It's UncleBalrog yet again with another review!! Getting sick of these yet? Well too bad. This is going to be another very special game review, for two reasons. The first is that this is the next game in the amazing Mega Man Zero series, my favorite in the franchise. The second reason is that this review will be my 10th post on the esteemed VizzedBoard!!! That's right, the day after I post this review will be the day I become a Normal Member on VizzedBoard! I'm pretty excited to finally be elevated to Normal Member, as I love VizzedBoard and I've been a Newbie for about 7 months...it's pretty funny if you ask me. I didn't start posting until recently, so that's why I haven't been elevated to Normal Member for so long. Either way, you came here for the review and not my life story, so let's get to it!

   Graphics: The Graphics get a solid rating of 8, and here's why I think that.  The graphics for the first Zero game were pretty freakin' good for a mere Game Boy Advance title. Mega Man Zero 2, on the other hand, adds plenty of new animations and sprites for almost all the characters, most notably for Zero. I'll explain the new sprites for Zero later in the review, so don't worry. One more thing about the graphics though. I've never experienced ANY graphical glitches at all with this game. None whatsoever.

   Sound: The Sound gets a very high 9, both for being awesome and improving significantly over the first Zero game's soundtrack. If you played the first Mega Man Zero game, you'd notice quite a few sketchy tracks for the music. Some of it was even a tad lackluster, even though I gave it such a high rating when I reviewed it a few days ago. They almost completely changed all the "instruments" they used in the first game, and for whatever reason it sounds far better. They also updated quite a few of the sound effects as well. The first one you'll probably recognize is the sound effect for Z-Saber slashes. It sounds more like Zero's saber from Mega Man X4. Well, more than Zero 1's Z-Saber did at least. There's also more voiced characters than Zero 1, where only the 4 Guardians and Copy X had voices. Speaking of the 4 Guardians, their voice clips have been updated as well, and they now sound a bit clearer. Zero also yells when he uses an EX Skill, but I'll explain those later. By later I mean in the next section of the review, so get ready...

   Addictiveness: A perfect score, 10/10. This game keeps every good thing about the gameplay that the original Zero game had, and vastly expands on it by putting the Ranking System to good use. Remember back when you (yes, YOU) were playing Mega Man Zero and wondering why you were being evaluated on how well you completed your missions? Well, here's the solution: Playing Mega Man Zero 2! Yes, the ranking system is now full of meaning by letting you earn a boss's EX Skill when you clear the mission with an A or S Rank! Now you're pressured to be good at the game in order to obtain the cool stuff! This also brings back the classic, "Beat dudes up and take their weapons" mentality from the older Mega Man games, only this time you have to beat em' up good. However, if you get something crappy like a B or below, you get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good day sir! Heheh, see what I did there? Hmm, maybe not. Well, old movie references aside, this game still has the weapon levels from the previous game, but that only really affects you at the beginning of the game. By the time you clear the first line of missions you should have your Z-Saber almost maxed out, and your Buster leveled up completely. If you're good with the new rod, the Chain Rod, as well as the Shield Boomerang, you could possibly level those up as well. In addition to the new weapons, and the new EX Skills, Zero now has several different Forms you can choose from to change your play style. You can unlock the different Forms by clearing missions after fulfilling certain requirements. The Forms are rated in Speed, Defense, and Power. They also provide you with different methods of attacking, or give bonuses to certain weapons. For example, the Erase Form lets you delete enemy shots by slashing them with your saber. The Forms also change your color as well. The X Form turns you light blue and gives you a bonus to your Buster, powering up your shots and letting you have 4 shots onscreen at the same time. The Rise Form turns you green and is almost like your basic form, except the third slash of your Z-Saber combo is now an uppercut that is good for taking out enemies that are slightly far above you. I'm not going to go in depth for all the forms, as this was just a simple preview of some of the ones you can unlock. There are plenty of ones to choose from, and each offers a different style of play that is unique to each form. There's also a hidden form that you can unlock after completely upgrading every Cyber-Elf in the game...or so I've heard. Nah, there really is. Try to unlock it and post a screenshot of it, I'll give ya 100 Viz if you do.
...Okay, I was just kidding about giving you Viz, but if you've unlocked the special form then congrats!

   Story: This game's story takes place two months after the end of Zero 1. Nothing too important happened in those 2 months (except for Zero fighting Pantheons for THAT LONG...) , so you could think of this as a direct sequel. And boy is this a great sequel. You start the game off fighting through another Neo Arcadian army in the desert, despite you looking as if you're on the brink of death. Or retirement, as they call it in the Mega Man Zero series. After you successfully take the entire army down BY YOURSELF (like a boss) Zero falls to his knees and states, "I... I did it... but, it... it cost me everything..." and then promptly falls forward and onto the desert floor. A wind begins to blow, and it kicks up plenty of sand. Ouch. However, a very familiar face shows up (IT'S HARPUIA FROM ZERO 1 OH MY GAWD) riding on Aztec Falcon, who was supposed to be dead. Remember, you killed him twice in Zero 1... right? Well, Harpuia looks at the motionless body of Zero and wonders out loud, "Zero... to live or die? Hmmm..." The screen then fades out, and you're greeted with a cutscene featuring what appears to be the inauguration of a new commander of the Resistance. Ciel's apparently given up her position to a man-lady. His name is Elpizo, and he's giving a nice lil' speech describing how thankful he is to be leading the Resistance forces. The Resistance members cheer, and all of a sudden one soldier walks right on in and says that Zero was found outside the Resistance base. Wait, what?! Looks like Harpuia might not be such a bad guy after all. You wake up in a Maintenance machine and you're then greeted by Ciel and Cerveau. You're then given some space after being told to check out the new weapons Cerveau made for you, and you regain control of Zero. Well, that's all the spoilers for now! Want more spoilers? Look up a walkthrough, or watch a Let's Play of the game. I hear ClementJ642 did the whole Zero series. Well, the story is great. That's all I got.

   Depth: The depth gets a 9 due to the huge improvement this game made over the first Zero game, and that's all. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that instead of being able to freely roam around the world to get to the different stages of the game, you are forced to talk to the Operator and tell her to transfer you back to the area you want to go to. I am personally NOT happy with this change, I loved grinding weapon levels by going through each of the areas in Mega Man Zero. That's one of the very few qualms that I have with this game. Trust me, this game is freaking godly despite a couple of unwanted changes. Every single aspect of this game was either a new addition, or was slightly changed from the first game. Most of the time stuff like this will ALWAYS happen with any sort of video game sequel, so I'm definitely not unhappy in the slightest. Change is good, especially when done the right way.

   Difficulty: I really have to say, this game is significantly easier than the first Zero game. But right now I feel like making a Mega Man nerd reference. This game is still harder than Hard Man. Get it? If you played Mega Man 3 then you do get it. Despite there being so many new ways to play the game, the EX Skills and some of the forms only made the game that much easier than the first Zero game, not that I'm complaining. However, the EX Skills only made the combat aspects of this game easier. As a result, they had to step up the difficulty of the platforming segments of the game. A really good example of this is near the end of the game, when you're going through each of the Neo Arcadian Temples to defeat the 3 remaining Guardians. Yep, only 3. Remember, Phantom's dead. (insert cry here) Fefnir's temple is by far the most difficult one. That stage requires an insanely good reaction time, and perfect understanding and coordination with your skills at your disposal. You'll have to make very clever use of slashes, shots, and even Element Chips to make it through without dying. Also, one slip-up will likely be your last, and making a mistake is so easy in this level. It's even easier than Hard Man. I just love making nerd references in my reviews... One more thing about the difficulty. When you're fighting the 3 Guardians in their second forms, which you fight by going through the temples, make sure to bring some Subtanks...you'll definitely need to use them if you're not very skilled at the game. Just be ready and hope you've gathered enough Forms and EX Skills to help you along the way. Every little bit counts. Oh, also make sure you've got maxed out weapons. Okay, I'll stop acting like your mother now.

   Overall, this is a fantastic game that did nothing but improve over the first game in almost every area and aspect of the game. It's getting a 9.5/10 as its overall rating.
  
   Well, this concludes my review of Mega Man Zero 2. I hope you guys enjoyed it, because I really enjoyed writing it. I also enjoyed the crap out of the game, so get out there, get some skills, and play this magnificent game. It's a masterpiece waiting to be played, so do it a favor and play it. You'll be doing yourself a favor as well. Everybody enjoys doing favors for themselves. Also, I actually got a reply to my review of the first Mega Man Zero game, I forgot to thank the dude who complimented it. So thanks man, I really appreciate it. Anyway, that about wraps it up! I'll see you all tomorrow, when I kiss my status as a VizzedBoard Newbie goodbye. Tomorrow I'll be a normal guy on VizzedBoard. Yep, just a normal guy, an average Joe. I'll blend in with the crowd, I'll go incognito, I'll hide like Solid Snake. I'll also post more game reviews! My goal is to review the entire Mega Man Zero series by the end of April, so if I can meet that goal, it'd be pretty sweet. Thanks for reading this!

FIRST 2000+ WORD POST, WOOT!!!

Uncle Balearic: Awesome review! Keep up the good work!

And sorry, I have to spell check as I'm a newbie.