Great music, level design and sense of challenge and just a lot of fun to play. What more do you need in Mega Man?
GRAPHICS:
Due to the jump from the SNES to the PS1, the game presents a cleaner, more polished scenary, with great animations and backgrounds. This is also the first Mega Man X to contain anime cutscenes, and they look pretty neat, if not nothing special. 5/5
SOUND:
The music is awesome, which is to be expected, however, due to the sound capacities of a CD based media, it sounds really, really awesome. Every tune set the mood for the level, and the level select theme is one of the best tunes in the series history. Acompaning the anime cutscene, there is voice acting for the characters, which is absolutely horrendous, similarly to Mega Man 8. The good news is, that it is so bad that you can have fun with, similary like Resident Evil, though the cheesy voice and dialogue makes some of the more dramatic moments akward. 4/5
STORY:
A first from the series, you can choose between Mega Man or Zero to play the game, and each have the same basic story, with some differences in the characters. It is about a group name Repliforce that goes around doing stuff that goes against what the Maverick Hunters say is right, so they are labeled as Mavericks, and have to be destroyed. The story is pretty satisfying, with villain Sigma making an apearance of course, and revealling some really important back story if both Sigma and Zero. It does, though, end on a sort of cliffhanger, and feels rather empty, though that is why X5 exists. But as a story, it dosen't disapoint. 4.5/5
GAMEPLAY:
The game is a 2D action adventure. As said before, you can choose between Mega Man X or Zero to play the game as, but you can switch characters, so you will have to play the game at least twice to see it all. They play very differently, and each have their weaknesses and strengths. X can shoot, charge its shot, and gain different projectiles from defeating bosses, while Zero is a melee character who uses his sword, and gain different powers for it, plus a few other moves, such as double jump. Both gameplays are tough, but Zero's is a bit more, since he dosen't always gain a power that is super effective in another boss, but is really fun to play as, as is X. The game follows the standart formula: defeat 8 bosses, grab their power ups and proceed to defeat the final boss. It is a strong formula that still works, specially due to the amazing level design. It is always creative, with each level having a different theme that is never overused, and enemy placement is never cheap, or there are blind jumps. The weapons for X are somewhat disapointing, as besides their funcionality against other boss, it is pretty useless, which is a downside. There still are Dr. Light capsules to find, heart tanks, sub tanks and other stuff, so there is a lot to it, and since it is just a lot of fun to play, the replay value is high. One thing to be noted is that it is one of the hardest games in the whole franchise, with many enemies on screen at once, weird and rather unpredictable boss patterns, but it is never cheap, with a lot of checkpoints in the levels and extra lives, so it never feels so bad. 5/5
OVERALL:
X4 is a really good game that will satisfy your Mega Man necessities. Get it now.
The good:
-Great level design
-Awesome soundtrack
-Very challenging, but never too cheap
-Ability to play as X or Zero adds variety
-Clean, crisp visuals
The bad:
-Can be mid bogling difficult
-Horrible voice acting hampards the serious moments