[Playing…] Mega Man Legends

cIt was 1996 and Capcom had achieved great success with the saga of Mega Man created by Keiji Inafune. Such was this success that they created a spin off saga known as the 'Saga X' which was acclaimed with good reviews and by its group of fans; After 2 very good sagas, Capcom saw the success that 3D brought to video games, technology was advancing, and 2D was already being seen a little outdated compared to games from other developers like nintendo with his Super Mario 64 for example, so Capcom together with Inafune made the decision to bring Mega Man to 3D (this is a personal hypothesis since I found no information about the development of this game).

This time they decided not to use that classic platform game where you could choose which boss to face, rather they turned it into a Action RPG with a pleasant story and something far from the previous sagas: Mega Man Legends.

The story places us on a planet Earth covered almost entirely by water, where humanity survives on the few islands that remain. Their survival depends on crystals called Refractors which, when rotated at high speed, generate an enormous amount of energy that provides the people of Earth with a more or less comfortable life. However, finding these mysterious crystals is not easy, since they are only found in dangerous ruins located deep inside the earth, which extend for kilometers and kilometers below the surface, and which are also infested by mysterious robots called Reaverbots, which are activated by unknown forces.

Our heroes Rock Volnutt (known as Mega Man), Roll Caskett, an expert in electronics and mechanics and her wise grandfather, Barrell, are a group of excavators who are dedicated to exploring the depths of these ruins in order to obtain the refractors and then sell them or use them as energy.

During an exploration, and after having managed to obtain, with difficulty, a valuable Refractor in a ruin above the sea, their ship called “Flutter” has serious problems in its engine and they must make a difficult landing on an island called “Katelox Island” and that is where the adventures of Mega Man and company begin. In addition to searching for a refractor to repair the Flutter, you must watch out for the Bonnes, a band of pirates, and discover the mystery of the island. Legend has it that the Mother Lode is in Kattelox, but another legend, which is based on the various archaeological remains (the variety of civilizations is enormous, and each one was the victim of a catastrophe), says that the island is cursed and its population will be destroyed again, so Rock must avoid that.

Mainly the game is about exploration trying to find the refractors located in the ruins of the island, but as you progress in the game there will be plot twists that will make you solve problems that exist on the island; Like any RPG, there will be weapons that you will have to improve or rather level up, so that it is not difficult for you to defend yourself against some enemies; also like everything Mega Man You will have to get armor parts to improve your defenses and have “special” movements so to speak.

The graphics aspect it's a bit caricature, making it seem like you are watching an anime so to speak, which made it very attractive to the young people of the time, and makes it entertaining since it also has a good audio quality, which I quite liked...

En cuanto al diseño de los enemigos tales como los ReaverBots, no me agradaron tanto la verdad como los de la saga original o la saga “X” pero, no son malos de hecho, simplemente no fueron muy de mi agrado.

Pero el diseño de los “Bonnes” es algo diferente, me encantaron, me agradó ese estilo con el cual fueron diseñados, sobre todo de Teisel y de Tron Bonne, los cuales fueron unos personajes muy carismáticos.

La curva de dificultad es buena, como todo  juego de antaño tiene gran dificultad, y como en todo buen juego, un jefe final que nos dará una pelea muy difícil.

El inconveniente es que la jugabilidad no es la mejor, de hecho es un tanto mala, como por ejemplo el movimiento de cámara que suele ser muy molesto al estar ajustándola cada vez que uno quiera girar a la izquierda o derecha por ejemplo; también que a la hora de enfrentar enemigos vas a pasar un buen rato tratando de dar un disparo certero, ya que no posee el “Z-Targeting” o Ajuste de cámara,  cosa que sí pasa en juegos como por ejemplo The Legend Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, y que se implementó en su secuela volviendo la jugabilidad mucho más fluida.

En conclusión:a pesar de su mala jugabilidad fue un juego muy bien recibido ya que un Mega Man en 3D era una joya, sin mencionar que su historia es interesante siendo un poco distanciada de los Mega Man tradicionales teniendo su carisma propio, teniendo un mundo por explorar aunque esté algo limitado, siendo uno de los juegos al que los fans tuvieron más cariño y estando cargado de momentos sumamente divertidos. Es, en mi opinión, un juego agradable y entretenido.