Hey guys, it's UncleBalrog again. Yep, another game review. However, instead of reviewing stuff like I usually do, (you know, just kinda telling you about the game and moving on...yeah, it's pretty boring T) I'm gonna do something a little different. This game is a rather special game to me, so not only am I going to review this game, (not like I normally do!! ) I'm also going to explain exactly why this game is da freaking bomb(man)! See what I did there? Ah whatever, let's get to the review--and the Why This Game is da Freaking Bomb!

   Graphics: I'm gonna give this game a 9+ in Graphics. You know why? The game is beautiful for a Game Boy Advance game, or even a Megaman game for that matter. The sprites have very smooth and defined motions, with the exception of a few NPCs. (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, CIEL!) Heck, even the enemies have very good sprites. I slapped the + on there after the 9 because of a little thing they did in the intro stage, where you protect Ciel. This is a bit of a spoiler but near the end of the intro stage, Ciel walks on an "unassuming platform" and states that it's a dead end. The "unassuming platform" then proceeds to crumble, and Zero dashes to grab Ciel. They fall down a very long pit, and while doing so, they used a certain frame of Zero's jumping sprite and placed it close to a sprite for Ciel, which made it look as if Zero was carrying Ciel down the pit. Boy that was hard to explain, but if you go ahead and play the game you'll understand what I mean. Also, I LOVE the new art style for this series, 'nuff said. NOW LET'S GET ON WITH IT!!!

   Sound: Another 9...this time without a plus. I've gotta say, I was very impressed with the music in this game. Not only that, the sound effects were unique and they all sounded pretty cool. Like I've stated in previous game reviews, the thing I look for most in VGM is how well it fits in with the current situation, or location, or mood that the music is being played in. Want some examples? Look at the boss music. Or, rather, LISTEN to it. It really does fit in perfectly with almost every boss in the game, except for Copy X's first form. That's the only reason why I didn't give the sound a 10, a final boss as cool as Copy X should have unique music in BOTH his forms. Speaking of which, the track used for his Seraph Form (or Final Form, or Super Saiyan Form if you're that kinda guy) is fantastic for his character. Also, the track is appropriately named 'Fake.' There were also some real character voices for the characters that can actually talk in the game, such as the Four Guardians (known as the s***ennou in Japan!).

   Addictiveness: Jesus freaking Christ, I am glued to this game. The gameplay runs quite a bit smoother than the Megaman X series. For example, you don't take 5 frames to pause whenever you try to jump off a wall, or even stick to the wall. (Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the X series.) Sliding down walls was practically instant, and at a non-irritating pace. Although I'll admit the drastically faster pace of this game did take some getting used to after I played pretty much every game in the X series, I have to say I prefer the Zero series's game speed. It made the boss fights actually intense and flat out cool. The fast pace also raised the difficulty by about OVER 9000 levels, which I actually like. I LOVE difficult games, especially when your mistakes feel like YOU made them, not that it's the game throwing cheap crap at you constantly. It does put your reaction time and pattern analyzing abilities to an extreme test though. (HIGHLY UNLIKE THE GOD-AWFUL MEGAMAN X6!!!)

   Story: Boy oh boy, the story of Megaman Zero. Lemme go ahead and explain something real fast. You remember the NES days, when a video game either had NO story at all, or it was explained in the Instruction Booklet? AKA Classic Megaman. That was SORT OF fixed when Megaman X came out for the Super Nintendo, although the story was still a bit uninspired even then. (The story was basically explained through the opening, intro stage, and Sigma Fortress stages.) Now, however, Megaman Zero has rolled around and kicked every "story" from every Megaman game to date straight in the behind. Seriously, this game was probably the most story-driven Megaman game ever at its time, right next to the Megaman Legends series. Things are now explained through story events and cutscenes that make sense, and you have mission briefings so you know what you're doing when you start a mission. It's not just "Beat this guy to clear the mission" anymore. It's, "You're here because you need to obtain some lost data. It could be very valuable, so you need to make sure the enemy doesn't get it before you do," or, "The enemy has a secret base somewhere in the desert. You need to find it, infiltrate it, and destroy their main computers that they're commanding their army with." Those are actual missions in the game. Now, I'm going to explain the story so you might as well just skip this part or something if you don't like spoilers.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! SKIP THIS IF YOU HATE SPOILERS!

When you start the game, you see a human girl running away from enemy troops, with a group of her own soldiers following behind and trying to fend off the enemy. They get their butts handed to them pretty easily, however, and the girl (her name is revealed to be Ciel by the way) gets stuck at a...ahem... "wall" and a mysterious flying girl (Ciel's Cyber Elf, you'll learn about those later) says that she feels a "strong energy" coming from inside, and that that must be "the place". The two remaining soldiers break down the wall, and they enter a decrepit building with a red robot knelt down, his body half broken and half wired to a machine that was likely used for maintenance in the past. "This...must be Zero..." Ciel says. Her partner, Milan, tries to touch Zero, but is knocked back by a protective field surrounding the bound Zero. The soldier that had been keeping the enemies occupied yells, and is killed, leaving Milan and Ciel wide open. They are cornered, and Milan is shot by the enemy. Ciel feels like and zones out for a while. Passy, Ciel's Cyber Elf, asks Ciel to use her power to reactivate Zero. Ciel reluctantly uses Passy's power, which kills Passy in the process. (Cyber Elves die when they use their power...) Zero is then revived after a large pillar of light extends from his body, and Ciel asks him for help. Zero silently agrees and helps Ciel out. That's pretty much the very start of it. You gain control of Zero as soon as Ciel asks you for help.

   Depth: Now that the story's out of the way, let's see why I gave the depth a mere 7. The Zero series decided that they'd use weapons instead of copying your opponent's abilities, which means no more powers after you beat a boss. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with that, but it'd still be nice to get the good ol' boss power. Instead, you can level up your weapons to unlock their full potential, meaning you have to level up your Buster just so you can shoot a Lv. 2 shot. But wait. What happens with Boss Weaknesses??? Fear not, there are now Elemental Chips that you can use with Charge Attacks to hit a boss with an elemental attack, which will either damage it a lot, damage it a tiny bit, or just flat out do nothing at all to the boss. There are Thunder, Ice, and Fire chips. Also, unique to the Zero series, is a point-grading system based on how well you complete the stage. Here's some advice: Do NOT die, do NOT take damage, kill TONS of enemies, do NOT use Cyber-Elves, and clear the level FAST. This pretty much ensures an A rank on the stage.

   Difficulty: Holy crap this game is hard. WARNING: YOU WILL RAGEQUIT MORE THAN ONCE DURING THE COURSE OF THIS GAME.

...That's all I got on the Difficulty.

   Overall: In my opinion, this is a near-perfect video game. It is one of, if not my single favorite game evah. Pretty much every aspect of this game is spot-on to what it was meant to be, and this game has earned number 1 on my permanent "Never-Sell-This-Crap" list. It's that brilliant, and I can play this game over and over again no matter what I'm currently doing. I think I'm the only one who enjoys this game this much, however...most people hate this game because of its relentless difficulty, and to be honest I really don't blame them at all. This game is amazing, but is somewhat hindered by the difficulty, unless you're me. If you're me, then that means that you're insanely good at these types of games, and that you've had a lot of practice with each individual stage. My honest opinion of this game? Best. Game. Evah.

Way to go. This was a great review, I loved reading about what you think of the game.