This is going to be a full on and very long review, as I try to say every aspects of the game and then give my own personal thoughts on the topic and giving my opinionated score. When I say very long, I mean very long. You have been warned because there is going to be no TL;DR.

I'm mean like that.




Story: It has been a year since Zero has left Ciel and the Resistance and went on his own path. However, the battles over the year have lost meaning to him. To find his purpose, he knows he should find Ciel and the Resistance soldiers. However, being attacked by Neo Arcadia for the entire year out in the desert to give Cyber Elf X time to rest has worn him down. It isn't long until he succumbs to exhaustion. Thankfully, the Resistance find Zero, somehow outside the base despite Zero not actually passing out there. The Resistance have formed a new base (Much better then the rubbish rusty hole that was the "base" in Megaman Zero 1, I assure you) in order to take a stand against Neo Arcadia. Elpizo, the new commander of the Resistance, believes that peace can only be obtained by whipping out Neo Arcadia by force. Ciel is researching a substitute energy, as Neo Arcadia fights the Resistance due to an energy shortage, which is causing the humans to suffer. Ciel hopes in her research of developing a new type of energy, she can stop the conflict not through war, but with the power of science. Elpizo engages in a massive operation to attack Neo Arcadia, but the operation is a massive failure as all the soldiers in the operation are eliminated with relative ease. Elpizo is only saved because Zero went to aid in the operation some time after it commenced and saved him in time, albeit wounded. Neo Arcadia launches a bombardment ship towards the Resistance base. Zero is forced to intercept it and neutralize the bomb with the aid of Ciel hacking the bomb. During their absence, Elpizo left the maintenance room and the base to seek out more power. Promising to destroy Neo Arcadia and to eliminate all of the humans. Elpizo puts Ciel in charge. The Resistance does their best to search for their former commander who has now become mad with lust for power. Searching for a certain Cyber Elf called "Dark Elf" that nearly destroyed the world when her power was misused, and was sealed by X. Now Zero must search for Elpizo and stop him from obtaining the Dark Elf before Elpzio gains ultimate power.



Story Review: The story in my opinion is much better then the original, but besides the point. It has one of the best introduction stages I ever seen, and it does indeed have the best introduction stage in any Megaman game ever created. Ever. The story starts off extremely slow after that though. You do several missions to set up the Operation, one of those missions you get a Cyber Elf for Ciel so she can complete her research. From there, the story throws quite a bit of good dramatic missions, such as saving the base from a bombardment craft. And the fact Ciel actually assists you in that mission is a bit unique, since Zero does his best to protect Ciel and is strongly against the idea of her going. But the bomb may explode if just destroyed. From there, you chase Elpizo trying to catch him but he's always one step ahead of you. The four Guardians (Technically 3 since Phantom in the last game did a fail kamakazi attempt against Zero) are too over-confident about Elpizo, and attack you even though Elpizo is the real threat. Of course that becomes their downfall as Elpizo becomes more powerful then them as he makes his way to the dark elf.

All in all, it's not the best story, but it is a good story for a game that you can finish in about 3 hours. I'd give it an 8/10.




Graphics: Good god, for 16 bit, this game has A LOT of descriptions. Even the ground is extremely descriptive, able to see cracks in cliffs, almost every single background is animated even if it is the tiniest movement, it helps give a good feel of the area around you. The backgrounds will often change when you enter a newer area. Such as outside to a really big giant cave. Some sprites are not very fluid, however, Zero's sprites are extremely fluid. For example, most games today for  a 2D sprite only have about 3-5 animations for running. Zero has freaking 9, complete with very realistic head bobbing and his feet follow on the ground properly so it doesn't "slide" at all. All the effects on the attacks are extremely unique and crisp as well. The bosses have decent animations. If you're very good at the game, you will be able to predict what attack is coming before they launch the attack. Some idle animations for the bosses are quite lackluster, but are only really used when introducing the boss anyways before the battle starts. Every boss has it's unique way of coming onto the screen usually. Whether it be a phoenix glowing like the sun and engulfing on fire, or trying to boast their power by forming a giant ball of ice in front of you as a taunt. For 16 bit, this game makes very good use of the small little Gameboy Advance screen. Finally, there are good little anime screens in some of the lengthier scenes of the game. Which, while not in the best quality as some of the later versions of the series, are pretty good and descriptive and enjoyable to see and look at.


Graphics Review: The graphics for this game are extremely appealing for a 2D Action-based Plat-former. Zero has so many sprites, it's scary. Then top that off with the fact you can have Zero in 10 different colors depending on what "form" you use. The backgrounds always appeal me as well. I enjoy looking at the environments of both outside areas, and inside areas, because they usually show lights and wires if possible in buildings, and for outside places, you will see trees with bits of bark ripped off showing mechanical parts, or bits of dirt blown off to show a mechanical surface, giving a back story lore that the world is becoming less and less natural, and more artificial then itself. Actual legit nature doesn't exist anymore. Over all, I give the graphics a 9.5/10


Sound/Music: Every area except for one I believe has it's own area music. And each one of them is extremely enjoyable to listen to, although a few bits of music when talking is happening can feel a little lacking. They did a great job of making very atmospheric music that can help keep the adrenaline rush going through the action of the game. The first stage music is the most popular music in the entire series. And even better, they remixed it for the credits. Makes me cry happily with glee it does. It's literally my favorite sound track in existence. Aside from music though, the game has pretty good sounds. Very clear saber slashes. The explosions when defeating a boss aren't very realistic at all though. There are the sounds of when Zero's foot hits the ground from running, or when he jumps off a wall (even varying in sound slightly whether it's a normal wall jump, or a power wall jump) but all three of these are extremely quiet and drowned out by the music. It also does not change no matter what surface your feet makes contact with. Even if you walk on lava apparently. This game has some voice acting. Zero only has 3 voice bits though. Two for EX skills, and one for when he does a fully charged Z-Saber swing. His voice for the swing is really quiet compared to any other voice in the game. It also doesn't really sound too realistic, but I digress. Almost every boss has voice acting for every one of their attacks, but all the voices are in Japanese and not dubbed into English. There's some voice acting with Ciel as well when you enter her room, she will say one of two things depending how many times you enter her room. For example, if leave and enter her room several times, she'll let out an almost annoyed "Nani?" (That means "What?" in Japanese.) which I thought was just a funny little touch.


Sound Review: The sounds and voice acting is good, but a lot of the sounds are kind of soft when they should be much more powerful sounding. For example: The sound of cold icy mist gushing out of a pipe is much louder then that of the same boss who can do that, walking towards you, shaking the entire room. And I mean much louder. The voice acting, while has a few little tidbits that are odd, mostly concerning the volume of them are generally very good and realistic considering there were 5 voice actors, or maybe even less. And of course, the music is just absolutely fantastic. Nothing bad about it except some cut scene ones can be a little dry. This game just makes the Gameboy Advance sing. I give the sound a 9/10.


Gameplay: The game play system is extremely fun. Very quick paced, but it is very tough to anyone new to the way Megaman works. And I mean extremely harsh, but I will get to that later. The way the game works is so simple as far as programming goes, my friend can almost honestly replicate it on his own, and he's only 17 (A few months younger then me). However, that is the glory that is Megaman, giving it that retro feeling game play that really kicks some serious butt and has been nearly perfected. The dash button really helps keeping you pumped although with how useful it is, it's going to get your finger tired at times. The controls are easily customizable. You can even choose you use your main and sub weapon, and how the charging works. Type A, Type B, and Type C. Type is you can push the main button to attack with the main weapon, and then hold the sub weapon button and then the main weapon button to attack with the sub weapon. Charging with the main weapon charges both weapons but using any weapon makes you lose the charge for both weapons. Type B is one button attacks with one weapon, the other button attacks with the other. Both weapons are charged individually. This in my opinion is the best option because it is the most simple, and you can release the charge on the main and sub weapon individually unlike what the other two methods are. It can be taxing to hold the charge button for extended periods of time though. Finally, there is Type C, which the main button attacks, then you can push the sub weapon button to swap the main and sub weapon places around without needing to go to the pause menu. I think this is the worst method because it means you have to push several buttons in order to get what you need in an instant.

The attacking mechanic does have some glitches that can be abused. For example, you are only allowed to attack with the saber in a series of 3 slashes maximum before your combo ends, and the boss can't take anymore damage until the flashing invincibility runs out. But with clever use of the Z saber, you can actually easily get 5 slashes in and they will still all count. It easily makes the Z saber the best weapon in the game and really helps you take down bosses fast. Further more, bosses generally have four elements: Neutral, Fire, Ice and lightning. While I don't see how Fire could possible be weak against lightning, and lightning weak to ice, you can obtain chips and your charged attacks will use this element, which can help you take down bosses by doing extra damage in your attacks, and making them flinch longer then a normal charged attack would. Or if you use the wrong element, you won't actually damage the boss with a charged attack at all. You can obtain Ex skills if you are doing extremely well over all as long as you have 80% mission score or higher from the bosses you defeated. In classic megaman fashion, you basically steal a bosses skill and can use it as your own Ex skills can be boosted by some elemental chips for a greater effect, however using a chip of the opposite effect does not make the Ex skill weaker. This means you can use Exskills to do elemental damage as well if you are using the proper chip for it, and not having to rely on just charged attacks. Almost everything you do is graded on the mission score: Did you complete your objective? How fast you completed it? Damage taken? Times died? Enemies defeated? And a few others. While I like statistics, I find it very stupid you get rewarded for doing ridiculously well. People who aren't doing well don't get the reward that in fact, makes the game easier. So the skill people who don't need the reward, get the reward, and those that do need the reward, don't get it. And the game will get much harder for them missing out that reward. But of course, in classic megaman style, you get to choose what order to do the bosses in as you choose. Mission score isn't set and reset after one mission. If you do very well in several missions, but flunk one, as long as you got a good % of score, your total % will not drop too much still allowing you to go for Ex skills. So I suggest going for missions you feel comfortable with first, and from there, fight the bosses with the weaknesses of any elements you gain. And if you die once, restart the mission because dying obviously hurts your score board in almost every way possible. Plus death itself is a penalty in general; a big one.

Now, we go into Cyber Elves. Which can be found from either defeating enemies, or finding them hidden in a capsule. As far as Cyber Elves go, unless you want to get low mission scores, they're useless. Because every elf you use, will deduct points for EVERY MISSION FOR THE ENTIRE GAME. Making it next to impossible to ever get Ex skills after you use a Cyber Elf. There IS a Cyber Elf which will boost your score to 80 TEMPORARILY for that mission so you CAN obtain an Ex skills, but there's only 4 of these said elves. And there's 10 Ex skills in the game I believe. Once you use an Elf, it's dead and can never be used again unless it was a "consumable" elf per say, then you can reget it starting a New Game + (Not really +, but you keep everything you had last game including Elves) So any Elves that were consumable, such as heal you for 8 HP, can be found once again. They will however still deduct points from your mission score until you get them again I believe. Which by that point your total % of points will be so damaged probably it doesn't matter until the NEXT New game +. Cyber Elves however are useful as far as stats go. They can save you from falling into a bottomless pit. They makes Spikes do only 8 damage instead of them instantly killing you; that's a deal right there. Some elves double you defense. Some elves raise you max HP by 4 to a maximum of 16 (32 in total, as default health starts off at 16), and there is an elf that will add another layer to your bar, doubling your health. (So max health is 64; FOUR TIMES more health then your original health, you literally have the same health as almost every single boss in the game). Some Elves have some temporary effects, such as spinning around your body, blocking enemies shots, and thus replenishing your health for each successful block. Other elves may hover in the air, scattering health pick ups for you before soon dying. And some other elves can stun all enemies on the screen, give temporary cover fire, or transform foes to even cutting a bosses current health in half. And some Elves actually transform into Subtanks, while other Subtanks may be found in a secret area of a stage.

Finally, we move into forms. Forms change Zero's colour, and change your stats slightly. At default, your Power, Defense, and Speed start off at two stars. Changing forms can shift these stats from 1 star to 4 stars, usually giving advantages but disadvantages as well. For example, one form may only allow you to slice once, although the slash will do more damage then any normal slash, and increases your defense, it's still a weaker melee attack. Other forms may give more passive abilities, such as letting you recover more health when you pick up a health item. Or allow you to slash away at enemy bullets and turning them into Energy Crystals which can be used to feed your elves. In my opinion though, the default form, other then the ultimate form you get from collecting all the Cyber Elves in the game, is the best form. It has the best attack, the best mobility (I don't even know what Speed does to be honest. I see literally no difference in anything at all), Defense and Power however do help, although most forms that have lots of power only let you do one slash, thus, unless your playing hard mode, you are forced to use a form that gives you 1 defense and 1 speed, but four power, your single slash does 8 damage I believe, but you also take double damage as well. They really do add a bit of variety in style, but there are too many forms that are just too... useless to add too much variety.


Gameplay Review: The game is very solid, the controls are fluid and can best for any individual depending on their style. The buttons respond accordingly to you when you press them. The gameplay represents the classic games from many years ago, but completely revamped and in it's own league that makes it seem classical yet very modern both at once. Some glitches that can used to aid the player in rather unfair ways. The mission score system really damages new players with too much "You suck" at times while praising the expert players with good rewards, it kind of kills the game play to anyone trying to get into the series. And honestly, you have to do really really good. Like, restart if you take a bar of damage good to get all the Exskills. Which is sad because the Ex skills REALLY make combat fun. Combat is always fun when you have several ways to deal damage to a foe. Between Forms, Exskills, and Cyber Elves, and elemental chips you really have to choose how you want to set Zero up and there are many different ways to do it in a blind run, that it can be fun but perhaps punishing if you don't know what you are doing, because you really trash your mission score forever. Depending on what element you like most will depend on the ex skills you will majorly use. You will probably use the default form because it's the best form other then the ultimate form. And unless you dislike Ex skills, you won't be using Cyber elves until you either got all the Ex skills, or are on the final mission. Still, Megaman Zero 2 is a very fun game in the end. It is in desperate need of polishing a lot of the mechanics though. I give game play a 7/10




Difficulty: Can I swear? This game is really ridiculously hard. I repeat: This game is really ridiculously hard. I cannot not even think of one level in this game, that doesn't have either a pit, or spikes, or lava, or something that will make you go squish; each and every one killing you instantly. Why can I not think of one? Because there isn't one. Every single bloody level has an instant death mechanic. And not just in one play. Generally the entire level is BUILT upon you trying to avoid the spikes, not having to fall down into a bottomless pit, not trying to drown in lava, or finally, not becoming squished into a pancake. What's WORSE about this, is that several levels make you do PRECISION LONG JUMPS where you have to JUST make it to the wall of a cliff, or avoid 90% of area of spikes below you and land on like a tiny little platform against the wall. There's even an area you have to navigate that's littered with spikes and you are only able to see crystallized platforms for only a couple of seconds. Meanwhile this invincible enemy is attacking you as well, and you can't really avoid it since it actually hovers in front of you, knocking you off the platforms. Thankfully you are invincible when hit so it isn't *Hits you, knocks you off, you touch spike, you die instantly* but you will die if you don't get out within the second you was hit. Oh, by the way, what did you think about making that super long jump where you have to jump, shoot a grappling hook over the giant pit while sliding on ice towards that wall that ALSO has spikes on it? And finally, even some of the BOSSES have instant death mechanics in their boss rooms! This is very rare, but there ARE bosses with such things.

The over use of instant death in every single level in the game (Yes, even the first stage has an insane amount of spots for you to fall through to your doom. Thankfully the set up is actually quite fair and you can pass all the traps without even dashing and jumping) really makes enemies kind of... pointless? Why worry about the fact your health is low when the level is set up to the fact that if you even so much place your toe in the wrong place, you're going to blow up? If you are going to start the Megaman Zero series, do not start with this game. It will make you weep in frustration. On the bright side though, the bosses are very nice in difficulty. They feel challenging as the last obstacle in the level.... Uhh, sometimes. Other times they may seem easier then the actual level themselves. But I digress. The difficulty on the bosses are nicely done. Although even they can be a trail and error experience if you aren't great at dodging, for bosses can really dish out some good damage if you let them.


I'm not going to give a score based on how hard this game is. But my official rating for the difficulty of this game: Really ^#$!ing hard. By the way, I am just talking about Normal mode here.


Yeah. Normal mode.





Replay Value: Eh, I replayed it a lot because I love the music, but that really is about it. There is hard mode, which I refuse to play, because I do not wish to break my DSi having a not-so-mature-but-perfectly-reasonable hissy fit. There is always the option to collect all the cyber elves, although you do not need to replay the game to do that. You do need to replay however to collect all the forms. And of course if you wrenched up your Ex skills and wanna see them all, then there's that too. But other then hard mode which I doubt anyone wanting to play the game would do unless they are crazy good and thus want to beat it for nothing more then boasting rights, then the replay value on this game is actually very low.





This concludes my review for this insanely hard, but still extremely epic game. If anyone has any questions for the game, feel free to post here.




SCORE REVIEW:

Story: 8/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Difficulty: "Really ^#$!ing hard."
Replay Value: Low




Image upload: 256x256 totaling 51 KB's.

That is all...

Snowdeath : You can't say much. You were warned at the top of my post. :>


Also alternatively if you do find it too long, you can just read the review sections. The difficulty doesn't have a review section per se. Nor does Replay value, both are shortened already. And if you really don't want to read, there's a score board at the very very bottom.

Vincent Swiftstrike : Actually, I didn't come to this review by on my own will. You asked me to check it out. I told you my opinion clearly visible on the linked picture.

4000 words for a review are too much. 400 words to 1.5 thousand is great, and try to make sure to include descriptive words in it, and tell the public what you think of the game, not trying to spoil the game for them. For example, personally... I would prefer to not hear anything about the story-line, because I like to be surprised. 
I do must ask... Do you expect over 100,000 people to view your review and actually read it? No. Why? Too long and it can spoil the expectation of the game. From what I read, it looked like you were writing a review for a PS3 or Xbox legendary game or something. This is a GBA game, for god's sake. Furthermore, if you haven't noticed, it is a MegaMan game. Kids from the age of 5 to 30 does play it, and you think a review like this would be for a M+ game, or at the very least, a T+ rating. 
I've played plenty of MegaMan from the point in GB to the point of DSi, and believe me when I say this... The story-line does not sound like that, nor even how you explained it. 
Last time I checked, it was a cartoon game, and not a Final Fantasy style story-line. 

All of the negativeness apart, good review, needs some improvements, but still good. 

Remember this: This is a RGR Staff: Game Reviewer's opinion. Want my personal opinion; refer to the first reply by me. 

Snowdeath : Yes, I asked you to check it out. I didn't order or force you to however. Who moved that mouse and clicked on that link? Certainly not me. (Lest I be psychic).



The entire post is indeed over 4000 words. However the "Review" sections of it are within
the 1500 words like you requested. Anything else is explaining what is
in the game for those who haven't played it before. Those help explain
the mechanics to those who don't know, or unclear. Then they can see why
I give my review. It doesn't have to be read. You can simply just read
the review sections.

I must also note, with this impression, that's like saying a book is too long to read. I don't see any actual rule saying how long a review could be, because trust me, I seen longer and "official" reviews on this game. Much longer. But beside the point:




I never said I expect 100,000 people to read the review. I posted the
review because:

1: I was bored.
2: Because I wanted to.

If 20 people
read it in all of Vizz, I'm fine with that. And if 0 People read it,
fine by me too. I did however try to make the review for three different
kinds of people: Those are people who read everything no matter how
long, people who only want to read the juicy bits (The review section)
and people who simply just want to see the scores. (Posted at the
bottom) Someone like you seems like they would only want to read the
juicy bit. As already stated, that's in the " Review"
sections.



I'm confused on how my review style works would only fit for T+ or M+
games. You're going to have to elaborate on that part of your criticism
unfortunately.





I don't see how you say the storyline doesn't sound like that either. Unless you mean besides the fact I shortened and watered it down a lot. Other then that, I can't see how because all the events did happen in the game.


With that said with me expressing my opinions about your opinions that are about my opinions, I'll still take what you said into consideration because it is feedback and criticism no matter how much I disagree with it.

Vincent Swiftstrike :  

Ha, well. I'm simply just throwing out what I've noticed, that's all. Beside, "sections" doesn't work. It has to be mixed, and balanced. 

That's where you're completely wrong. You see, some reviewers think of this way; 

Compare a NES game to a NES game. 

You're doing this;

Compared a NES game to a Wii game. 

See the difference? 

A review like this is too long, however, if this were a book, I'd say it was fine. 

Anyway, the reference I made for "T+ and M+ ratings", is what I mean in your review - Not because they sound teen-ish or mature-ish, but the way you type, only older people would be able to read, not kids. 
Therefore my comments of MegaMan being a cartoon. =P

Snowdeath : Any kids sitting here ready lengthy reviews would be crazy mad for not having anything better to do. XD

Vincent Swiftstrike : Yep. xD

Sadly for me. >.>

There is the ultimate for that looks a lot like Omega Zero but in comparison to the x series I think the MegamanZero series highlights Zero's greatest moments in gaming.

That game definately was an epic series, you did a great job reviewing the game.

TheOmegaDragon : Yeah, on an LCD screen like the DSLite or DSi, if you tilt the screen the right way, you can see Omega Zero's colors in some areas of the armor. It's only around 1 shade or 2 different. Also, I easily agree with you. Megaman Zero was far more balanced of a series, although there are some glitches in it still.

pacman1755 : Many thanks. I'm planning to review the rest of the series as well. I will try my best to make it shorter though.