This game is all that AND the bag of chips. Here's hoping this series continues.
When I got home I popped that UMD into my PSP and was truly in awe as I watched the action packed anime opening. Then the real fun, actually playing, came.
This game does have its good and bad points, mostly good though. The most noticable is the graphics. Simply amazing graphics that no screen shot really does justice to. Some say they are a bit blocky, but I disagree, they are well done and my personal favorite is how superbly Zero's sprite was made.
The sound in this game is truly amazing. Some claim that some of the music is wonderful while others you would prefer the originals over, but I disagree with them. They all sound great and retain that post apocolyptic techo feel that the original game's music gave. The sound effects are well done as well. While there is voices used in the game, there's none as annoying as Zero's jump sound in MMX4. Infact, the worst of the voices is when using X's special powers. He tends to repeat his attack name like a broken record. But the good news is that the music and explosions and what not tend to drown out X's voice. I'm sure most people will be glad that X's voice is actually masculine instead of high pitched and girly like both Megaman from MM8 and X from MMX4
Probably the best feature is the prescence of a developing story as you play. X now has fully voiced over dialogue with all 8 mavericks in addition to his dialogue with Zero, Vile, and Sigma. He always talks to Maverick Hunter HQ a couple of times. But the real story comes in through Vile Mode. Vile becomes much much more than simply Sigma's lackey like he was in the original MMX and now you will wonder if he actually is a Maverick or not.
The gameplay is almost unchanged. Its still the same good Megaman X you've come to know and love with only a few minor changes. The only major change is the ability to charge a weapon (such as Rolling Shield) and change to another weapon while maintaining the first. Other changes include the game now allowing you to escape from a stage at any time regardless of defeating the Maverick and being refilled to 2 lives if you start a stage with less. Hard mode gives all the bosses a new attack and a new challenge to the game. All the capsules have been switched for what upgrade you get where, and in the case of the capsule in Chill Penguin's stage, it has actually been moved, though not far from its original position. Several ledges have been extended or shortened. Vile provides a completely unique experience with 3 different weapons per level and no dash ability, although he is already faster than X and after beating a specific Maverick gains the ability to run almost as fast as X's dash all the time. The bad parts here is that the PSP requires you to hold down the square button pretty hard to keep your charged shot charging. Also there's noticeable slow down when there's a lot of stuff going on (this was also in the original game) but its not really that big a deal, there's really only two places it will lag down unless you just go crazy with your weapons, one of which being Armored Armadillo's stage on the last trolley ride, which most would remember from the original lagging as well. Other than that, the game is actually sped up in general.
The extras in this game are a nice treat. The Day of Sigma is a 25 minute anime video that explains why Sigma went Maverick and how he did it. Vile Mode of course, is a welcome extra. The demo of Megaman Powered Up is nice too, it allows you to play Cutman's stage in its original form (with new graphics and sound effects, but original music) and the Easy, Medium, and Hard versions of the redone Powered Up stage. Also if you game share you can unlock Fireman's stage too.
All in all, if you are a passing fan of Megaman, you could probably pick up the X Collection and pass on this. But if you are anything more, this is a MUST get.