A proper send-off for the Super Nintendo

X and Zero are back once again to shred some scrap metal and save the day. You take on the role of X, but also get the option to play as Zero for the very first time and blast away. The adventure is a large one, with much more open worlds and plenty of weather and color variation to each stage. It boasts plenty of challenge, many upgrades allowing you to play the game differently, tough maverics to defeat, and a particular cameo rivalry that will make a fan of the original feel giddy with excitement. The game has fantastic controls, feels fast, has smart level design, and ruthless yet fair boss fights. One of the negatives of this title would have to be its music. There must have been only two tracks that stood out and had the adrenaline-fueled vibe from the previous titles. These ones just seemed less memorable and less inspired. Another letdown is the bosses themselves. They also feel less memorable in both character design and boss-battle design. The boss battles lack variety as they all remain in the tight corridor while they repeat a pattern we've gotten used to from previous X titles. X2 has a boss that slowly removes your abilities. Another from X2 (ostrich) utilizes a huge playing field for a greater sense of speed and scale. X3's boss battles could have utilized more bits from the environment that themed the levels. The exception to this out of X3's bosses is the buffalo, which I personally enjoyed a lot, especially when I found the upgrade which allowed me to dash in mid-air, greatly improving my maneuverability and eased the stress of trying to do a wall dash jump. This game may not have lived up to the standards of its incredible and glorified predecessors, but nonetheless it is still a very strong Mega Man X title and is a proper send-off for the Super Nintendo as we all awaited for the game changing Nintendo 64.Read full review