Welcome to another edition of For What it's Worth, where bargain titles are examined to see if they are worth your bottom dollar. Mega March continues tonight with a look at the latest entry from the Mega Man Zero section of the timeline or the second entry in the ZX series, Mega Man ZX Advent for the Nintendo DS.

This entry brings us to the Mega Man Zero series, which is set at just about the end of the timeline. The first Zero game featured Zero who was awakened from suspended animation in the year 22XX to help the reploids fend off an evil human government who had been trying to wipe them off the face of the Earth. The entire Zero series consited of Zero trying to save reploids from destruction, as well as fighting off Mavericks and other forms of mechanized evil. The ZX games however, are set 200 years after Zero's heroic efforts and humans and repliods now live together peacefully, however Mavericks are now running rampant and with Zero gone, Four new heroes step up to the mantle. Vent and Aile in ZX and Grey and Ashe in ZX Advent.

Is it worth it to continue on with this overly complex timeline or should you leace the Maverick busting to someone else?  

Story: Since ZX Advent gives the player the choice to play as either Grey, a reploid who is accidentially woken up after who knows long in a laboratory and forced to enter the fight against the Mavericks as he tries to find out who he is. Or you can play as Ashe, a human female working as a bounty hunter who is forced to fight the Mavericks, as she tries to make a name for herself. Although both storylines have some minor differences, they are pretty much the same. Both merge with Biometal Model A and are cought up in the exact same plot. Both have to stop the Mavericks from wiping out the human race in order for their master to create a new world, as well as fend off six other Mega Men (one of them is actually a woman) in the battle to become the Mega Man king. Not a bad plot but it could have done a much better job making Ashe and Grey more well developed characters by giving them different storylines. 

Graphics & Design: The Zero series shares the same art style as the X series. A dark and industrialized enviroment with sharp anime character designs, and there are moments where it does keep the more colorful aspects of the Mega Man franchise intact. The gameplay doesn't have the polished look of the console titles but this DS game has some beautifully designed backgrounds and well animated characters. I must also say that the anime cutscenes play very well and come out crisp and clear on the little handheld. 

Sound: The game's soundtrack offers something slightly different than the usually Mega Man style fare. Instead of harder rock style soundtrack, the music here seems to have more of a mechanical or techno vibe to it. The change is pretty refreshing and it doesn't loose the Mega Man charm completely. Capcom decided to try something new and it was a good decision. Now that I got the music out of the way, I just want to say something about the voice acting, it's so so. It's a step up from some of the incredibly terrible acting from the likes of X 4 but it still has some pretty lame voice performances and one voice actress in particular was used to fill in one to many roles. Grey and Ashe's voices were ok and I thought the voice of Master Albert was pretty good. Some might say the voices of Pandora and Prometheus were flat out bad but I thought the voices actually fit the characters in a weird way. Sharnaq's voice is soo bad that it is awesome. But why did Master Mikhail sound like an old prospecter?

Gameplay: The same basic Mega Man, plarforming gameplay. Blast through eniemes, fight the boss and steal his/her power. However, using these power ups throughout each level to overcome obstacles will definately be more prominent this time around. So the gameplay is as solid as ever. I guess there was no sense in chaning the formula when there wasn't really anything wrong with it.

Extra Features: There are some pretty interesting bonus features added to the game. Two 8-bit levels (which can be unlocked after beating Normal and Hard Mode), a Jem Blaster style puzzle game (Wifi only), a Survival Mode, and a guess who type of mini game.

Replay Value: Those who like like to unlock everything before moving on to a new game will likely enjoy playing through the game multiple times but if you want to play through it a second time just to comeplete both storylines, I say don't bother. Like I already said, there isn't enough of a difference in the storylines to play the game again just for that alone. I will say though that it has the same kind of staying power as other entries in the franchise so Mega Man fans would likely find themselves loading it into their DS again eventually.

Overall Value: Retail Price- $20 (new)

                          What it's Worth- $25

Even though Capcom has used the Mega Man formula countless times over the years, it has a way of not getting old. I would say that with a few minor complaints, this is another solid entry in the series and I would advise picking it up.

Until next time Happy Hunting,