebels like myself."

X:  "But...Even so...I... I must follow my beliefs!"

Since X packs quite a punch with a charged shot, and it moves through the cylinder in between me and Snipe, this battle is MUCH easier. He's down and out.

Seriously, I'm not going to go into detail about it. All I did was give space between me and him through the cylinder, locked onto him, and spammed Charged Shots. It was over real quick.

X makes Axl look like a JOKE. Seriously. That was EASY.

X gets SNIPER MISSLE
"This weapon launches an advanced homing missle."

Oh, by the way. While in Stonekong's stage, I tried out all the weapons and their charged shot versions. They range from decent to terrible. Nothing really noteworthy, so I'll save here and call this one a day.

[NovaMan XP]

Well, it IS called the Glide armor.

[ChaosVortex]

I didn't know it was called that. I just knew it was armor.

It's absolutely stupid. He just "leans forward" and seems to float more than "glide". The whole armor so far is stupid.

I'm just surprised how overpowered they made X's Charged shot. Axl is seriously worthless right now, which is pretty funny considering this is his debut game. It seems like they were trying to design the game in such a way where you WOULDN'T like him.

[NovaMan XP]

Eh, once you get a certain Weapon Axl is slightly better... but not nearly as good as X of course.

[ChaosVortex]

You know the drill. Here's more.

? ? ?:  "He possesses incredible talent."

Red:  "Oh, you!  Don't surprise me like that.  You mean Axl's imitator ability?  Yeah, I have no idea how he does it, but it's our secret weapon. Without him we wouldn't work half as fast."

? ? ?:  "But his talents are wasted as things stand..."

Red:  "What?!  What do you mean?"

? ? ?:  "Would you be willing to place a wager on my little idea?"

Red:  "?!"

Uh... wait. If Red is the leader of a Maverick Hunter organization, why is he talking to a Sigma, a Maverick? I'm sure everyone knows about Sigma... Oh. Right. Everyone in this game is stupid. I almost forgot. Next.

So we're heading to Tunnel Base, which is lead by Vanishing Gungaroo.

We start off in a 3D perspective, and Alia lets us know that we're in an underground weapons factory, and that Ride Armor will play a part in the stage. Very soon, we see a Ride Armor that can be used to shoot enemies, but I'm moving on because some of these enemies can't be shot down. I manage to break through a defensive wall that was present on the Battleship (but I skipped it), and then my ride armor breaks down. I used the circle button to escape, so if it damages or kills you by staying in it for too long, I don't know. You can't climb any of the walls in this stage. Keep heading through and you should make it to a door that... doesn't open? I can't climb it or anything, so what's the point? I'm stuck and I don't know what to do...

So after a few minutes of moving back and forth, you actually have to walk up to it for the door to open and you have to stand on a specific spot. That's stupid. So it opens and we're onto part 2.

We start off in some area that looks like it has sewage. Alia calls us to tell us it's a strong energy source, and that falling in it without Ride Armor protection is dangerous (let's assume it kills you). You can freely climb walls here, and there's a ride armor to the left. I'll nab it and see what I can do with it...

It's a spider-like armor with a drill. If you jump and attack with it, you spin your arms around. Otherwise, you just "punch" with your drill and fist. Kinda a neat armor. This armor can also destroy those enemies I couldn't blow up earlier.

Move around, save reploids, and we go into another door like before with the armor. Onto the 3rd area.

We're in the 3rd area with the ride armor equipped, and Oliver, a reploid in front of us needs saving. Behind you is Carlos as well. There are other enemies around using Ride armors with rocket launchers as well. Now I feel like playing Armored Core rather than this crap. I'm unaware if I can hijack their armor, but let's move on. There's another guard door defense system up ahead, and all you have to do is punch at it to destroy the bottom 6 orbs, and for the top 2, jump and do a spin attack.

"You spin me right round baby right round, like a record baby!"

We beat up some more enemies, and my armor is smoking hot. Head towards the next door. It's time for part 4.

Now we seem to be outside, and Alia calls us to tell us there are lots of Ride Armor around, and that we need to face them head on. So we save Eric and my armor explodes, but we see another armor like the one we had earlier up ahead. I'll take that thank you! So we shoot the enemies around, and I notice I'm not killing a single one. Probably because this armor stinks. Well, a little too late now, but if you dash and hit triangle, you can guard... and triangle alone shoots missles... which does the best damage here. Anyway, too little too late, that armor blows up and it's up to Zero to slash everyone around. I'm assuming this is the area where I'll be fighting the boss, because there's no way out, so I'm guessing this will be a 3D fight.

I'm climbing the pillars and I find reploids and... a Sub Tank? Okay, I actually officially found a Sub Tank. Then what the heck was that thing in Stonekong's stage? There's also a heart tank up here, and Zero got it, but I should have let X handle it.

So we're slashing these armors up, and a counter on the right eventually tells me there are 5 targets left. After they're dealt with, Zero teleports out. Now it's boss time.

Vanishing Gungaroo:  "Blonde hair and a saber... You must be Zero!"
[ Vanishing Gungaroo uses his giant kangaroo ride armor to punch out
two big blocks ]
Vanishing Gungaroo: "So they sent an S-class hunter to stop me, huh?! But you'd need a dozen of 'em to beat me!!"

Zero:  "How sweet.  You look like you're having a swell time swinging
around your new toy."

Vanishing Gungaroo:  "Stop treating me like a kid!  Why I oughtta..."

Zero:  "Hey, calm down, or you'll have to take a time out in the corner."

I actually enjoyed that. So we start off the fight against Gungaroo in the pouch of a robotic Kangaroo. This isn't hard. I don't know what his weakness is, but Circle Blaze and maybe Sniper Missle do the trick. Eventually the robot blows up. I didn't really give him a chance to fight. He did throw some attacks at me, but for the most part, he just hopped around.

Now we're fighting him for real, and he's still hopping around, and sometimes attacking you yelling, "Triangle kick!", I think. I'm trying out weapons and it seems Wind Cutter does the trick. He's not really hard. Charge Shots and Wind Cutters here and there, and a final blow from Zero using the volt attack and he's down. That was fairly entertaining.

Zero gets HADANGEKI
While standing, press Triangle button.

"Shoots an intense crescent-shaped wave from your saber!"

Also, the results say we saved everyone in the stage except for one reploid. Too bad I don't care. So we power up X, save, and that's it for now. Next up, we'll tackle the final Maverick!

Posted on: 21 November 2010, 05:38:21

Alright, back for more X7, and we've got... you guessed it. Another cutscene!

? ? ?:  "Heheh, you see that?  This is what one can do with DNA data."

Red:  "Amazing!  I had no idea that DNA data could provide so much power!
You're incredible!"

? ? ?:  "Well, I hope I've proven my abilities to you.  But this is
only the beginning.  If you give me the chance, I can make you invincible."

Red:  "What?!  You mean I could be even stronger?!"

? ? ?:  "Absolutely.  But in order to do so, we'll need the mouse that
ran away.  He must collect more data!  And then... then I will make you the
strongest hunters that ever lived!"

Red:  "But that won't work.  He'll never come back.  We've set him free.
And as for our power, we have quite enough.  I thank you, truly.  But we
already are undefeatable."

? ? ?:  "Hmph, you don't need any more power, huh?  Well, that could
be true in your case.  But he... He still has an unfinished job."

Red:  "What's that supposed to mean?  An unfinished job?"

? ? ?:  "There is vital data still missing.  The most powerful Reploid
data is not yet in my hands..."

Red:  "You... You used us?!  And Axl?!  We've had enough of this.  We won't
search for him for you.  And we won't attack any more innocent Reploids.
Not one!"

? ? ?:  "Well, I'm disappointed in you.  I thought you'd be a bit more
useful.  But let's do this democratically..."

[Screen shows the 8 mavericks]

Red:  "What the?!  What's wrong guys?!  What are you doing?  YOU!  What have
you done to my pals?!"

? ? ?:  "Oh, consider it payment for the power ups I gave you.
Well, what'll it be?  If you don't follow my orders, they'll never return to
normal.  Get Axl back, along with X's data!"

Red:  "!!!!!"

Okay! An ACTUAL interesting scene! It seems not only is Sigma interested in Axl for his DNA copying ability (snore), but he's interested in X's data!

I'm just going to assume that Sigma is now suddenly interested in X's data for some stupid reason because it's connected to Axl, or maybe it's because of his unlimited potential. The X series story doesn't really make any sense anymore, so why bother. So let's go with the last Maverick now.

Central Circuit: Ride Boarski. (This guy reminds me of those enemies from X2)

So we pop in a... oh no. It's a stupid rider stage.

You know, it was a cool start in X4, but since X5, these stages are boring and gimmicky. *sigh*

"Oh no! A time-bomb has been set on the course! You know how to use a Ride Chaser, right? Use the X button to speed up, and the Square button to use Buster. There's no time! Hurry!"

Faaaaaantastic. This is sounding like a LOT of fun. ...

Now here's a problem with this stage already. Random enemies appear in the road, and so do reploids that need rescuing. I can't tell if I need to shoot them or save them, so I'm either running into enemies that hurt you, or shooting through reploids that need saving. Also, the bombs that you need to pick up say TARGET on them, and all the enemies around them also are targetted, so if you're heading toward an enemy thinking it's a bomb, you might miss the bomb. At least you can go around another lap to get a bomb you missed. Also, the control of this bike is just... stupid. This doesn't feel like rider stage at all, and this track is just a kid version of an F-Zero track. This stage is terrible... I mean, I'd really hate to say this... but that rider stage in X8 was MUCH more fun than this... and I HATED that kind of crap. Well... just collect all the bombs in three minutes (and there's a heart tank too), and... huh? It's boss time already?

...

THIS IS THE CRAPPIEST STAGE I'VE EVER PLAYED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. It's not fun, it's too short, it's boring, there's too much crap on the road, and... do I really need to address everything? Mega Man games should be strictly 2D platforming, and anything other than that is messing with the formula and is tempted to doom to fail and fail hard. No wonder everyone hates this game, it's crap like THIS that Capcom throws into the melting pot of their games thinking, "D-hur, if we change the camera at random intervals, add rider stages, and have poor hit detection... this will annoy the players to no end! Brilliant!"

Okay, so let's get to this boss dialouge.

X:  "So you're the big cheese?"

Ride Boarski:  "Big cheese?!  Arggghhhhmm!  How dare you call me that! I'm the Head Honcho, for crying out loud!"

X:  "OK, whatever you say.  I order you to disband this motorcycle gang!"

Ride Boarski:  "Motorcycle gang?!  Why you!!  You've gone too far!  I'll make
you pay for this, with a duel!"

I really can't help but thinking about a Yu-Gi-Oh! reference now everytime someone challenges me to a duel...

ANYWAY, so this is a 3D battle (there's too many of these in this game), So Boarski will ride around yelling "Here goes nothing! You punk! You punk! You punk! You punk!"

Well, at least it's not as bad as...

BURNBURBUBUBURNTOTHEBURNBURNBUBURN

...

So he's weak against the fire attack, Circle Blaze, but to be honest, I'm gonna be using Charge Shots most of the time. These weapons are really useless. Plus Circle Blaze runs out really fast before his health is even down to 2/3rds.

So after a bunch of Charged Shots, he goes down.

X gets MOVING WHEEL

... really? Moving wheel? That's the best weapon name you could come up with? That's like naming a weapon, "flying missle". Come on Capcom, use some creativity!

"Ejects a surface-roving disc perfect for sweeping up ground enemies!"

AAAND something I'll probably never use. We get to see the terrible results of this terrible stage now. I didn't really save a whole lot of reploids, but nobody died. I don't care enough to go back there though. What I'd like to know though, is where that last Dr. Light capsule is...

So we power up X one more time... and we'll save and check back later!

Posted on: 16 December 2010, 23:22:00

Alright, now we're heading towards the end of the game.

This will be my last submission to this, and Christmas is around the corner, so Merry Christmas!

All 8 Mavericks are defeated, so here's another cutscene.

Alia:  "Okay, everybody.  That's point RD18 - 66, the location of Red Alert's base.  But why has it suddenly shown up on our radar screens? It's as if they WANTED us to find it..."

You know, how come nobody can find a location of a secret base until every Maverick is defeated? I mean, you could at least get a vague idea, or come up with some strategy that's believable. I wouldn't buy it if some evil villan just decided to "make himself known" after you killed all his underlings.

Signas:  "Yes, it is a bit strange.  Be on full guard.  X, Zero... Axl is in
your hands."

... I have to go wash.

X:  "I know.  OK everybody, let's go.  Let's get this fight over and
done with."

Zero:  "Heh, now that's the X I used to know!"

X:  "... I don't want to fight.  But we must hurry.  I can't allow them to
claim any more victims."

Zero:  "Got it.  You do as you please.  Let's get moving.  Ready Axl?"

Axl:  "Um, yeah... (Just hold out a little more, Red...
I'll be there to put an end to this)"

So now we're at the stage select with new music, and a new stage is available.

-Palace Road-
"Our intel teams won't make it! Get to the scene and eliminate the danger!"

Red's mug seems to be shown here. Where is this place located? THE NORTH POLE of course. Yeah! Red makes toys for a living! Who knew? Just in time for Christmas!

So we select this stage and I'm assuming there's gonna be snow. Well... there's not. Not one bit. We're chased by some rolling mechanical mole (from X1?) and this stage is in 3D perspective. You're just running down a road, avoiding enemies, and running from the mole. I do like seeing old enemies in this game from previous X games though, such as those boar enemies I mentioned earlier. They're in this stage. Keep running and it's time for part 2.

Part 2 is the same stage, but now you're running down, instead of to the right. Avoid enemies and holes in the road, and you eventually come across a seperation. Dash jump across, and keep running. As you're running, you'll notice the mole actually runs over the gap. I mean, like... he rides over it. Floats. Hovers. Whatever reason, it's illogical. He should have FELL THROUGH that gap. It makes NO SENSE.

...

And it's not just that one gap either, there's another one. And it keeps chasing you. And another one. Keep running, grab an extra life, and the mole eventually stops. Turns out, it's the boss of the stage. It's pretty easy to beat down. Just avoid it's charge attacks by dash jumping across, jump over that one laser attack, and keep slashing with Zero.

So we'll save the game here, and I'll continue to the next stage.

Palace Road is no longer available. We have another stage to select now. This time, it has Sigma's mug (although nobody has officially mentioned him yet in this game), and it's called Crimson Palace.

-Crimson Palace-
"Investigate this behemoth, determine the threat level and...destroy it!"

So we load up this stage, and is it snowy here? I can't tell. The location on the stage select looked like it was, but hey... if it WAS snowy outside, then that would be a contradiction to the previous stage. Why they didn't make the stage in a snowy environment, I'll never know.

So this stage begins inside the palace and it's a sigh of relief to know it's a 2D platformer again. You move forward, slash some bats. Move to the right, climb a wall, and move left. You'll eventually run into a giant metal ball that rolls towards you slowly like Stonekong's stage. I'm also gonna assume that this GIANT METAL BALL will pop like it's previous form. Does it?

Well, I don't know if it crushes you, but there's space for you to duck under it in this area and let it roll over you, so I did just that, but I'm interested in seeing what happens to it if it rolls to the end.

Does it pop? YOU BET IT DOES. Yeah, little explosion animation and the thing vanishes. Lovely.

So you move left, climb up, move right... and repeat this process. Slash bats, mets, duck under a rock, and move on. You'll eventually climb up to the top and face another rolling metal ball, but there's no place to duck. Just hug the wall to the left until it pops. Move right and you'll teleport to part 2.

X, Zero, and Axl make it to a room. Axl jumps up ahead two platforms, and Red appears.

Red:  "So what took you so long?"

Axl:  "Well, if it isn't Red?  Long time no see."

Red:  "We've advanced... Thanks to the ''Professor''...  Hmph, but we've
still been reduced to this."

Axl: "Well that explains it.  And where is this ''Professor'' now?"

Red:  "Like always, I have no idea.  Probably closer than we think."

Axl:  "Gotcha.  I'll be on my guard."

Red:  "Well, I know you didn't come here just to talk.  Shall we get things
started?"

... well, illogically, I guess we have to fight Red. It's a 3D battle against Red on platforms and he has a scythe. I'll just blast a charged shot every once in a while, and hop to another platform to avoid his attack. He summons pink tornadoes on platforms sometimes, so I gotta make sure I'm not on those. He teleports to different platforms, and if you stay on one for too long, he creates duplicates of himself and attacks you with them, so you have to move. If you attack him, he turns into your direction and slashes you with his scythe.

Besides being low on health, I'm doing very well using this strategy, until Red teleports ON ME and kills me without warning.

So let's try this again. This time, due to REALLY bad camera angles, I fall off and die in mid jump. I tried climbing the wall, but the controls were unresponsive.

Trying it again, when his health gets low, Red starts to fade in and out so he's not as noticable and harder to locate. Other than that, the pattern is the same. Keep it up, and he falls down. Here's a cutscene... in a... completely different location than where we just were.

Red: "Hahah, you're really grown up, Axl.  You hear that?  This place is done for.  I... I set it to self - destruct... Hrk... in case of an emergency."

Why?

Axl:  "No!  Red, you're coming with us!"

[ Axl reaches out his left arm as if reaching for Red, while it looks like
Axl's right arm is close to Zero ]

Axl:  "C'mon, you can still make it!"

Zero: "Stop it!  Hurry up, or we'll be buried here, too!"

Red:  "Axl...  He's right...  It's my time...  Let me go first...
You're still young...  No need to rush..."

Why?

Axl:  "REDDD!!!!!"

(Axl sounds like a crybaby here)

[End scene]

Why? No. Seriously. Why? Why did we have to fight you? Why did you press self-destruct? Why did you want to kill yourself? Is this going to be explained? Like, at all? What's going on?

Oh well... so we have Axl cry out to Red, and bam... stage start.

... why does that sound a little familiar?

"WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOORRRR!?"

... Oh. Right. Well... that was a better game. This is now. Anyway, we start in a stage in... *sigh*... 3D perspective, and the camera is behind you. There's a fork in the road, and I chose to go right and meet up with the teleporter there. Loading screen.

So there's a Ride Armor here at the start. There doesn't seem to be any point of shooting down these other Ride Armor enemies, since they keep respawning, but skipping ahead leads to a dead end. So I'm shooting missles here, and... of course. There's a counter saying I have 5 targets remaining. Move on ahead, and that dead end becomes a teleporter. Loading screen.

Now we meet up in an area where that purple dog that was Sigma's pet from X1 is there to attack you, except there's two of them, and a red one. You can just skip them though, and head to the door. Really short. Loading screen.

Now we're outside, and it's a 2D platformer again... yes. You slash some red fire breathing dogs, some bats, and you'll meet some monkey rock heads with spikes on their back. They only hurt you, and don't kill you, so its best to avoid these things. Move forward, shoot dogs, and there will be spikes below you at points with a spiked rock monkey head above the spikes. You have to air dash in between them to cross. Up ahead, you dash jump across the gap, slash a firebreathing dog, jump on some rock monkey heads, and enter the door there. Loading screen, and next part.

We enter a room with 8 teleporters near 8 ... what I think look like robotic gravestones. Well, it's obviously the 8 Mavericks again, so here we go.

I won't go into much detail, since I already did fight these guys before, but I will make note of changes here.

First up is Stonekong, which is the same, except the area is purple. In fact, every one of these stages will be the same except purple. Anyway, I just used a bunch of Charge Shots and he went down.

You don't have to worry about taking damage here. There is a life energy available everytime you beat a Maverick that refills your life to max.

Next up is Crowrang. I'm gonna use Zero and attempt using a weakness on him. The stage is the same, except the ship is purple. The Hieijin seems to do the trick, but I guess it's best to use charged shots most of the time.

Next up is Anteater. I'll just spam Charged Shots like before. Next.

Now we have... Oh no... Now we have Hyenard. Using the D-Glaive strategy as before, and it takes just about as long as before. He's done after that.

Gungaroo is next, and he was simple enough with Charged shots, so I'll use that.

Boarski is up. Charge shots. Thats it.

Warfly is up. With Zero, use the Raijinshou death-lock strategy and he's done.

Finally, we have Tonion. Charge shots and he's down.

All 8 Mavericks are done, and we're off to the final teleporters. (This is Loading screen madness right here...)

Axl:  "Alright, we know you're in there.  So come on out, Professor!"

Sigma:  "Hahahah...  Thanks for coming by, fellas.  This way I can face you in the comfort of my own home.  I guess this means you've already defeated all the worthless others?"

X:  "So it was you after all."

Zero:  "You never give up, do you?  Even when we break you down to scraps, you always come back."

Sigma:  "That's right, folks!  I'll do it again, and AGAIN! I will make X AND Zero MINE!  Now, come and get me! Give me a good fight, like you always do!"

Alright. we're fighting Sigma. It's a 2D battle in a downward elevator shaft, so that's good. He's firing a laser cannon, and a gun with bullets that bounce off walls. You can position yourself on a platform near the celing so you can use Charged Shots on him through the platform and he can't hurt you. Often times, he'll move to the background, so you have to move, but it's not that hard. Just make sure you're positioned where you can't be damaged. As for positions where you can't hurt him, the Sniper Missle comes in handy. This battle is actually fun, and probably the best battle so far (which is sad to say, I guess). After he blows up, it's time for part 2, and of course, there's a loading screen.

We load to... uh... a 3D battle... in where?

Sigma is a giant robot... in a very dark room with a whirly void below

.... kay...?

So this downward elevator took us to some place resembling outer space. I WOULD rant about how that doesn't make any sense again, but should I REALLY be questioning the logic with this game anymore? I mean, with so much credibility it's established, I think it's safe to just stay quiet and just get it over with. He often shoots energy balls, and will come out from the center to punch you. Obviously, don't fall off. There's only 1 platform, and several rocks around that act as platforms that are positioned like stairs. He'll move up close to fire energy balls, and move into the center to spin around and fire the balls. Sigma also moves up to fire a laser from his crotch, and his punch seems to do the most damage.

The problem I have with this battle, is that you're avoiding way too many attacks, and you can't hit him when he's too far away. His health bar is also really huge.

The camera angle here is SO TERRIBLE, I actually jumped off, missed the platform, and died. This is a TERRIBLE final battle.

Eventually (after so many deaths), I found out that if you stand on the 2nd highest rock, and hug the rock right next to it, you can dodge nearly EVERY attack except for the crotch laser by just standing still. And since Charge Shots can go through walls, you just spam those. The worst attack are those punches, since they do the most damage, but if you hug that rock, he'll just punch that rock instead of you. Just avoid those lasers.

Doing enough damage to him will remove the helmet he's wearing, and reveal Sigma's face. Just stand there, keep shooting those charged shots, and he goes down. This starts this movie scene.

Axl:  "This way!  Hurry!

[ Sigma approaches Axl from the back, and Axl begins shooting at Sigma again
with both guns ]

Sigma:  "Hahahahaha!"

[ Sigma then punches Axl clear across the room and through a wall ]

=D

X:  "Axl!!!"

Sigma:  "I --- will return--- in a new form---"
"I promise you!"

[ Two shots are fired near where Megaman X is, and Red appears from high
ground ]

Red:  "I've found you!  Zero and X!"

[ Red then jumps down, kicks Zero, and thrust-attacks X with a scythe ]

Sigma:  "Ahahah!  Very nice, Red!"  [ while Red jumps in front of Sigma with
his back turned at Sigma ]

Sigma:  "Give me your power!  It's time for revenge!"  [ As Sigma begins to
attempt to wrap its tentacleish wires around Red ]

Red:  "Oh, with this power---!  I'll never lose!"  [ As Red puts a gun
to Sigma's chin. ]

[ Red then shoots Sigma, causing not only Red to be hurled across the room
in opposite direction from where Sigma falls back, but also causing Sigma to
fall backward through a wall and down from a tower in Crimson Palace ]

Sigma: [while falling down]  "Aiieegghh!"

[ Red, actually Axl in disguise but now temporarily knocked out, turns back
to Axl, who took the appearance of Red earlier in the ending.   Zero and
Megaman X then run up towards Axl. ]

Zero:  "Axl, wake up!"  [ As Axl begins waking up again ]

X:  "Are you okay?"

Axl:  "Heheh.  Pretty cool, huh? You've got to give me some credit."

[X turns around and walks away]

Eh.... nah.

X:  "Fine!  Let's get outta here!"  [ Zero and Megaman X begin walking out ]

Axl: [ running to catch up to Zero and Megaman X ]  "Wait for me---!"

Well, that's the end of that. We're treated to one more scene.

[ Back at Maverick Hunter Headquarters ]

Alia:  "Last week an outbreak of Maverick Reploids caused a riot at the Energy plant.  Then Axl showed up to quell the unrest.  The Mavericks disappeared from the scene without a trace.  Then, three days ago, when Mechaniloids on the wharf went berserk, Axl destroyed the Mechaniloids that was blocking a ship's hatch, securing an escape route for the crew. This case did cause 16 casualties, however... In addition, Axl has shown up to assist in a total of 14 incidents involving Mavericks."

Signas:  "He's made mistakes... But in any case, Axl's efforts over the last few days have solved a lot of problems."

Signas:  "X, do you think we could make Axl a hunter based on his good deeds?"

X:  "No way.  Don't you get it?  He must not be rewarded for such methods."

Signas:  "Methods?!  X, ideals are not always for the real world.  Without you, somebody has to become a hunter.  Why can't you train Axl to be one?"

X:  "Never!  You could never train somebody to be a hunter like me. It isn't possible."

Signas:  "Please give it some thought.  We may not be able to afford to stand by without fighting, although I know that's what you wish for. And we all know... That we haven't seen the last of the Mavericks."

And roll those credits! After the credits roll, the game says: "Thank you for your playing!"

===== THE END =====

So that's Mega Man X7. Now for the heck of it, I'll review over this train wreck. How did it hold up?

Well... I have to admit.. there ARE some fun parts in this game. Like say, a few battles like with Sigma or with Wind Crowrang. Maybe some few interested stages or parts of the stages that I found interesting, but let's be honest. Those moments in the game does NOT make up for the most of the game, which is just a horrible compilation of mistakes. The camera shifts around too much, your environment doesn't auto adjust for your convenience, you have to constently control the camera in order to even see and that hinders your performance, Axl is lousy, Zero is lousy, and X would also be lousy if it wasn't for his overpowered Charge shot ability. Upgrades are hardly recognizable (I couldn't tell what a 1UP was and there was an item I grabbed I had no clue what it was). X's armor upgrades are pathetic. I know I missed the armor upgrade, but I don't really remember using the helmet upgrade, I never used the buster, and the legs... pfffttt (don't get me started). The X series topped itself with the armor in X3, so every other game past that has had to introduce other armors to add to the variety (collecting more than 1 armor per game) or introduce a new armor that's interesting although inferior to the one in X3 (sometimes X2 as well). The armor in this game though... it's DEFINITELY inferior to the past games, including X6, and that's saying A LOT. At least X6 had at least two different armors, but X7 only offers one. That's a major step back in the series.

Overall, it's a lousy, lousy, lousy, LOUSY game. I'm sure there are key points I'm missing, but it's just... the biggest weakness... is what Capcom thought would be a good idea for this game... and that's changing the formula. Capcom changed a classic 2D platformer and just said, "go nuts"! This changes the game engine and makes the gameplay terrible. It BARELY resembles the past games, and the feel of the game is just so different. The thing about Mega Man games, you know the game is good when you beat it and you have this feel of accomplishment, the feeling of a conquerer. After beating this game, I don't feel that. The feeling is, "I'm glad it's over. This was a waste of my time." I'm sure playing Tetris would be much more entertaining than this, and I would feel more accomplished over something after doing so.

Now how do I compare this to the other X games?

This is DEFINITELY better than X8. In my personal opinion, for every part of X8 that felt "right" or at least "enjoyable", X7 got it completely wrong and annoying/boring. In other words, if I could rank X8 at 7/10, I'd give X7 a 3/10 roughly. Compare this to X6... and I'd say this game is the worst. It's a hard call, but I'd rather play X6 than this crap if I was forced to choose between them. Granted if anyone says that X6 is worse than X7 as their personal opinion, I can understand it I guess, because they both have SEVERE problems. X6 had a confusing storyline that KINDA started going somewhere, but X6 is the game that started the major plotholes in the X and Zero series to begin with, so it's story is utter crap. X7 makes sense sometimes, and does have a few moments where you're interested in what's happening, but for a lot of the parts that happen, the story is illogical. Barely any of the characters in this game used their brain. However, I will give credit to some of the Mavericks who are downright intentionally goofy or understand that they're being manipulated for some cause. In X8, the Maverick's logic was confusing and COMPLETELY stupid. The whole story with X8 made no sense, and tried to offer something that I guess Capcom thought was something new to the series... but it wasn't. So in this regard, I guess X7 has the better story out of X6 and X8, but that's not saying a lot.

I had to look up online for certain things I missed mentioning. It turns out the armor upgrade was in Crowrang's stage, and I previously once said that Capcom was nice enough to let you unlock X halfway through the game. Well, that's not necessarily true. Although I unlocked X after beating 4 Mavericks, that was just a coincidence. Apparently, you unlock X by either beating all 8 Mavericks OR by rescuing 64 reploids... which is HALF of the reploids in the game.

...

So Capcom literally is trying to force you to do things against your will to save these reploids, just so you can play as X. That's an absolutely AWFUL idea, and whoever thought of it needed to be shot - in the skull - WAY before this game started production.

There are also multiple endings to this game, which unlike X6, don't really affect the story. Depending on who defeats Sigma, you're treated to either the scene I had with X, Zero having a dream about X (Yaoi fans: It's not what you think), or Axl being denied hunter status but then running out to fight Mavericks.

So yeah, this game is crap. Don't play it. Mowing the lawn would probably be much more entertaining, not to mention MUCH more productive. Although X8 is okay to play, avoid X7 and X6. It's not worth it.

I think that covers it. I'm done with this game. It's going back on the shelf, never to be played again. Just like what's happened to every other copy of this game that's out there.

Either that or someone was smart enough to burn or destroy it.

Credits

Review Planning and Preparation
ChaosVortex

Resources
Owvin's Mega Man X7 Game Script
YouTube

Special Thanks
Abominator of MegaMan Matrix
NovaMan XP
... and other Mega Man fans like you!

Thank you for reading!

(If there was anything I missed, feel free to contribute to this topic by commenting below!)

[NovaMan XP]

I sold my copy. Probably got 5 cents for it, but oh well.

[Aresian]

I liked playing X7.

It was good for Axl. There needs to be a Megaman Axl to make up for Star Force. 8D

No, I'm not joking.

As for the Let's Play, not bad. Granted, I disagree on some things, everything is subjective opinion brought about by perception. And no, Rez. You can't change that.

[TheRedPriest]

I liked playing X7.

It was good for Axl. There needs to be a Megaman Axl to make up for Star Force. 8D

X7 WAS Mega Man Axl.  And ZX Advent was Mega Man Axl 2.

No, I'm not joking.

THEN WHY AM I LAUGHING SO HARD I ##### MYSELF?

As for the Let's Play, not bad. Granted, I disagree on some things, everything is subjective opinion brought about by perception. And no, Rez. You can't change that.

But I CAN change my pants.  Probably.

[Aresian]

WHILE WE'RE AT IT...

Bill, why do you constantly change how you name your operating systems?

95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista and then... 7?

I'm seriously curious as to how you got to this conclusion. I also need you to spot me two G's please.

[Chron]

It's marketing genius, that's what it is.

Every time they change how the numbering works, it's like "Hey, here's a brand new OS that has nothing to do with the old version!  It's better in every way!"

Although XP, Vista and 7 all seem to be based on NT so its kind of a lie but then what isn't?

Also this was so many words I never felt like reading it.