Mega Man 11 is the latest in the long-running Mega Man series. The game was developed and published by Capcom. It is an action-platform game that is available to play on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Mega Man 11 is a solo game that was released on the 2nd October 2018. Capcom is a huge video game company that has also brought us some big film titles like Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Street Fighter. They aim to push technical and creative limits whilst creating innovative and hugely popular games.
Who Is Mega Man?
The first Mega Man game was originally released on 17th December 1987. Mega Man is also known as Rocket Man in Japan; he is a robot character that has been part of over 50 games. By March 2015, the series had sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The multiple games that have come from Mega Man include a variety of stories with the latest being based around one of the oldest enemies, Dr. Wily, and players control Mega Man in a mission to stop him.
Mega Man 11 offers some classic elements to players. You will get the opportunity to use some of Mega Man’s classic moves, like the Chargeable Mega Buster and slide. There are also new abilities that players will have the enjoyment of using. The main difference in abilities is the new Double Gear System. This allows Mega Man to use a Speed Gear and a Power Gear. The Speed Gear gives Mega Man the opportunity to slow down time, whilst the Power Gear gives him the chance to increase the attack power of his weaponry.
Mega Mayhem
Mega Man 11 feels like the classic games. When you are playing the game, it completely takes you back to the original games, assuming you’ve played any of them. The game feels very retro and has the typical arcade-style gameplay. The greatest thing about Mega Man 11 are the graphics. There is nothing worse than a platformer game in this day and age that is still blocky and pixelated to the point where you can’t actually tell what is going on. The beauty of technology today is that games can feel retro but still look great, and Mega Man 11 achieves this in abundance. The game is absolutely stunning, and it does not take anything away from the experience. In my opinion, using today’s graphics in this type of game is great.
Another thing I liked about Mega Man 11 is the fact that you can adjust the difficulty level, which we have seen before in Mega Man 10. I normally struggle to keep up with platform games because they are quite fast-paced. Now that I can enjoy the fight against enemies that aren’t ridiculously tough, this is not an issue anymore. The game also has additional features, including time trials, missions, global leaderboards and more. This is great to give players something else to work towards aside from the story.
A Long Time Coming
Mega Man 11 is by no means perfect, with the biggest issue being the length of each of the levels. There aren’t many levels, so I understand why they have been dragged out, but they feel frustrating given how long they take to complete. When you start a level in a platformer game, you feel the burning need to finish it. Normally you can comfortably start a level in a platformer game knowing that you will be done after a few minutes, but be prepared for a non-stop push to the finish line with the levels in this game.
Another issue I had found with Mega Man 11 is that it feels like it is nothing we haven’t done before. The game brings players some great new additions, don’t get me wrong. The Mega Man series has been going so long that a new game, in my opinion, would have to be completely different to make a large impact. The game is thought of as retro for a reason. I believe that there is a time in the life of every game series when it has to come to an end. It would be great to see a Mega Man game that ties up every loose end and has an unexpected twist for one last Mega Man blowout before ending the series for good.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Mega Man 11 does bring some new additions to the history of the game series. Changing the difficulty, the introduction of additional new abilities and the better graphics are all brilliant. I understand that Mega Man has not been on our screens for a very long time, but it is known for being a classic game. Even though there are new developments to this historical game, it still feels like we have done it all before. The fact that there have only been small changes is both good and bad; good because it feels so much like the original games but with way better graphics, bad because it feels like we are just trying to bring back something that might have needed to stay in the past.
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release Date: 2nd October 2018