More spectacular intro stage battle (but the impact is dampened if you've played the previous games because of the low challenge of the Omega fight)
The resistance base is almost exactly the sameĬhain Rod was changed to the Recoil Rod (charge up to push objects away from you or to perform super jumps or to bounce off enemies - kind of slow to use, can also stun some bosses when charged up) The secret disks collectibles (some hold cyber elves and crystals while others just tell you one sentence about an NPC or enemy (see MM&B) - kind of annoying as it creates one more step in the process of collecting elves/crystals) Hidden boss (phantom - pretty much the same as in MMZ1 except for one attack he gives you the overpowered ultima boots - one catch with using them (or the slide through enemies upgrade alone) though is that you'll slide through health power ups (bug?)) Some EX skills are improved by also equipping the right elemental chip (trial & error, worth it as combo-ing certain skills after charged slashes and regular combos is extremely effective against bosses) New moves via the armor upgrades (double jump, auto charging, jump on water, dash through some enemies, no recoil/knockback (not quite see below)) Side objectives within missions (worth 20 points, can be pretty hard to pull off)Įasier to get an A rank (~85 if you have a high enough average from before?) except for early on when you don't have certain elves Unlockable hard mode (no weapon upgrades or elves, enemies hit harder) Some environmental effects (turn on the power in one stage with the lightning element, burn the vegetation in another) You can get around the ranking issue by using an elf that puts you at rank A (so you can explore at your own pace and still get the toughest boss fights and the ex skills can be used 5 times but you need to find them) Mission select shows boss names and portraits
Some creative level design (moving blocks around to get to new places, some interesting boss arenas (hanumachine, sunken library boss), water level side mission, hoverboard segment, the crane segment in the energy facility, the interactive hammer swing traps (get to items by hitting them with the rod at one point), data room puzzle) *w/ elves, elements and upgraded gear (vs sub tanks only)Ĭyber-elf functions are now available anywhere using the pause menu and the categories have been changed (satellite - use as many times as you want and they can be turned on and off during a mission without affecting the rank in that mission, fusion - use once (some have a permanent effect while others don't) Level Design-7 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7 Originality-5 Graphics-8.5 Sound-7 Control-8.5 Challenge-8/6* Story-4