September 14, 2004 - It's been a rough couple of years for Mega Man X fans, as the last three installments of the series have been somewhat disappointing when compared to previous installments from the SNES and the early PlayStation One days. Yet amazingly, while less "mature" iterations like Mega Man Anniversary Collection and the GBA EXE titles prove that the Blue Bomber still has some staying power left in him, the grittier version of Mega Man continues his downward spiral at a Volvo's pace -- with what seems to be fewer and fewer interested parties coming along for the ride. And though Capcom has yet another action/platformer in the X series headed for the PS2 later this year (Mega Man X8, which will officially catch it up to the regular Mega Man franchise in terms of sequential numbering), it's hoping that its latest interpretation of the universe's most prolific Maverick Hunter can turn a bad luck streak in the opposite direction.

Developed by the same team responsible for 2003's excellent Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Mega Man X: Command Mission is a true first for the Mega Man series. Because instead of relying on the old-school 'shoot and jump' mechanics that have powered the franchise along for nearly two decades, Command Mission changes the status quo by moving into the realm of RPGs. And while most industry insiders were skeptical of this transition when the game was first announced at last year's Tokyo Game Show (ourselves included), we've come away true believers. Mega Man X: Command Mission is no fly by night gimmick; it's the real thing.

But to expect Command Mission to be as epic or sweeping as something like Xenosaga or Final Fantasy X, however, would be a sizeable mistake; as the storyline is really more along the lines of the side-scrolling action titles from whence it came. For the most part in fact, the plotline rarely gets any grander than one main objective: use X to save Giga City from the insidious Rebellion force and uncover the parties responsible for helping it rise to power. To its credit, though, the production team has done a commendable job towards encouraging players to care about such a minor task, and have somehow taken what would be a brief sidequest in other RPGs and transformed it into an interesting and involving narrative backdrop.

Click For More Images

Along the way, players will meet and interact with several familiar faces from most of the previous two titles in the series: including Mega Man X7 and X8 cohorts Zero and Axl. Several other supporting characters and enemies make theirs appearances as well, and offer up designs and personalities that are as diverse as they are colorful. As one might expect, the background and depth behind these characters isn't as strong as your typical role-playing experience, but there are a fair number of conversations that you can get into between each of the game's ten main chapters. Though fans of the more open-ended free-roaming style of RPGs may find Command Mission's strictly linear pacing and straightforward party recruitment a little disappointing, it's still rather and fun and helps keep the action moving briskly.

The most surprising aspect of Mega Man X, however, is the fact that it isn't an action/RPG at all. As instead of going the real-time combat route that most franchise veterans would expect it to (ala Kingdom Hearts, or even something like .hack), Command Mission borrows its battle system from Namco's heavy hitter Xenosaga. Known as the "Cross Order System", the combat engine uses an initiative tree just as Shion's adventure did with a graph that represents each character in the melee. Depending on whether or not the party earns the element of surprise, is in possession of higher speed attributes than their enemies, or has some kind of item that increases their placement in the rotation, their position on the grid is prioritized. One turn at a time, the grid cycles through the combatants (both enemies and allies alike), and provides a visual cue as to when a character's turn is and how much health they have left. It's a great planning tool, and adds a nice touch of strategy to the combat despite the fact that we've seen this kind of approach before.