"Reliving X's glory days."

Story: 9/10

The storyline of a Mega Man game always leaves a bit to be desired, but you're not playing a Mega Man game for the story. With that said, the story in Mega Man Maverick Hunter X expands on the storyline of the original Mega Man X by adding in some boss conversations and a few movies. One nice bonus is that there is actually a story for Vile's chapter. Although the story doesn't fit into the canon, it's nice to see things from Vile's side.

Gameplay: 10/10

The basic mechanics from the original return in full force in the remake. There are a few tweaks in the game elements such as capsule placement and difficulty levels create a nice change of pace. The addition of Vile as a playable character is a nice diversion from the main game. It feels kinda weird how Vile actually gets a lot more weapons than X in his story. One thing that bothered me is that Vile gets no dash, but this isn't a huge drawback.

Graphics: 9/10

Despite my dislike of Mega Man X going 3D, the use of 3D models instead of sprites is pretty nice. The colors and objects show up quite nicely on the PSP's LCD screen. There are some slight flaws though. X's 3D model seems to have several jagged edges that are noticable whenever there's a pause in motion. The anime style stills used for the dialog sequences look clean and crisp as they should. The Mavericks all look great with the shift into the 3rd dimension. There's also this effect on the viewing camera where it appears as if you're looking into a round surface not a complete flat one which I thought was a nice touch.

Sound: 9/10

I really enjoyed the original's music tracks. Needless to say, I really enjoy the remake's just as well. Almost all of the themes sound better on the PSP. One exception to this is Armored Armadillo's theme which sounds like the last track to be remade and hastily done at that. One gripe I have with the sound is that X always yells the name of the weapon he's firing. This can get annoying to some, but I let it slide after a while.

Overall: 9/10

Mega Man Maverick Hunter X is a great remake to a classic game from the SNES era. The game was kept simple at the core, and there's no problem with that. Go out and buy this game now. Then, go out and buy Mega Man Powered Up.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/01/06