In the history of videogamedom (is that a word?) the long time, big, famous names normally include Mario, Sonic, and Donkey Kong, to name but a few.  But did you know that Capcom has made over 25 different games using the Mega Man universe?  I counted 28 different titles on different platforms spanning back to the first Nintendo.  Yup, this is one of Capcom's longest running (if not the longest) franchises.  But for all these games, Mega Man has never really been translated into a turn based RPG (the Mega Man Battle Network games were on the GBA) on one of the big name consoles. 

Until now.

Mega Man X Command Mission (MMX) starts off with a top notch anime intro. It's exactly the thing that I was hoping for to get me into the mood for some serious.  From there, the game plays as a traditional turn based RPG with you taking command of up to three characters at one time (five total available).  The storyline has X and his fellow reploids fighting to stop the Liberion Army while being dumped into Giga City grossly outnumbered and outgunned. 

Those players who have played an RPG before will be in familiar territory here.  The movement can best be described as simplistic.  While it may look good with it's cell shaded graphics the game had some things about it that made me a bit concerned.  First, the game suffers from one of the oldest complaints of RPGs, it seems that you can't go more then 25 feet without another turn based battle beginning.  They get tedious fast as you seem to fight the same enemies over and over.  Next, I was surprised at the actual movement of your party.  No matter how many people in your team at any given time, you only see X.  Normally, this wouldn't even be a blip on my radar, but after seeing the very nice graphics that this game has and thinking that even RPGs on the Dreamcast showed all characters, I felt that the programmers weren't doing themselves justice.  Of course this same complaint may exist if they had made it so you saw all characters while running around and then I'd probably complain that the screen was too busy and cluttered.  Honestly sometimes I just cannot be satisfied.

Like I said before, MMX has really good looking graphics.  Besides the full-on anime that is in the game, the in game action is smooth cell-shaded eye candy.  I personally like cell shading and don't think enough programmers use it.  This gives the game some gravity considering that Mega Man has also been a cartoon series for a while.  Plus, the subject matter practically screams Japanimation.  I never noticed any slow down while battling bad guys and the boss battles are both effective looking and well designed.  Some bad guys look a bit goofy, but for the most part everything has a sincerely dangerous look about it. 

Strong voice work during the cut scenes and nice "hero" music made me happy to hear some all around decent audio.  The explosions and other sound effects were done well, but other then the above average voice work, I never came out of my seat with the action noises.

MMX has both good and bad aspects, but I think it should be fair to mention that the game only takes around 10 hours to beat.  I say this because for some, 10 hours simply isn't long enough to earn their gaming dollars.  For others who don't have a lot of time for gaming, 10 hours is right up their alley. 

The game does feature some interesting additions during combat with the addition of secondary weapons and I really did like the boss battles.  There will be more then one time when a boss will get the better of you simply because you failed to implement the correct attack strategy.  Nothing the average gamer won't be able to figure out after a couple of tries.  There are enemies from other Mega Man games that make appearances and Heroes too. 

At this point I almost would say that this would be a good game for the first time RPG player.

Gameplay: 7.8

It's pretty easy to pick up and get going.  The controls are easy as is the game going from point A to point B.

Graphics: 8.7

Cell shading is awesome and this game has it in spades.  I really got into the game's anime intro and cut scenes as I felt that the game really benefited from it's content and subject matter.  A beautiful looking game.

Sound: 7.0

Good, quality voice acting, average sound effects and background music. 

Difficulty: Easy

Think of this as RPG "Lite".  It's only a 10 hour RPG and you never get lost.  I plan on letting my young nephew play this one as his first RPG.

Concept: 7.1

Although this is the first turn based RPG in the series, it isn't the first RPG.  I am glad that they are trying new and different things in this long standing franchise.

Overall: 7.4

I liked it for the good looking eye candy, but simply was not challenged, MMX has lots to celebrate but fails to really turn heads in terms of originality and innovative gameplay.