Review: Mega Man 11 is powerful

Could it be? After years and years of beginnings, stops, delays and total disappearances, do we finally have a real Mega Man blue game for this generation?

As a big fan of the series, Mega Man is one of those games that defined my childhood – alongside classics such as Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, Contra, Super Mario Bros., Gradius and 1942, for example. name only a few. The first Mega Man was also the game that caused me trouble with my grandmother when I was a kid.

At the time, we had this game rental store in my hometown, Philippines, and I used my limited allowance to rent Mega Man for a week in the summer. So I took my grandmother's TV out of her bedroom, took a very long extension cord, and moved the TV to a small cabin in her backyard so she could play Mega Man all day long without being interrupted. I would find out later that my grandmother was looking for the same thing for three days in her big Spanish style house before giving up and deciding to water her plants in the garden instead. Guess who she found playing Mega Man in her little straw hut? And I would have managed with that too, if it was not for those hibiscus who interfered. It was the first and only time my grandmother screamed at me. All I can say is that one should never prevent an Asian lady from watching her favorite Asian dramas. Lesson learned.

Another thing I learned is how much fun it was to play Mega Man. There is just something about his perfect combination of platform and difficult shooting, combined with the ability to steal the abilities of your opponents that I found incredibly enjoyable. I would end up buying all the main games of Mega Man that would be published later, Mega Man 2 and games derived from Mega Man Legends being my favorites in the series. As shooting games and 3D adventure games gained prominence in the gaming industry, side-scrolling action games were starting to lose popularity. After seeing major releases each year in the 1990s, the mire of Mega Man's classic games slowed down in the mid-2000s.

I was so hungry for classic Mega Man that I did not hesitate to throw myself wholeheartedly into the Mighty Project No. 9 of the former Mega Man Supervisor, Keiji Inafune, on Kickstarter. Needless to say, it did not work out as I hoped. Fortunately, Capcom is about to waste time renewing its old intellectual properties and recovering the lost goodwill of its old school fans. After experiencing success with the release of several classic Mega Man collections, the company finally announced Mega Man 11.

After playing the last entry in the series, what does this veteran Mega Man think about the latest addition to the Blue Bomber library? First of all, I would just like to say that there is a special place (something that rhymes with bell) for the one who designed the Bounce Man scene. There was a place where the platform part had bounced against the walls, not only inside the stage, but also in my head, because of the annoying adventure that it was causing . Once again, this is a perfect example of the classic game design, very hard to follow, that I grew up adoring the day.

The games of the 8 and 16-bit epochs were difficult. It reminded me every time I played with great confidence and hope in the original Ninja Gaiden on my NES Classic and Contra III on the SNES Classic, before dramatically erasing the segments and bosses that I could clean without problem. when I was younger. Rust chalk and descending reflexes that come with age. Even so, I still had a little bit of pride when I started playing Mega Man 11. After all, I finished practically every game of Mega Man as well as all the X series.

So I chose the Normal mode, loaded the Block Man scene and prepared myself for a moment of relaxation and entertainment. Boy, should I reconsider my idea of ​​relaxation and relaxation? Mega Man 11 is legitimately panicked. During my first two attempts, I did not even reach the boss, I lost my life in this segment where this dead wall was chasing you and I could not, for my life, jump through that narrow opening fast enough to overcome it. The game uses unique mechanisms, be it things that pitilessly crush you in full health or strategically placed bottomless pits that devour your life. By the time I got back to the boss on my third try, I was no longer in my last life and I was slapped, punched and tinkered while I was trying to learn it. more about the reasons. I then moved to Fuse Man, I managed to join the boss on the first try and I was electrocuted. Yes, it's like being in the old school.

Being already far in my critics thanks to the very long Dragon Quest XI (best DQ I've ever played) with the very long Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey that are waiting under the wings and even more of games on the way, I decided to swallow my pride. I restarted the game, chose the casual mode and gave it another chance. That's right, I am now officially a dirty casual from Mega Man. By the way, this testifies to the increased accessibility built into Mega Man 11. The classic Mega Man games were great for old-school players who wanted a challenge but were pretty grueling to newcomers and people who did not. are not the most skillful on a technical level. . Adding two easier modes, however, means that the level of challenge is good for everyone, regardless of skill.

Casual mode, for example, is recommended for veterans of Mega Man who have not played the series for a while, which describes me perfectly. It starts with more lives than normal mode while reducing the damage caused by enemy attacks. It also has a more generous checkpoint system, allowing you to start closer to the place of your premature death.

Mega Man 11's newcomer mode helps you even more by giving you an infinite lifespan, eliminating fall deaths, increasing the efficiency of your shot, and slowing down the speed at which your system Double Gear overheating. This is a great way to bring new players into the series or people who have already played Mega Man, but who have had difficulty with the difficulty of the series.

Speaking of the Double Gear system, Mega Man 11 tries to refresh the game of the series using a mechanism based on the technology developed by Dr. Wily. The system is well indicated by two gears below your life bar that can be activated separately or simultaneously. Speed ​​slows down time, which is very useful for navigating difficult deck sections or learning boss models. The other equipment feeds your attacks, allowing for more powerful strikes or more powerful versions of the moves acquired by the bosses.

The Double Gear system improvements are not there, but can give you enough advantage to get you out of a difficult situation. They are also governed by a meter or bar that will overheat if exceeded if you use the system too long. This weakens Mega Man's arm for a while. So you absolutely want to disable it before that happens. You can also activate both speeds at the same time to enjoy both effects at the same time. Note that this prevents you from canceling Double Gear, which means that Mega Man will overheat once the effect is complete. The classic movements of Mega Man are also available, including sliding, loading your buster or using Rush to reach higher places.

An interesting feature included in Mega Man 11 is the ability to enhance the capabilities of the Blue Bomber using the Dr. Light Upgrade Lab. These upgrades require a number of bolts, which you can recover over the various stages. An upgrade allows your load arm to load automatically when Mega Man is not firing, allowing you to be ready to run most of the time without having to manually hold the firing button . Another upgrade allows your Double Gear meter to charge faster, while another allows you to move normally even when the time is slowed down by your Double Gear. This is another way for you to personalize this familiar experience of Mega Man, which the game looks like happily.

Try to guess what boss ability is strong against who continues to be a fun exercise. After defeating Block Man, for example, I headed for Bounce Man, thinking that a bouncing ball was weak against a stubborn brick wall. I was wrong, but I still managed to triumph at once after learning his model. When you have guessed well, however, the fights become much easier in the classic Mega Man mode, giving you a significant advantage in the battle. This is very welcome, given how the bosses can use the Double Gear system as well, which leads to quite impressive transformations or redoubled attacks. Meanwhile, the scenes continue to reflect the theme of their boss, whether it's breaking blocks in the Block Man scene, electrical hazards in the Fuse Man scene or those devilish pain balls that bounce off. in the Bounce Man scene. I mean, they're not really that bad except for this section that makes you want to be able to hit those balls hard, and I quite like the concept behind the Bounce Man scene. All combined, these different hazards of the scene represent the equivalent of 1,000 ways to die when you are caught off guard, crushed, shocked, punctured and burned. Again, the more difficult the obstacle, the more satisfying it is to overcome it.

Even though I appreciate the fact that Mega Man 11 is getting closer to the classic formula, it still has its share of problems. The inexpensive ways to die have always been the hallmark of the series, but this game sometimes shows disappointing results, making some sequences frustrating. I can handle difficult but fair segments, in which I accept full ownership of my own failures, but segments involving an inordinate amount of potential means to die of complete health, just feel cheap. .

This is compounded by the fact that the steps of Mega Man 11 are long. I always thought that the design of the Mega Man scene was better as a sprint than as a long hard task. It's one thing to have long legs in Wily's base, but some of the early boss stages feel a bit stretched for my taste. This is especially a problem when you play in normal mode because having fewer checkpoints can send you back to the stage after an untimely death. Honestly, the difficulty of the normal mode would be perfect for me if the number of control points was limited, because the casual mode is a bit easy for my taste.

In addition, although the addition of the Double Gear system is welcome, I also hope that the game adds new features to refresh the classic gameplay. As this is the first Mega Man game for a long time, I can understand them sticking to what is tried and true when they create a new model for the series. I hope that while Capcom builds on this new design, the following Mega Man titles present new mechanisms to further refresh the basic experience.

That being said, Mega Man 11 marks a welcome comeback for the Blue Bomber – an extra effort to meet the expectations of new and old audiences. Welcome, little guy. You missed us a lot.

LATEST THOUGHTS

Mega Man 11 brings Capcom's Blue Bomber to life in all its glory, with the inherent difficulty of the brand, as well as new modes that help newcomers and less technically experienced players. Certainly, the challenge of the game may seem inexpensive at times and the steps may seem a bit long. That being said, it's an excellent first pick of a modern Mega Man for this generation and we can only hope that it will not take another five years to get out of the next game in the main series. Now, what about Mega Man Legends 3, Capcom?

Technobubble covers games, gadgets, technology and everything that is geek. Follow Jason Hidalgo's shenanigans on Technobubble poobah Twitter @jasonhidalgo or his Youtube channel Tabiasobi.