Capcom's futuristic take on the blue bomber has resulted in some of gaming's most memorable side-scrolling platformer games, but in recent years Mega Man X has begun to slip somewhat. His more recent adventures have been half-hearted misfires, containing more frustrating moments than actual fun. Poor localization/translation has also dogged the series in addition to some rather dismal voice acting. The Mega Man X storyline has also been circling the drain for some time, as one game in the series contradicts another (the end of Mega Man X6 proclaims that X's Maverick Hunter partner Zero has gone into a deep sleep for one hundred years so that he can star in the spin-off series Mega Man Zero, and yet Zero appears alive and well in Mega Man X7 and X8) and, on occasion, one game will contradict itself. When Capcom announced that an RPG starring X and friends was in development many fans shuddered at the thought of the company that seemingly couldn't tell a consistent story in an action game taking a stab at a plot-intensive RPG. It would seem those fears are misplaced, as X's first RPG - Mega Man X: Command Mission - actually tells a coherent story and features voice acting from actors who can actually, well, act. Add in a deeply customizable battle system and plenty of playable characters and it would appear that if this is Capcom's attempt at bringing some cohesion to the Mega Man X saga, than they look to be successful.

Features

• Mega Man X embarks on a series of missions to put a stop to a Maverick uprising
  
• Menu-driven battles make for a solid gameplay experience
  
• Equip X and friends with a variety of primary weapons, secondary weapons, items, and special attacks
  
• Gather Force Metal to customize character abilities
  
• Seek out unlockable extras such as conceptual sketches, artwork, and 3D figures
  
• Connect the Game Boy Advance to access the optional Treasure Map
  

Next Sunday, A.D.
Disregarding some of the more glaring discrepancies, the core of the Mega Man X series revolves around X, a futuristic robot whose design was copied to create a race of sentient robots known as Reploids. Initially humans and Reploids lived together in peace, but eventually some Reploids came to see themselves as superior and sought to rise up above humans and the Reploids that would support them. These rogue Reploids have been dubbed Mavericks and, led by former Maverick Hunter Sigma, have lashed out at the Reploid community time and time again (eight times now, actually, not counting spin-offs and ports to other systems). As we join the saga in Command Mission we find X and his Maverick Hunter partners Zero and Shadow searching for the latest leader of the Maverick Rebellion in and around Giga City. Over the course of the game X will meet up with a number of Reploids sympathetic to the cause (“the dregs of Giga City”, Zero calls them) as he and his team seek out the force behind the rebellion in a series of missions. Ultimately X’s party swells to seven members, some familiar and some new to the series. X, Zero, and Axl we know – they’re famous Class S Maverick Hunters, after all. Newcomers include Spider the bounty hunter, Marino the thief, Steel Massimo and his massive battle armor, and Cinnamon the naïve Reploid nurse. While only three characters can fight on the front line at a time, characters can be swapped without penalty or delay during battle. If Steel Massimo is about to run out of power, for example, a push of the L button can cause him to teleport away and bring Spider down in his place.

Fight For Everlasting Peace
Command Mission consists primarily of two different modes of play: either X is roaming around a 3D environment acquiring items and talking to Reploids or he and his party are engaged in a menu-driven battle against Mavericks. Controlling X while roaming is simple enough; the control stick moves him, the A button speaks to nearby Reploids, and the B button causes him to dash (thereby smashing open item containers). The camera stick rotates the camera around X, although it cannot zoom in or out. The majority of the 3D environments consist of various enclosed corridors; X does not directly interact with the world around him with the exception of dashing into item containers. Doors open automatically when X approaches them and animated cinema scenes are triggered when X enters specific areas.

While X is walking from Point A to Point B he’ll often trigger an enemy encounter; these encounters come as a surprise and cannot be avoided. Command Mission’s battle system offers numerous ways to configure X and friends for battle. Each character has a fixed primary attack, two configurable secondary attacks, a unique special attack, and a powerful hyper attack form. For example, X’s primary attack is his conventional X-Buster blaster; his secondary weapons can include swappable weapons such as missiles, energy charges, or status-changing blasts; his special attack is a charged X-Buster shot that can strike multiple foes at once; and his hyper attack form can inflict greater amounts of damage with each blast. On the other hand, Spider’s weapons revolve around cards; his special attack involves playing a quick hand of draw poker with higher hands of cards inflicting more and more damage. Zero has his powerful saber, Axl can transform himself into defeated Mavericks, Marino uses a slot machine interface to determine which special attack to use, and so on. In battle mode the A button confirms menu commands and activates the primary weapon, the B button calls up the battle menu, the X and Y buttons activate the secondary weapons, the R button activates the special attack, and the Z button can be configured to perform any number of commands from replenishing power from a sub tank to running away from battle.