Mega Man X5 (PlayStation) review "Welcome to the bungle"

For years, the Mega Man franchise received one criticism almost consistently regarding each installment's familiarity. “It's all so samey,” some would say, and they were right. However, this gripe was not inherently warranted. Capcom utilized a formula that worked, and they produced a whole slew of games that ranged from average to fantastic thanks to this sameness. However, they also created a comfort zone for themselves and rarely stepped outside of it. Eventually, fans pined for a new experience. The hunger for a fresh take brought us the Mega Man X lineup, delivering four quality titles. Once again, Capcom decided to shake things up with the fifth one, a decision that should be lauded even if it wasn't successful...

Initially intended to be the series' conclusion, Mega Man X5 offers a taste of something new. As before, you select X or Zero as your protagonist, though you can still utilize the other character any time you enter a stage. The one you choose as your lead mainly influences which piece of equipment you receive. For instance, snagging Zero gives you his blaster, while aligning with X begins the foray with his special armor ensemble from X4. However, you don't get Zero's toy if you select X, and vice versa.

Oh, and you can crouch. Finally. It only took about a dozen installments to accomplish this.

After the intro, the game goes in so many different directions that it comes across as Capcom throwing out ideas and seeing what'll stick. Now you can acquire special items (called “parts”) as you complete levels, which bestow passive bonuses unto your Hunters. For instance, one part allows you to fire a fully charged shot without charging it, and another boosts your movement speed. And yes, you can still hunt for items that bolster your hit points or hold reserve health power-ups, not to mention pieces of armor for X. Hell, you can acquire two different suits this time: one grants flight and the other renders you immune to spikes.

This all sounds like such a sweet deal that it can't possibly go wrong, can it?

The storyline this time involves X and Zero battling Sigma yet again. They defeat him, but doing so only spreads a virus among the Reploids and Mechanoids, and even causes a space colony to fall to Earth. The Maverick Hunters figure they have sixteen hours to blast the colony before it makes impact, which affects one of the franchise's selling points: freedom...

As with previous Mega Man titles, this one features eight bosses to take on. Defeating a Maverick hooks you up with a new weapon that's extra useful against one of the other seven villains. Previous iterations of this formula allowed you to advance at your own pace, selecting levels in whatever order you wished. Here, though, you're limited on how many times you can visit areas because of the impending collision with the colony. Any time you select a new level, the game deducts an hour. With eight Mavericks, you can search each level twice. However, with this outing offering so many hidden items, you'll need more than sixteen individual visits to get it all.

So what happens when the timer runs out? Nothing major. The story doesn't end and you get to continue the campaign, but you lose the “good” ending. So if you want that conclusion, you'll need to play by the X5's tightened rules, and that means hitting the bosses in a particular order and only stopping to grab all the extra goodies if you feel you can sacrifice an hour. Of course, after you finish all eight bosses, the timer vanishes and you can re-enter stages at your leisure. So to recap, you have to throw away the franchise's freedom of choice to secure an acceptable epilogue, or bypass it and reveal the countdown to be nothing more than a half-baked, slapped-on concept that adds nothing worthwhile to the experience.

However, by the time you get free reign over the wold, you should be powerful enough to handle anything. You end up going back over the levels to secure pieces for new armors, which only lead you to other collectibles and more pieces for another armor. And for what? Armors that are barely useful in combat, but allow you to explore more deeply so you can find other armor pieces. More than anything, they exist to complete item collection and pad out the campaign.

And don't get me started on various other annoying mechanics showcased in this affair. Sure, the game tries to be like X2, where variety pushed that title to top-tier greatness. This one, however, dispenses diverse challenges, but it doesn't bother to make them all work. You have Grizzly Slash's stage, which sees you battling on a vehicle convoy and leaping off exploding cars and trucks before moseying onto a cave system. It's a fairly decent level that's pretty much up to X's standard.

But then you have Squid Adler's region, which utilizes the speeder bike from X2. That's cool until you notice two things. One, the game hits you with a killing pit before the word “ready” even disappears from the screen. No, I'm not ready, you prick. Thanks. Second, the jump button is a hair under-responsive. In fact, this occurs often with suits and vehicles you ride, where you find yourself pressing the jump button multiple times to get it to respond once. This also occurs while leaping off walls, causing you to plummet rather than bound across the screen like you should.

It's the small things, though, that really get under your skin. This one introduces a new character, Alia, who communicates with your from headquarters. And by “communicates,” I mean “she stops you constantly throughout each level to jabber about things that should be obvious.” However, that feature's not as cringe-inducing as the names of the Mavericks this time. Grizzly Slash, Squid Adler, Duff McWhalen, Axle the Red... Where have I heard those names before? Oh, right, Guns 'N Roses. Why? What does that band have to do with Mega Man X? Every boss is named after either a member of GNR or someone who performed with them. For instance, The Skiver is named after musician Michael Monroe, who performed with them a few times. His nickname is “High in the Sky,” hence the Maverick's moniker.

Thankfully, Capcom wrote this nonsense out in later versions of X5, bringing back names like Spiral Pegasus and Burn Dinorex, which are infinitely cooler and somehow less cheesy.

Mega Man X5 is a bold title, to be sure. Capcom stepped out of their comfort zone in many ways, trying to craft a more memorable sequel as a way to end the series. Unfortunately, their risk didn't pay off, leading to a game that scrubs part of what made the franchise great in the first place. Too many additions don't feel fully realized, and other goodies from previous installments have been kneecapped. In other words, this comes across as an experimental Mega Man title, except it was intended to be the last of its series. It's sad when an X game makes me yearn for the third entry...

Community review by JoeTheDestroyer (January 14, 2024) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.