Mega Man X: Command Mission, known in Japan as , is a turn-based role-playing video game developed by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. The game is the spin-off to the Mega Man X franchise. It was released in Japan on July 29, 2004, with releases in North America and Europe following that September and November.
Command Mission takes place in the 23rd century, when a metallic substance called Force Metal is discovered that revolutionizes engineering for Reploids, humanoid androids with human-level intelligence. When an assault on a Force Metal mining island occurs, a Maverick Hunter team led by the veteran hero X is sent out in response. Across the story, X forms a group to stand against the Mavericks who trying to use Force Metals. These characters are controlled in encounters involving parties of three characters who can use their own special techniques in order to defeat the enemeis.
The game was developed by many of the team members who previously worked on Capcom's Breath of Fire series of role-playing games. According to the producer of Command Mission, a plot-focused role-playing game based on the Mega Man X games was created because the series is well known for its action and storyline. In order to flesh out the game, new characters were created to aid the famous X and his fellow allies. Moreover, their characterizations where altered in order to fit in this new game with a new design being created specifically for the main character.
Command Mission was met with a mostly average critical response. Reviewers generally praised its battle system, comparing it other famous role-playing games, but still felt its true potential was not taken. Meanwhile, the plot was also the subject of mixed response for its short length and lack of depth in the supporting characters. Nevertheless, Command Mission received positive sales.
Gameplay
Unlike the action-platformers of the Mega Man X series, Command Mission is a turn-based role-playing video game. The game follows a narrative that forces the player to go to the different stages in order, which abandons the stage select feature of many games. The action is split between a field screen and a battle screen, with the player always in the center of the field of view and with a map of the surrounding area in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen. Player spend their time in one of the situations described below. The hub area linked to Central Tower. From here, players transfer to the different Adventure Stages. They can visit previously completed Adventure Stages, as well as ones vital to progressing through the story. Similar to other Mega Man X games, stages are spread around Giga City, which have to be cleared to progress through the story. Most of the time, the adventure stages are "empty", with enemies appearing randomly throughout the level as with traditional RPGs. While the game is primarily linear, upon completing missions and the game the player can re-explore the previous areas and find hidden bosses.
Throughout the game, the player may come across abandoned robots. Collecting them enables the player to deploy robots to Adventure Stages, where they can then search for money, information, data or rare items. Some robots may require special parts in order to be used. As with many RPGs, characters or enemies can be induced to enter different states of affliction that may affect their performance during battle. These status effects can all be healed by "Cure One," or "Cure All" except "DOA". Some names were changed due to the fact the characters are machines. The game features the appearance of Force Metals, special alloys from meteorites that fell from outer space. Reploids and robots equipped with Force Metals gain special abilities, however, the energy that these metals exude may have unwanted side effects if the character is overloaded past force metal tolerance. X and his companions can equip these Force Metals, which can be made from special recipes collected from Deployment Missions. However, they can only equip a certain number of Force Metals. They give Reploids special abilities. Exceeding the amount they can equip may lead to them becoming Maverick, which results in them starting battle with random afflictions including but not limited to the above. Finally, some Force Metals may cancel out the side-effects when equipped.