Megaman 64 Review

Considering the Blue Bomber got his start on the NES, you'd figure that his adventures would be plentiful on Nintendo's other machines. As you all know, this is not the case at all. Mega Man has been pretty aloof when it comes to the N64, until now. However this isn't exactly the Mega Man that you have grown to love over the years in his various adventures on the NES, SNES and PlayStation. This is another Mega Man character entirely, and this adventure is pretty much a cookie cutter port over of the PlayStation's RPG Adventure game, Mega Man Legends.

Highs:

Lengthy Quest

Slightly Enhanced Over PSX Version

Good Control

Lows:

Graphically Aged

Action Fans May Be Confused

No Movement While Targetting

We all know that Mega Man is a robot, right? Created by Dr. Light and constantly annoyed by Dr. Wiley? But this game sort of veers to the left, almost to alternate universe expectations. This Mega Man is a boy, named after the video game hero. Uh, okay. Whatever. You won't find any side scrolling action here. This is an RPG/Adventure game in the vein of Ocarina of Time, minus the compelling gameplay and story. Basically you crash land on an island inhabited by pirates named the Bonnes. As you make your way through the different dungeons, you'll begin to unravel the mystery that ties the island and it's inhabitants together. Along the way, you'll have to talk to tons of people, go on mini-quests, acquire better weapons and armor (the little blue guy can get quite powerful in this game, it just takes time) and shoot a lot of things. Not bad really, just not quite as impressive as it was when the original game came out in 1998. Sure things have been added in the way of larger environments, but even those who played the first game, will have a hard time recognizing a lot of the differences or additions.

Since the game is in 3D, it will take some time to familiarize yourself with the control scheme. There is a lock on feature for shooting, but funnily enough you can't move while using it. That's a no-no, in my books, considering any 3D game smart enough to feature a lock on button allows you to move while targetting.

Graphically the game has been smoothed over with the N64's ability to anti-alias, which means it's not as jaggy as the PSX version. However, what it reduces in jaggies it creates in good old N64 bluriness. Sort of like playing with vaseline smeared on the TV screen. As far as environments go, things are pretty sparse, visually and texturally. You simply cannot compare this game to the likes of Banjo-Tooie (or Kazooie for that matter), Ocarina of Time or Donkey Kong 64. For those of you raised on the aforementioned titles, prepare to be underwhelmed by Mega Man 64.

That's not to say MM64 is a bad game. It isn't. It's an engaging story that, as you might well imagine, gets better over time. There are a lot of things to do, people to meet, enemies to disengage and weapons and other artifacts to locate. On the whole, it's got the RPG and Adventure genres down pretty pat. If you have already played the PSX version, then there really is no reason to hunker down with this one. However, if you are looking to get some lengthy playtime out of your trusty little N64, it's a pretty safe bet that you'll enjoy what is here. Just don't expect the second coming.