Mega Man Zero

Epitomizes the quintessence of the series while introducing hugely entertaining innovations.

If you are a fan of the series you will eat this one up because it’s not a port. Instead, it’s a good original game of the Mega Man saga that will take you ten to twenty hours to beat. However, it will definitely frustrate those who are not good at games or someone that does not like hard games.

The design produced for the GBA is a great, challenging one, with many different missions, non-stop action, and satisfying explosions and other effects.

There’ll be times when you curse it for being so tough, but when you do get anywhere the feeling of elevation is immense.

Despite such minor setbacks, the overwhelming characteristic of the game is high-speed action of the fun (and generally not too frustrating) variety.

If you're a fan of shoot-'em-up platformer fun, Mega Man Zero is right on target. [Sept 2002, p.165]

The story is actually somewhat interesting, and the difficulty level is finally on par with the ancient precursors. Not bad, but again, nothing new. [Aug 2002, p.90]

Mega Man Zero's developers hit the right note and the ensuing drama lends a sense of urgency to the action.

Hardcore platform gaming. If you don’t mind platforming where the odds aren’t in your favor, this is your game.

Zero avoids the funk that has been plaguing the recent Mega Man platform titles. [Sept 2002, p.48]

Younger or more casual players may find the game way too hard and may be better off with something less difficult. However, fans of the series or experienced gamers should not hesitate to pick this one up.

Difficult yet engaging. [Feb 2003, p.97]

Easily the best Mega Man game to come along in ages, and arguably the most challenging of them all. [Sept 2002, p.162]

The ability to use both the gun and sword (other weapons as well, later on) gives the game a fantastic mount of variety that could have made it the best Mega Man game to date, but time and again this freedom is overshadowed by the shackles of restrictive design that was intended to make the game harder, but ends up sucking the fun out of things.

At issue is the way 'violence' in the game has been obscured. Despite the fact that Mega Man Zero deals with war and genocide, it's disturbing to see how often the game never completely engages with its subject matter. Any instance of violence that does occur has been minimized in various ways.