Just last year Mega Man Zero 3 released on the Gameboy Advanced and it was well received. There was one thing that held back many from playing Mega Man Zero 3 though; the difficulty. The Mega Man Zero series has often been referred to being one of the most difficult games in the whole Mega Man universe or even on the GBA for that matter. Would the fourth installment be a little more lenient for casual gamers to pick up and play?

Old-school Mega Man fans will be delighted to hear that this is true platforming at its best for the Blue-Bomber. You can expect to blast your way through the lackeys and goons alike to fight the boss at the end of the level. Even with the reputation it has earned for being so difficult, it is enjoyable all the way till the very end of the level of platforming. If you can’t make it through any of the levels due to the high degree of enduring punishment you receive, there is an easy mode you can select. If you feel that I am exaggerating about how hard it is, even for the normal mode, why not select the unlockable hard mode to make it insanely grueling.

The story is still in tact; Zero is fighting alongside the Resistance to save the human race. The Reploids are still facing subjugation and Zero is also assisting to their needs. Zero is taking on so much responsibility, it’s surprising that he isn’t dead from exhaustion. Still set in Neo Arcadia, Dr. Weil has turned the city into a fortress and made himself the dictator. Dr. Weil has received word that human refugees are escaping to a safe spot away from his violent leadership so he decides to send off his Einherjar to eliminate all human life at this haven the humans are now calling home. In case you don’t know, the Einherjar are eight elite warriors that he employs to do his dirty work.

Within the ranks of the Einherjar are your typical themed bosses. They all have unique names with a hidden meaning to their name. Mino Magnus is a boss you’ll face off against and the significance to his name is actually “The Horned Beast.” All of the Einherjar have names similar to that and you’ll encounter them all throughout your journey. If you are new to the series, you’ll unfortunately learn that you no longer earn the boss’ special powers as a gift to their demise. What you do earn is a reward if you defeat the boss quickly with a lot of skill. The reward is an EX Skill, which is a special move that will dish out the punishment against your enemies.

Zero is also equipped with several useful weapons. Of course he’ll have his Z-Saber (beam saber of sorts) and his Z-Buster (blaster pistol), but new to his repertoire is the Zero Knuckle. The Zero Knuckle is extremely handy due to that it can steal away the enemy’s weapon away before you obliterate him. What stinks though is that you can only carry one at a time and they are limited with ammunition. The Zero Knuckle also steals more than weapons, anything from shields to key cards is included in what you can steal.

Changing from past iterations is that the Cyber-Elves are pretty much non-existent save a few. Zero has Croire to aide him in MMZ4 and she is able to copy the abilities from other Elves. When you beat bosses at the end of levels, her level will increase which will give Zero the ability to have more powerful effects with his attacks and other various pluses. The other pluses include; the life bar will increase, running faster, and your defense will become better over time.

While the gameplay has steadily stayed the same, the biggest change may be in the new weather control system. Before you enter the level that you’ll be going through on your conquest defeat Dr. Weil, you can change the weather to your liking. The weather system will either help or deter your travel through the level. The only downside is that if you use this to your advantage, you won’t be able to gain the bosses’ EX Skills. Thus if you make the game easier, you’ll be ultimately punished due to that you won’t have the special skills that will make Zero even stronger.

Do the graphics still hold up though? You bet your bottom dollar they do. Even though every MMZ game uses the same engine, the sprites are full of lush detail. Ranging from the small enemies you encounter to the giant sub-bosses that take over the whole screen, all sprites haven’t looked better in any other MMZ game. The developers and artists of Mega Man Zero 4 are at the top of their game. The animations use a ton of frames that begs for your attention not seen in the past. Not to mention that we can expect great character design from almost every Mega Man influenced title. All around, the graphics live up to expectations.

The graphics may have held up nicely but I do believe the audio department along with the soundtrack is below par. The soundtrack can be compared to that of Kingdom Under Fire on the Xbox. If you don’t know what I am speaking about, then you must hear it for yourself. Rather then staying within the genre and going the easy route such as techno for MMZ3, they are leaning more towards the heavy metal meets industrial rock sound. Sure you can hear the sound better as it isn’t distorted at all but that necessarily isn’t a good thing. The voice work and sound effects are much more enjoyable without any constraints on them.

With all the new additions (Zero Knuckle being my favorite) and the loss of the overabundance of the Cyber-Elves, Mega Man Zero 4 is a fine platforming game. It is actually one of the better Mega Man games I have played in a long time even though that’s not really saying much. If you aren’t a fan of the series or new to the series entirely, the game will be extremely hard and won’t welcome you with warm arms. With the lack of AAA games on the Gameboy Advance, I suggest you pick up Mega Man Zero 4 just in case you are having withdrawals of not playing your GBA anymore.

Gameplay: 8.5
The new weather system may not be a total revitalization of the series, but it does make it interesting to play the levels different ways. If you are a hardcore Mega Man fan, you’ll find everything to be similar and feel right at home with Mega Man Zero 4.

Graphics: 8.6
Even though you may have seen this engine one too many times before, it is still one of the better looking GBA games recently released.

Sound: 6.9
The sound is pathetic. I can’t stand the molding of two different genres (metal/industrial rock) into one for my favorite childhood Blue-Bomber, Mega Man. The voice acting almost saved the audio but it was too little, too late.

Difficulty: Hard
I do not recommend for casual gamers to pick up and play Mega Man Zero 4. It’s challenging and thought-provoking all wrapped up in one. Casual gamers that only have 20 minutes to play will be frustrated to the brink of insanity playing it.

Concept: 7.2
Granted it is a sequel, the weather system is an intriguing idea to implement in other games. Not much new here that hasn’t been seen before though.

Overall: 8.1
I have to admit that my GBA was collecting dust until I started to play this game. Mega Man is among my favorite video-game franchises and I hope that more quality Mega Man games are in Capcom’s pipeline.