REVIEW - Mega Man Xtreme 2 | GBC | 2001

GENRE(S): Action / Platform
RELEASED: July 19, 2001
AVAILABLE ON: GBC
DEVELOPER(S): Capcom
PUBLISHER(S): Capcom

Mega Man Xtreme wasn't that much of a commercial success, but one enough to get a sequel for the Game Boy Color, which is ironic, since the Game Boy Advance had already been out for a few months. Why not wait and reflect for a while, and why make another game that obviously lacks the slightest fashion of evolution? Mega Man Xtreme 2 might star Zero as a fully playable character, but from every other angle, it looks and feels exactly like the last game. That goes for the physical comfort atop everything else.

Yawn. Ouch. Damn it.

I remember a time when these
sequences blew my mind.

A "Soul Eraser" named Berkana is robbing Reploids of their "DNA Souls" and using them to resurrect Mavericks from the past. It's time for another amazingly confusing scheme for world domination to be thwarted by the dynamic duo of X and Zero. Sigma's behind it all, of course, as if there's any doubt. Oops, spoiler. Or not.

I'm in a really bad mood right now. I'm fine per se, I have nothing to complain about, but I've had some problems sleeping and my sore hand's still cramping up once or twice an hour. I'm thinking to myself, maybe I shouldn't take on a potentially enfuriating game like Mega Man Xtreme 2 right now. Then again, would it make any difference if I was in a better mood? No, I don't think so. Mega Man Xtreme 2 is a whole new low in the Mega Man series' failure to evolve. Everything that was wrong with the first one, is still wrong with this second and last one. I've never liked Zero that much (though I'll pretty soon have to get used to him), and all the best bosses have been used up already. What we've got left are guys like Volt Catfish, Overdrive Ostrich and Wire Sponge. Epic.

Volt Catfish. Run for your lives.

No, this ain't going to be a long review. I've always at least tried to find something to say about a Mega Man game even if it was 99% identical to the last one, but this game just makes it impossible to come up with anything new to say. If possible, it's even uglier than the first, though. It sounds a little better - technically, that is, the song collection's not as good and the loops are "xtremely" repetitive - but occasionally looks very little more than a beta draft.

Thinking how much better this game would've been on the Game Boy Advance, and with a little more heart in it, hurts my brain from the graphics down to the controls. Nothing's changed, but that's not a huge surprise - there was never any room for much development with such a limited amount of buttons on disposal. Having just those two extra buttons on hand and generally improving the controls a little would've made it a much more playable game. Still nothing special, but more playable. And more memorable, perhaps.

Mega Man Xtreme 2 is not a really bad game. Due to the total halt in evolution - again, with the exception of making Zero fully playable from the beginning which adds some depth for those interested in the character at all (I'm not one of them) - it's just forgettable, and causes at least almost as much physical pain as its predecessor.

UPS
+ You know, I really can't come up with anything specifically nice to say; it's Mega Man, I guess

DOWNS
- More of that whack plot design to go with everything else
- Probably the least evolved Mega Man game in history
- Painful controls
- The leftover bosses

< 5.9 >