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Mega Man X2
The threat of Sigma had disappeared momentarily at the end of the first game, but there remained those faithful to him. These "X-Hunters" had a sinister plan; one that involved bringing back an old friend of X from the grave...

Number Two

Usually, when people here about follow-ups, they turn away with disgust. Because, let´s face it, follow-ups are very nearly always worse than the original. Thankfully, however, this is not the case with Mega Man X2.
When Sigma had been ultimately defeated and the credits of the first Mega Man X game had finished rolling, those who left the TV on a bit longer got a very nasty surprise. It looked like the threat was far from over. What the player had defeated was, apparently, only a "shell" - the essence of Sigma was still out there, waiting for a new body to come along. It was fairly obvious that this meant there would be a sequel. Those who were familiar with Capcom shook their heads and said: "Oy, not again."

They would, eventually, have to eat those words.

Doing it Again with Style

The story in Mega Man X2 is fairly simple. The evil fiend has somehow returned, using three mavericks that call themselves "X-Hunters" to create a new body. And with this returning evil came eight new robots to fight, new armour to pick up, new stages to traverse and more of the same. Does this make Mega Man X2 a bad game?
No. Far from it.
I´ve often found that when it comes to Capcom they tend to rush things. When the idea that spawned the Mega Man series popped into Keiji Inafune´s head, there was no time for dumb things such as "planning" or "rethinking the concept". Smack, whoosh, bang, and there was a game. It had a very wierd scoring system that filled no real purpose except making the game feel like an arcade title, six bosses that sometimes killed you in one shot and incredibly hard stages that made you scream with frustration. Then, when the sale figures went through the roof, Capcom sat down at the big table to think. It took them a while to crank out Mega Man 2, which didn´t have the score system, featured eight bosses and was considerably easier (and more fun to play). There were Rush Adaptors. There were great, memorable tunes. Capcom made history by reinventing the wheel and adding bells and whistles.
This is also what they did to Mega Man X2.

Lights, Camera, Action!

It´s easy to feel the difference between the first game and this one. First of all, everything runs a lot smoother. This is - according to tech wizards I´ve been in contact with - due to a new graphic chip and more memory. The environments are nothing short of beautiful - the graphichs actually manage to look better than the previous game. X runs through rainstorms, does battle in icy caves and engages an enormous robot that moves in the background. When I first played this game I was in awe. Today, I still think this game looks awesome. Feast your eyes on the screenshots featured here (thanks to MMXZ - The Maverick Hunters for these) to see what I mean.

Musical Degeneration

There are, however, black spots on the sun. One of these is this game´s musical score, which manages to take everything that was nice from the first game and turn it into a big mess. Sure, it´s not as bad as in Mega Man X3, but I found myself turning off the volume when I played this (and that is something I never do when playing a game). The music is, at some places, incredibly annoying - fight one of the X-Hunters to find out what I mean. The soundtrack has its nice moments, though; I love the maverick battle theme, and Bubble Crab´s stage song is also very nice. The bad outweighs the good, however.

Challenge Of A Lifetime

One thing you can´t laugh at in this game is the challenge. Capcom apparently noted that the first game had been a tad on the easy side and made Mega Man X2 walk as far away from this trend as possible. In comes long, nearly impossible jumps, fast-moving, vicious mavericks and mini-bosses that fires stuff at you from every corner of the room. The armor upgrades are harder to find, X takes more damage from just about everything, and even if you do know the enemy´s weakness, the bosses aren´t exactly easy. Also, Mega Man X2 is the first game in the series where you can choose between two paths - your choice doesn´t affect the ultimate outcome, but it might put you in a situation where you have to fight someone who will, I daresay, be familiar...

A Game Well Worth Playing

This game is a classic. Period. It took everything that was mediocre in the first game and made them a hundred times better. Sure, the concept is still the same, so don´t expect anything revolutionary from Mega Man X2. You will, however, enjoy playing it. It´s challenging, it´s fun, and it actually offers a lot of replay value. My advice to you is this; play this game. You won´t regret it.

Verdict

Graphics - 10 / 10
Sound - 4 / 10
Gameplay - 8 / 10
Difficulty - 7 / 10

Total - 8 / 10