A couple of years ago on this website I decided to use the Mega Man collections to finally play through “all ten” original Mega Man games, and although it was often hard (and in a frustrating way a lot of time rather a fun way) I did it! … just in time for Mega Man 11 to get released. It’s taken me a while to gather up the courage to do another Mega Man playthrough but a recent Humble Bundle gave me this game on Steam at a crazy price, so I thought I may as well finally be able to say “I’ve completed all core numbered Mega Man games”, at least until Mega Man 12 is revealed shortly after this goes up, probably… Let’s take a look!
Background:
Really fun designs all round, despite the generic theming on so many of them!
Mega Man 11 was released on PS4, XBOX One, Switch, and PC on October 2nd 2018 worldwide (apart from Japan oddly, who got it October 4th instead…) It was unveiled as part of Mega Man’s 30th anniversary the previous year and despite strong sales and critical reception the franchise has once again gone dormant. Go figure…
In terms of the eight Robot Masters? Well, this time you have your classic fire, ice and electric ones in Torch Man, Tundra Man and Fuse Man, then you have a bomb one in Blast Man, an acid one in Acid Man (really, they haven’t used Acid Man yet? Wow…) and a bouncy one in, well, Bounce Man (called Rubber Man in Japan, not sure why they changed it, it’s not like he’s called Rubber Johnny Man or anything, now that would be a disturbing boss…) Finally you then have Impact Man (called Pile Man in Japan, which okay, fair enough…) who is basically a giant jackhammer, and Block Man, who can drop and toss blocks at you.
Then of course you have to run a boss gauntlet and yet another iteration of the Yellow Devil Boss before tackling Wily himself. Good thing I had to have a quick look at my old reviews to see which Mega Man game had Spring Man in as I’d forgotten I did this boss breakdown in the Background section with the other ten games!
Gameplay:
Using the Speed Gear to take out an enemy with a weakness hard to hit in real time (that sadly exploded just before I took the screenshot, meaning I had to explain it…)
Mega Man 11 is obviously an action platformer, so you travel from left to right shooting enemies and doing some platforming to reach the end boss, when you gain that bosses unique ability you can then use it in subsequent levels. You have a health bar and a bar your weapons / robot dog Rush’s abilities and you can pick any level you want until you reach the end, but each boss is weak to another boss’s weapon so there is a strategy to is, as well as a weird thing where that often means the first boss you face is the hardest until the final Wily levels. Mega Man 11 thankfully brings back both charging your blaster and being able to slide along the ground, two key parts of most Mega Man games that 9 and 10 decided to do away with. Also returning is a mid-level shop where you can buy upgrades and temporary assistance via screws you pick up in levels.
The big key gameplay change here is the Double Gear system, which allows you to either slow down time or make your shots extra powerful, but with the risk of using all your gear energy and needing to wait for it to recharge. If you’re low on health you can use a Double Gear attack, slowing down time and doing an extra powerful shot, but it does leave you exposed afterwards. It’s an excellent mechanic honestly, and how the slowing down time mechanic is used in a lot of the level and enemy design is great fun. While as you’ll see below this is far from my favourite Mega Man visually or audibly it might well be the most fun to actually play.
Using the Speed Gear to clear a platforming challenge before getting melted. Stressful in a fun way!
The difficulty is just right as well, nothing reaching the near-cheaty levels of MM9 but still providing a good challenge. I had to redo some levels quite a few times, though one of those was the “long awaited” return of bouncy platforming and funnily enough a couple of years gap hasn’t helped me get the timing on the bounce jump any more accurately than I had it with Mega Man 7’s Spring Man level…
Graphics and Sound:
Just look at how bland and cheap this level looks… didn’t help that I saw it a hundred times due to sucking at the bouncy jump so much! Argh!!
This is where I’m going to get a bit… controversial? Maybe? I really don’t like how Mega Man 11 looks. I get 2.5D is cheaper than sprites but it’s possible to not make it look cheap, but here with a few exceptions it does. Maybe not Mega Man himself but a lot of the enemies, level tiles and backgrounds scream “undetailed CG” and I really don’t like the look. If it were this or let the franchise continue to be nothing then sure, happy to see it exist, but it’s not my favourite style, let’s put it that way.
Sadly this extends to the music as well, as I didn’t get a single tune stuck in my head nor did I even smile much when I started a stage and the music kicked in. It was fine but completely unmemorable, which given the previous games have pretty much all nailed the soundtrack that is a major flaw for MM11. It’s lucky the actual game is so much fun to play! I will say though that there is full voice acting and it’s perfectly fine, very Saturday morning cartoon-y, which fits the mood perfectly and all the Robot Masters drop a really bad pun to do with their names at the start and end of the fights again like in MM8, so that’s a good laugh!
Story:
*Gasp!* a cut scene and a flashback to our favourite scientist odd couple as young men?! Crazy!
In the past Dr. Wily had tried to get funding for his Double Gear system but Dr. Light and other scientists said it was too dangerous, leading to Light getting the funding instead. Fast-forward to the “present” and Wily suddenly remembers his Double Gear system (after ten attempts at world conquest without it ever coming to mind) He uses it to power up another eight robots he’s turned into Robot Masters, but in order to combat the threat Light installs the Double Gear into Mega Man as well, despite the risks of over-heating that got it scrapped in the first place.
Not really any point in spoilers here as you’ll be unsurprised to find out Mega Man defeats the Robots Masters and stops Wily’s latest machine. There is a great moment where Light points out that Mega Man using the Double Gear system shows that both their ideas were good and what can come from them working together, but Wily flees, scoffing at the thought to teaming with his nemesis.
Thoughts Now:
Loved how Blast Man’s stage looks like an old movie set.
Mega Man 11 is one of my favourite Mega Man games in terms of gameplay, but sadly one of my least favourites in terms of visuals and soundtrack. Obviously in the world of games gameplay is far more important, which is why this still scores highly, but it is a shame that it was so close to being damn-near perfect.
Maybe now I’ll finally give the Mega Man X games a go, since I got those two compilations in the same Humble Bundle… well, maybe I’ll wait until some of the other gaming-related recurring review series end first…
Hogan Reviews 