Mega Man is back, but is it worth getting the game?

To say that I am a fan of the Mega Man series would be an understatement. That lil’ Blue Bomber is etched into my memory. But like many long time Mega Man fans, I haven’t been exactly happy with the direction that Capcom has taken their mascot over the years. After having my hopes dashed time and time again, I ended up also becoming one of Mega Man’s biggest critics. Regardless, I was super duper curious, and cautiously optimistic when I finally picked up the controller to play the new iteration of this classic platformer - Mega Man 11.

About Mega Man 11

It's up to you to stop Dr. Wily and his antics!

Mega Man 11 - released on October 2nd, 2018 - like it’s simply named predecessors is a side scrolling platformer created by Capcom. For the first time, our blue friend and all of the environments are represented in 2.5D. It’s a welcome change after they went for the good ol’ classic 8-Bit look in Mega Man 9 and 10. We follow our friend Mega Man as he takes down the 8 robot masters after they have been brainwashed by the mad Dr. Wily. The game was first announced back in December of 2017, as part of the series 30th anniversary. A demo that was released on September 6th was downloaded over a million times, and the game itself went on to sell 26,702 copies in its first week on PS4 and Switch combined.

Mega Man 11 Story

Dr. Light warns the Robot Masters to run away!

The games story is relatively simple. Dr. Wily steals a bunch of Dr. Light’s robot friends and turns them evil and then it’s up to Mega Man to save the day! They do go to some effort to make the story more emotionally compelling, highlighting Light and Wily’s old friendship that ultimately turned sour. But it’s all represented with a level of childish irreverence that causes the story to feel pretty low stakes. 

Oh no! Here goes Dr. Wily, being evil again!

However, I wasn’t expecting much more than that from a continuation of the classic Mega Man, so it pretty much met expectations perfectly. As for the voice acting, it’s halfway decent and somewhat entertaining, and most importantly, it’s a major improvement from the god-awful voice acting in Mega Man 8 where Dr. Light sounded like Peter Griffin with a speech impediment.

"When we find dat meteor, we find Dr. Wahwee!"

Mega Man 11 Gameplay

The classic platformer returns with some new tricks!

The gameplay is where Mega Man 11 really has the chance to shine. Boasting its classic platforming elements from the prior games, it throws in some new twists to spice up the tired formula. More specifically the Double Gear System. Mega Man is able to use both the Speed Gear and the Power Gear. When using the Speed Gear, time is slowed down, making it a bit easier to navigate the various obstacles. 

Mega Man's Speed Gear at work

Then you’ve got the almighty Power Gear which is pretty self-explanatory… it gives you more power. At first using these gears successfully is a bit of a learning curve, but they actually do a lot of good as far as the gameplay is concerned. The stages themselves are long, and pretty difficult. Which brought me back to being a chubby kid throwing my controller against the wall out of frustration because the goddamn Metall killed me again. But it’s not impossible. If you do find it to be too difficult however, for the very first time, there are multiple difficulty settings!

Another major improvement on previous entries in the series is the ability wheel which allows you to choose any of the boss abilities you’ve gathered on the fly. In previous Mega Man games, switching between different abilities was annoying, having to press start and manually selecting every time, causing a break in the gameplay. Once again, you can buy upgrades between the stages that vastly eases the difficulty of gameplay, though it most definitely still isn’t a breeze.

Mega Man 11 Quest/Mission System

Getting gold is good but... I could be faster! 

Other than the typical Robot Master stages, there isn’t much in the way of a Quest or Mission system. This is no different than most other main entry Mega Man games. However, there are a couple of postgame Challenges where you can compete to reach the top of the leader boards. For example, there are timed challenges, minimum amount of attacks, minimum amount of jumps, and balloon attack to name a few. While they are fun, the stages themselves remain the same, risking redundancy.

Mega Man 11 Graphics

Mega Man 11 boasts a fresh new look with 2.5d graphics and I'm loving how it looks

The game looks great. It uses a mixture of 3D and 2D animation which has been dubbed “2.5D”. Capcom’s artists actually hand drew the characters and environments, and then animated on top of it, giving it a relatively unique aesthetic that does not take away from its classic feel. A lil’ bit of old with a lil’ bit of new.

Mega Man utilizing Block Man's ability against Acid Man

Another highlight are the character designs. They feel inspired, yet classic. And the way that the robot masters’ designs are adapted for Mega Man when he obtains their abilities are well thought out and executed. Overall, the game flows and every stage and boss is consistent with the overall aesthetic that Capcom have succeeded in achieving.

Mega Man 11 Developer

Thank you for all of your hard work on the Mega Man series Keiji Inafune!

Everyone knows Capcom, the now 39-year-old infamous Japanese studio, is the publisher and home of Mega Man. However, in recent years they haven’t given him much love. They cancelled Mega Man Universe, and even more famously, cancelled Mega Man Legends 3, which Keiji Inafune, Mega Man designer, apologized for despite the cancellation decision being made long after he had already left Capcom. So after a long absence of Mega Man news, the announcement of Mega Man 11 had many excited, but equally nervous. Luckily Mega Man 11, from its smoothed and polished gameplay and healthy dose of nostalgia, proves that Capcom doesn’t need Keiji Inafune to do by right by the blue bomber.

Mega Man 11 Price

The game costs $29.99 across four platforms. PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. For the amount of content that you receive plus the replay value, it’s not unreasonable. There are no microtransactions in the game so what you pay is what you pay and that’s all.

FINAL VERDICT: 8

Pros:

• Gameplay Difficulty
• Graphics Style
• Double Gear System
• Stage and Boss Variety
• Character Design
• Cost
• Streamlined Gameplay

Cons:

• Mediocre Voice Acting
• Weak Plot
• Short

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