Title - "Rockman 5"
Alternative title(s) - "Mega Man 5"
Genre(s) - Platform action
Platform(s) - Famicom
I'm not going to spend so much time on this review. "Rockman V" came out in 1992. Your new batch of robots to kill this time are Stone Man: the wielder of the Power Stone and no, I'm not talking about the spiffy pair of games, Gravity Man: the robot who has the power of gravity, Crystal Man: a robot who can kill you with crystals, even if they bounce off a wall, Charge Man: a train-designed robot who will ram into you if you are not careful, Napalm Man: the second explosive robot, Wave Man: the fourth water-based robot and the third one to use a water-based weapon, Star Man: the third shield user who uses one in the form of stars and Gyro Man: the air striker who uses propellers to slice you down to size. Collect the eight pieces to spell the game's name and you get Beat, a gift bird from Dr. Cossack. Wily is peeved off at Blues for being a spy and decides to make a poor clone of him (in which you'll know why) to kidnap Dr. Light. So, Rock has to rescue Dr. Light and make sure that Blues turns out to be alright in the end.
Fun - 10
Right off the bat, the pieces do add replay value, which is good. Collecting the pieces can be troublesome, but it is also spiffy. Let me say that Beat is worth the trouble.
Even though it is the same old gig, the feel is better here than in the last game. So, there! Hee!
As for problems, there's one statement I'll get to in a bit as I talk about the fundamentals.
Life - 10
Beat sure helps out here. That's for sure.
Audio - 10
Yes! Capcom fixed flaw #1 I mentioned in "4"! The music is more catchy, especially Charge Man's rolling theme and I like the boss themes as well. Star Man's feels weird, but given the atmosphere, it works. The sound effects are there as usual and they don't miss a step.
Control - 10
For the most part, it's the same old gig, plus the addition of Beat. What's different though is the reaction of the Rock Buster. If you charge up and you get hit as you charge up, you're back to your standard shot and you have to charge again. While this may serve as a challenge to players, this also serves as a bother in some cases, especially if you're in a tight situation.
Story - 9
Flaw #2 has been fixed. Wily actually had the guts to do this. The reason why I didn't give it a perfect score is that well, it needed one more surprising element and telling you it would spoil it for you if you haven't played this by now.
Art - 10
The final flaw has been fixed. I already know that the game still looks the same and that Rock's eyes don't move when you select a boss, but the boss designs look better. Plus, the improved Buster Shot's look has, well, improved as it looks more dramatic.
Overall - 10
Thank you Capcom for fixing the flaws from the last game. Yeah, this is one of the better games out there in my opinion. So, go and play "Rockman V" if you have not done so. Oh and while you're at it, reflect on how in the world Capcom became geniuses again in the future when they slapped the name of a weapon onto a spiffy series. Ha ha ha!
+
Catchy music, spiffy boss designs, the addition of Beat, this game is really fun.
-
The Buster reaction can either be a blessing or a bother.
Date of creation - 12/12/03
Last update - 8/11/04