Legacy Review: Mega Man 11
by the Opaque Senator, GGR Gaming Corespondent
Greetings everyone! Today begins one of my new series for GGR that I am going to be calling “Legacy Reviews.” This will be a series I'll come back to from time to time to review a game that came out a year (or so) ago and see how it holds up. There are two reasons for this. One, I find that in one's excitement for a game, that initial impressions can be very biased and you can tend to overlook flaws, or a game gets so much flack that you put off buying or come in with bad thoughts that don't wipe away right away. Two, I do not tend to buy many games brand new and tend to wait for price drops. My older age allows me to negate my initial excitement (often times) and allows me to buy and play through a game when I have time.
Our first game to view in this format (fittingly not long into 2020) is Mega Man 11. I have already given previously my long and storied history with platformers and my enjoyment of them. Mega Man is one I came into very late. I was introduced to the series in college by friends, and I instantly fell in love with the series. My favorite in the series has remained Mega Man 2, though this latest installment, which came out October of 2018, is not far behind.
Quite a few years separate this game from Mega Man 9 and 10. For those that were looking for a Mega Man style game, there was hope with Mighty No. 9, one of the largest pools of crowd-sourced funding for a game ever. However, the game left a lot to be desired and, though playable, was considerably below par as far as keeping the spirit of Mega Man games. Capcom came back to the fray for us though after the Mighty No. 9 debacle. Mega Man 11 keeps the 2D platforming at its best, with massively updated graphics.
Along with the new graphics comes a whole new mechanic: the double gear system. This system takes this new installment and adds numerous possibilities. You can now either power up your moves, or slow down time for short bursts to completely change gameplay.
It's a fun mechanic, made all the most interesting when you see the 8 robot masters and the powers you gain once defeating them. These are the more interesting of the boss fights in the series. The levels are also among the longest (few checkpoints, which can get a bit frustrating, but I do like that in a classically challenging sort of way). Plus, once you defeat a robot master, you get a whole separate chance to try out their weapon skill until you get used to it. In future Mega Man games, I hope this continues, because it's a great add.
There's also the re-addition of Auto's shop, which has a number of ways to artificially power up Mega Man to help you through challenging levels. You just need to collect plentiful bolts to get there.Mega Man games live and die by a couple of factors. The challenge of the levels, the power ups usefulness, Mega Man's control, and the music. The only thing that really fails the test is the soundtrack. This is one of the worst Mega Man soundtracks ever. Only memorable track is Fuse Man's stage. The others? All A+ fun. I'll be revisiting the game on the hardest difficulty within the next few months. Highly recommend a buy if you like challenging platformers. And even if you don't want a tough challenge, the easier difficulties make the game very playable. My opinion of the game is the same as it was when it came out. The Senator gives this an up vote!