Everything changes but you...
And what does Mega Man like? Shooting. In the traditional fashion becoming of the series, you charge across the screen shooting at anything that moves and, typically, it's all very, very hard. Dancing your way through the bullets isn't easy when Mega Man finds it impossible to touch his toes, let alone gymnastically leap out of the path of danger.
You'll find Mega Man ZX hard, you'll find it frustrating and you'll also find yourself compelled to come back time and time again as the enemy patterns slowly begin to sink in and you manage to convince yourself that next time, you can do just that little bit better.
What's In A Name?
So let's increase the confusion factor tenfold by telling you that you don't even play as Mega Man. Instead, you're playing as a maverick hunter who acquires biometals to become Mega Man.
At first, it seems that now Mega Man has steered the franchise back on course following the Battle Network adventures, he's only interested in half-heartedly flicking a handful of robots in your path while moaning that he's bored. It takes a few stunning bosses and new abilities to stir him out of his slumber but when Mega Man starts firing on all cylinders again, it reminds you why you loved him in the first place.
Grab air dashing abilities and the puzzles and bosses shift to match it. Grab water dashing abilities and again, ZX nimbly adapts. It's a constant tug-of-war. For everything you learn, there's a new obstacle to test your new skills and that's what keeps Mega Man ZX from growing stale too quickly.
Half Man, Half Android
You can also revert from Mega Man form back to human at any time, which comes in handy given most humans have a real problem talking to a blue android-person-robot armed to the teeth with laser-missile-plasma things. It's a forced gimmick though, as you find yourself stomping through towns as Mega Man, switching back to human form for conversations, then switching back straight afterwards. If anything, it makes the trawls around towns even more of a chore than they already are, as you slouch around trying to find the hidden panel/person/switch needed to advance the story. The flaws in ZX are only apparent when the game slows down enough for you to take a look at them. Fortunately, that doesn't happen too often.
Which leaves it with one major problem. It's Mega Man. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't even seem to have noticed that the touchscreen is there, using it to prop up the main screen with a logo and nothing more. There are no innovations, no risks and no ambition. The gameplay doesn't get stale but it doesn't half feel familiar.
Fact is, if you've played Mega Man before, you'll already know whether you want this. If Inti had shown more willingness to bring in new fans, then we would have probably shown more willingness to give it a higher score.