Mega Man 11 review – The right balance between old and new

The break is over, Mega Man. More than eight years have passed since the release of Mega Man 10, but Capcom finally gives us a new entry into the franchise of 2D action platforms. Mega Man 11 will be released Oct. 2 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC (I played PS4 version).

I love Mega Man. The character was part of my life, as long as I can remember, coming back to the memory of playing with the Nintendo entertainment system (or watching my older brother play) in the basement. But my love goes beyond nostalgia. I still play them all the time. Mega Man 3, released in 1990 for NES, remains my favorite video game. The combination of a precision platform and firearms-based actions has always held me, and the aesthetic of Mega Man's future cartoon continues to tickle my imagination.

---

Check out our comment list for reviews of previous games.

---

So, yes, I was very excited for Mega Man 11. But while Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10 were games that played and looked like Mega Man 2, Mega Man 11 is a more modern title. The action always takes place in a 2D plane, but the characters and levels are made up of 3D models and backgrounds. And for the first time in what seems to be forever, Mega Man is offering a new major gameplay feature. The Double Gear system can slow down the time or give more autonomy to your weapons, but excessive use can lead to overheating and make both functions unavailable for a while.

Mega Man 11 must find a balance between the classic gameplay that fans like me love when introducing these new elements. And he manages to cross this line without stumbling.

What you will like

Mega Man classic

Despite the new look, Mega Man has the precision you've been expecting from the show. It does not take its momentum and does not need time to stop completely, as Mario does. This system has nothing wrong with it, it serves the 2D formula of Mario (focused on the pure platform). But Mega Man also has a lot of shots and dodges, so it's important that you can move your hero quickly and accurately. Sometimes a single pixel makes the difference between security and death.

Keeping these basic orders is a big help in making the Mega Man 11 the best game in the series. There are also a lot of other elements that fans love about the franchise. You can choose to fight the first eight levels and the leaders in the order of your choice. Each boss gives you a new weapon, and each of these enemies has at least one weakness that you can exploit for easier attacks. You also have your robot dog, Rush, available to help you. It can turn into a source that can help you reach high places (and, after defeating the first four bosses, it can turn into a jet that allows you to fly for a short time).

This stuff is like comfort food for the soul of the Mega Man fan. It's familiar, but it works and combines to offer this special 2D action in which the franchise excels.

Double gear system

The Double Gear system offers Mega Man 11 its big novelty. Pressing a shoulder button can slow down time with the Speed ​​Gear, which helps to avoid obstacles more easily. By pressing another shoulder button, you reinforce all your weapons, including those you gain bosses, through the Power Gear. But you can not use the abilities as much as you want. For starters, you can only activate one at a time. When one is lit, he begins to fill a heating bar. If you overheat, you will not be able to use any of these abilities for some time.

This system adds variety to the classic Mega Man formula. The Speed ​​Gear is not just a safety net. Many levels and patterns have abilities so difficult to dodge that it is clear that you should use the Speed ​​Gear to avoid them. Juggling between power and speed gears and making sure not to overheat adds an extra layer of complexity that helps give Mega Man 11 an identity beyond being another nostalgic retreading.

Stages and memorable bosses

Mega Man fights bad robots and they always have a theme: Fire Man, Ice Man, etc. After all these games, you do not think it would be difficult to come up with solid ideas. And, of course, we sometimes arrive at the umpteenth variation of "water-based Robot Man". Still, Mega Man 11 has a lot of creative chefs.

But you have to see their levels and the bosses themselves in action to understand why they are special. Torch Man, for example, sounds like another fire-based robot. But his level has a summer camp theme that allows him to stand out as just another guy who shoots and shoots lava. Tundra Man, too, escapes the fate of redundancy thanks to his level devoted to the natural history museum and his fighting abilities based on figure skating.

Difficulty options

Mega Man 11 has four difficulty options: newcomer, casual, normal and superheroes. I know the show pretty well so I was comfortable starting with the normal mode. But I'm glad Capcom gave new players or stale players a way to play the adventure. Beginner and casual offer the same game as normal experience, but you suffer less damage per shot and levels have more checkpoints. Yes, it's easier, but it will not make you feel that the game is taking your hand and leading you to victory.

The superhero mode, meanwhile, is great for someone like me who wants to take on an extra challenge after overcoming the normal difficulty. This does not just change the damage values. Bosses have new abilities and new augmented models, making them more difficult, and items such as electronic tanks (which fill your health) and extra lives that are usually eliminated. Enemies also stop dropping objects that fill your health and your ammo. It's a big challenge, but it's a challenge I'm happy to continue.

What you do not like

An in-game gaming shop

Since Mega Man 7, the series has an online store that sells you items that can give you new abilities or passive powers (like reducing your recoil when you take a shot), but also extra lives and Tanks. You can abuse these stores in previous games by revisiting old levels and repeatedly killing enemies, which sometimes drops the locks needed to buy these items.

In Mega Man 11, bolts fall so often that you do not even need to grow them. Just playing through the game, I had enough locks to quickly buy each upgrade. I've also been able to maximize my life and my electric tanks. It hurts the challenge of the game. Boss fights become insignificant when you have so many tanks that you can just continue to heal. You do not focus on strategy when you can just force yourself to fight. Who cares if you take a lot of shots when you can continue to give yourself more health?

This becomes especially a problem during Dr. Wily's levels. These stages are traditionally the most difficult of the series. You access it after defeating the eight Robot Masters. Usually, you have to beat each step Wily in a row. If you lack lives in the last one, you have to go back to the first one. This may seem hard, but the increase in difficulty makes these levels more exciting and rewarding to beat. In Mega Man 11, not only can you record your progress after defeating all Wily levels, but you can also return to the store and continue to optimize your life reserve and electronic reserves.

Short section Dr. Wily

Speaking of Dr. Wily's levels, Mega Man 11 does not have many. You have two traditional levels with their own leaders, one that requires you to fight the eight Robot Masters again and one for the final showdown with Dr. Wily himself.

It's four levels of Wily in total, two only feeling like appropriate steps. Compare that to Mega Man 2, which has six stages Dr. Wily.

Conclusion

Although I want the game's integrated store to be better balanced and we have more levels of Dr. Wily, Mega Man 11 still retains great work keeping what makes the series funky while adding – mostly via the Double system Gear – make it feel fresh. Multiple difficulty options make Mega Man 11 more accessible to new players, but the superhero challenge will give veterans a real test of skill.

Mega Man 11 shows that the franchise does not have to be an act of nostalgia. Beyond the new game features, 3D visuals enrich the experience. It's a nice game with a background animation and characters that, although I love this retro look, is not possible with 8-bit sprites. The new look still reflects the simple feel similar to that of the original Mega Man cartoon, but the colors are richer and the shapes softer.

If you are a fan of Mega Man but you do not feel comfortable with the fact that Mega Man 11 looks like or adds to the formula, do not do it. This is a fantastic 2D action game worthy of the name of Blue Bomber.

Goal: 90/100

Mega Man 11 will be released Oct. 2 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. Capcom gave us a PS4 code for this review.