My first encounter with Mega Man Zero was at E3. You can read those impressions here. The plot is much more important in this title than in previous Mega Man games. I mentioned in my E3 impressions that the story is told via in-game cut scenes. This remains true in the final version. Also, some of the cut-scenes are very well drawn and look really cool. The whole game, in fact, looks amazing. The backgrounds are highly detailed and the animation is top-notch. This is one excellent looking game. The sound is fantastic too, especially when the classic Zero theme plays. The only problem is that the music is a bit soft and there is no in-game way to turn it up.

The title has been advertised as “the most challenging Mega Man game yet!” That is, from what I can tell so far, 100% true. I’ve only played through the intro level and the first stage, and it already starts much harder than the standard Mega Man title. From the very first stage the game is throwing enemies at you from every which way. It also takes a bit of time to get used to the sword, because all other Mega Man titles have used the blaster. The sword is much more powerful than Zero’s standard blaster, and it takes some time to get used to using it as your main weapon. You can use two weapons at any time. All I currently have is the blaster and sword, and I find myself using the sword much more often.

I haven’t used the Cyber-Elf system much so far. Cyber-Elves give you abilities at the expense of their lives. I don’t know if you can get them back after you use them. They were put in the game to make it slightly easier, and that’s what they do. You have to download them from a terminal so you cannot switch them whenever you’d like. You can equip 3 elves at any given time, and then use them as you wish from the menu.

So far, I’m definitely enjoying Mega Man Zero. I’ve been waiting a long time for another title in the series, and Zero is where it’s at.