My first impressions after beating MMX3. Artificial difficultly really made this game lose its potential to surpass X1,2
Just a lot of this game felt sloppy if you didn't have the right equipment, and this is very apparent when you don't have the mid air dash. While I haven't tested my theory, I am very positive that it's not possible to beat this game without it. It's so bad that you can't get past both Toxic Seahorse level and Gravity Beatles level without it because one jump position within each level. Put this on top of an already hard boss loop to get into and add some very hard stages you get an unfair game overall.
I really did want to like this one, I so did. The fact there were some really cool anime openings, for both the bosses and game itself was awesome! The fact you can finally play as Zero, abide one life, was also a great feature and I was really excited to start playing this game. The music was also on par with the original X. The story was also a bit more interesting with a seemingly new villain, and the return of Vile. Sadly, it just didn't meet me when it came to gameplay, and really it's a shame, it was just different enough from either X or X2 that it had potential, but it's just far too unfair to say it's better than either. And that is hands down why I don't like this game, I have played many other Mega Man games out there, heck you can see if you just look at my history, but this felt like a rather cheap way to give me a run for my money.
Conclusion:
X3 is an example of missed potential due to how unfair it is and can be. It really does impress you in the beginning with the anime openings and playing as Zero. But this doesn't mean anything when you have a game that puts you off with its intense difficult caused by not a lack of skill, but lack of equipment.