Mega Man 11 (2018)

For the most part, this game follows the same formula as the previous 10 Mega Man games. The new feature it adds is the double gear system, which I quite liked; it adds something fresh and original to the gameplay. It was cool that the bosses use the gears as well, effectively giving them a second "phase" and making the boss fights a little more interesting. This is one of the easier Mega Man games I have played, due to being able to use the speed gear to get through tricky sections and the ease of stocking up on energy tanks at the shop, but there is a hard mode if you want extra challenge.

I did miss the retro 8-bit aesthetic of Mega Man 9 and 10, and I was not at all impressed with this game's soundtrack, especially compared to 9 and 10's. But overall, this is a good game. It is fairly short (I finished it in a single evening), but there are various challenges you can play that add additional content.

I bought this game years ago, and I finally got around to playing it after working my way through the rest of the main series. And after doing so, I can say that 11 is my favourite entry!

It was so lovely seeing Mega Man finally brought into the modern gaming era. The same nuts and bolts are present, but with a much improved UI, tons of upgrades, and difficulty arc that lets you set your challenges.

The levels are long, and some of them are quite tough, but this is balanced out by the fact that you can stock a whole bunch of extra lives, energy tanks, and weapon refills, in addition to all the bonus upgrades that you can toggle on or off. The more you play, the stronger Mega Man becomes, and the easier the levels become—but only if you want them to be.

I also really liked the main gimmick of time-bound time-slow and power-booster. It took some getting used to, but it really added an extra element to the gameplay, especially when combined with the weapon upgrades.

Highly recommend to Mega Man fans!

EDIT: Fixed. Apparently you have to turn off V Sync, fixes the issue immediately

Finally gave this a shot. At least on PC, there is some kind of input lag that makes the game very difficult to play for me. Massive Mega Man fan, played 1-6 countless times. Part of the reason I always enjoyed Mega Man was the responsiveness of the controls. But here? Something is wrong. I dont know if its my setup or what (though I pivoted to 30XX and that felt 100% responsive).

+Love the aesthetics

+Training room is dope

+Item shop is awesome. Game seems beatable without using it, but for people who are struggling, the option is there.

+Varied and diverse environments and bosses

-Some of the levels feel twice as long as they should be

-I'm not sure if it's my controller, the game itself, my PC, or the steam version of the game, but it felt like a lot of my inputs weren't being read. At first I thought it was just because I was mistiming things or maybe I was inputting a lot of inputs close together, but then I noticed it during slow moments so it probably wasn't something I myself was doing wrong.

+/-Didn't really use the gear system, so I can't really comment on it.

Overall not my favorite, I actually ended up getting frustrated at a few points, but it's still a fun game. I did end up having to use E-tanks to get through it, which I try to avoid, but I got to the point where I didn't care anymore. Final boss is surprisingly pretty easy when compared to other final bosses in the classic series. I found the damage per hit was pretty gracious. I really hope Mega Man X9 becomes a thing one day. Maybe they can do a 16-bit Mega Man X9, then do a modern game for X10.

THE GOOD

1. Graphics are lovely
2. The option to buy lives and health refills makes this a lot more accessible to non-hardcore gamers
3. The controls are smooth as ever
4. Upgradeable parts are very helpful (although getting one never feels as cool as upgrades did in Mega Man X)
5. It's Mega Man! And Rush!

THE BAD

1. Health and ammo pickups are rare
2. Difficulty balance is off. Most levels are fairly straightforward, but you can suddenly run into a segment that feel infuriatingly unfair
3. Rush is mostly useless
4. It's not Mega Man X :)

PROS

• Attractive character and enemy designs
• Smooth controls
• Classic charge-and-blast action is as satisfying as ever
• Gives me hope for Mega Man Legends 3 😭

CONS

• The Mega Man formula is dated, mired by trial-and-error and cheap deaths
• Level design is passable at best, obnoxious at worst
• The late game boss gauntlet is lazy and should've been done away with ages ago
• New systems fail to meaningfully improve upon Mega Man's core mechanics

Picked up the Demo Mega Man 11 on Switch. Incidentally, support for demos is one of my favorite aspects of the Switch Platform.

This game is beautiful and very true to the original. As a kid I put many hours into Mega Man games on the NES and SNES. However, I am not sure this formula has aged well with me.

First, games with lives systems seem very archaic. Modern 8-bit platformers (that’s a weird term) have gotten rid of this while still forcing you to re-run sections when you die. This seems like a much better compromise.

The alternate weapons are often extremely situational and the energy refill drops for them seem very stingy. Thus you better hope you enjoy using the mega-buster a LOT. The game seems to discourage using weapons you like.

I will give this some more time but I am not sure it will recapture the magic the series had when I was a kid.