Overall 8.8 Graphics 2 Sound 5 Addictive 5 Story 5 Depth 5 Difficulty 5
3
Maga man 8 jesse4321
You know when I sit here and think about it,
does Mega Man 8 do *anything* right? Oh sure I'm giving the game 3
stars because I'm such a big Mega Man fan and willing to defend even the
worst moments of the series, but let's be honest- this game is mediocre
the entire way through. Not to mention gives the STRONG impression
that Cap-com tried to make too many changes and just about all of them
fall flat on their face. I first got my Nintendo Entertainment System when I was 5 and Mega man 2 I loved that game and
still do so I saw Mega man 8 for play station decided I should check up
on this series (I'm more of a Mega man X fan) from the opening movie
which is shown in stunning animation to the ending credits this game is
flawless the story begins with 2 strange robots fighting in the deep
reaches of space when they injure each other so bad that they crash land
into earth and Mega man heads to investigate when he gets there Dr. Wily is carrying off one of the robots
which has very evil very powerful energy Wily is harnessing so Mega man
helps the second robot and heads after Wily so the battle begins with
your standard 4 bosses Clown man,Grenade man,Frost man, and Tonga man(my
personal favorite) and after they are done your next four appear
Sword man, Astor man,Search man, and Aqua man(not to be confused with the DC
comics hero) you Mega man veterans already know where this is going even
though the game is standard Mega man format that same format is perfect
and if its not broke don't fix it Let's talk about the levels. Mega Man 8 shows the tradition that Cap com has kept for the game and
some new added bonuses. As there were in recent Mega Man games there are
8 enemy robots, special weapons. Some examples of the
new stuff is the clashes between 16-bit animation and cartoon animation,
upgrades that you can buy with bolts found throughout the stages, and
more. Why does
it seem like Cap com has done everything in their power to make sure
these levels don't even remotely resemble the ones from the NES days? I
understand we're talking about a 32-bit system with the play station
(and Saturn) so obviously the graphics will look significantly prettier
than the ones from the N.E.S and Super N.E.S, but instead of running and
gunning and strategically/excitedly shooting apart robot foes like most
respectable Mega Man titles, this game implements too many unrelated
ideas and thinks it's okay to pass them off as legitimate levels.
Frost Man is all about
riding a jet board and jumping from section to section. While I don't
mind having most of the stage devoted to this particular feature, I do
certainly mind when several levels in the game are devoted to similar
ideas. It makes me think Cap com didn't have enough creativity in mind
when they made this game. Also the game actually tells you when you
jump or slide by stating it clearly "jump" or "slide"". I
don't like being told what to do. I didn't have to be told what to do
in Mega Man 5 or Mega Man X4 while riding the bike. Why do I have to be
told now? And this stage is entirely too long. Maybe that's it.
Cap com felt an overlong jet board riding level would wear thin on
players and they thought it'd be too challenging for us so they made it
so we're told when to jump or slide. In other words Cap com knows they
made the level too long! In Tonga Man's stage, you're mostly riding on
top of Rush Jet not by choice but mandatory to move forward, and battle
several enemies at once.
This brings us to another problem- why
are there so many enemies on screen at once? It's nearly impossible to
battle all this danger without taking several hits along the way since
they all fire bullets in your direction. This feature totally reminds
me of the old N.E.S game Grady's. You can't really master these type of
segments unless you have the patience to play the level a thousand times
and memorize every enemy's location. Anyway the first two Wily stages
have more extended jet board or Rush Jet segments that hog up the level.
In terms of excitement overall the levels in MM8 fall way short
compared to Mega Man 7 as hard as that is to believe (a game that was by
no means perfect but better than MM8 by a long shot).
But it gets
worse. There's actually a circus stage called Clown Man, and oh boy is
this stage a contender for the worst one to ever appear in a Mega Man
game. First of all you have trains that come out of the doors in the
background moving on tracks. When Mega Man appears on screen, get ready
to battle them. While incredibly silly for a concept and inappropriate
for Mega Man, that's not even the main issue I have with this stage.
What I strongly dislike is the part that appears soon after where you
have to wait for robots to ring bells so you can jump in the correct box
that warps you to the next level up. This is absolutely terrible and
childish.The music is really bad. Normally in a Mega Man
game you hear catchy memorable melodies appropriate in illustrating the
theme of a level. Not so in this game. This is all a bunch of
fast-moving, indistinguishable techno gibberish that proves
Cap com was more about making the levels look more futuristic than
keeping the heart and soul of the Mega Man series in check. Shameful
move on Cap cams part. Even worse, clearly the graphics are comparable
to the ones in X4, X5 and X6 so Cap com had no desire to keep the two
Mega Man series separate.
Okay this is another big issue I have
with the game. I almost never mention the voice acting since it's
mostly tolerable and even irrelevant since I normally don't stop and
think about it, but in this case I HAVE to mention it since it's
unavoidable and overbearing. I have to mention how much I strongly
despise it. Yes we all know that Mega Man shouldn't sound like a girl
and yet he does. However as it turns out *all* the voice acting in this
game is really intolerable and way off. Dr. Light doesn't sound
right at all. I swear there were a few moments in the beginning when I
thought he sounded like Mike Tyson! However there's an even bigger
problem than just the voices being unsuitable for each and every
character.
The boss fights also have voices. However Cap com
didn't think this idea through because not only do they say really
cheesy B movie-like lines before the fight begins and the moment before
they explode, *while* they're getting hit they repeatedly say the SAME
EXACT LINES OVER AND OVER. This is really annoying. Basically every
time you hit them with a weapon, get ready to hear them speak. I'd bet
anything Cap com thought that making these bosses talk while taking
damage would be more meaningful for action lovers, but it
actually has a reverse effect on the player so it sounds incredibly
cheesy and annoying instead. Also let's not overlook that
many of the voices sound like children speaking in an elementary school
play, further annoying me with the perception that Mega Man is for
children only. *rages*
Is there anything good? Well sometimes a
certain decent stage like Aqua Man might come along where you're
swimming through the level avoiding enemies which is pretty fun.
Avoiding spikes while swimming in a bubble form reminds me of a certain
level from Mega Man 5 where you have to avoid spikes while riding an
elevator. I have to chuckle at the way they gave Mega Man a swimming
animation though. I've never seen it before! The Gravity Man stage is
alright though sometimes generic with all the block-destroying segments
that reminds me of X2. Astor Man's stage is deplorable due to being too
elaborate and maze-like which is WAY off track for a Mega Man game.
The boss fights themselves are often times slow and resemble the ones
from X4, but they're passable I suppose in both design and the moves
they have. The only annoying part with the bosses is that it takes an
eternity for weak points to be exposed, making these fights longer than
they need to be. Oh and what's up with the soccer ball kicking weapon.
A tribute to Mega Man soccer perhaps? Some tricky kicking techniques
are a requirement to effectively eliminate some of the bosses which is a
nice feature.
Wily is boring and mostly easy this time around.
Then again compared to his second round MM7 battle, *any thing's* easy in
comparison. Weapons are a joke. Completely uncreative. Again
the amount of foes on screen at any given time often comes across as
disappointingly hectic without any time to catch your breath which means
taking hits is most certainly a given. These are mostly problems in
the jet board and Rush Jet stages. Some of the enemies that I initially
hated are actually okay now due to the realization that the game has so
many other problems. The robotic worms, spinning penguins, rock
chucking apes (they're probably not apes but remind me of them), pearl
spitting clams and several others are fun to battle.
Overall Mega
Man 8 is a disappointment. I now realize why my high school friend Gary quickly moved on from this game despite being a huge Mega Man fan.
He had the Saturn version. He wasn't happy with the game, and neither
am I. This was the only game he was talking about for a couple weeks
leading up to the day it arrived in his mailbox. Then after he went
through the game, he pretty much dismissed it and barely spoke of it
again. I say avoid this one. If I were you I would recommend buying my favorite Mage man game Mega Man x Collection for
play station two. This game has the best Mega man X games out there, I'm a big
fan of X1,X2,X4
and X5, the menus/features aren't great and are lacking but it's the
games that are important. All of the games work just as well as the
originals and I feel they work best on the PS2 controller over the other
consoles. All of the games are untouched letting the experience be as
it was when they came out. It even has the PS version of X3 with
better quality music, which is a big bonus since X3 is incredibly rare
and expensive alone.This has every game in the series up to X6,
the quality of the games are mostly high though that's mostly up to
personal taste. I honestly didn't care for X3 or X6 but the rest of the
games are top-notch platforming with some of the best soundtracks in the
genre.There are some forgettable extras, a few bits of concept
art, music, nothing you can't find online. Honestly the reason to get
this is strictly the games which are 100% worth it.The one big
gripe I have with this collection is if you play it on PS2 through an
component, it will NOT work, the games will not display though the menus
will. I'm not sure why this is since I've played Sonic Mega Collection
on the same set up and I've had no problems.The collection does
work on compatible PS3's via H.D.M.I there's very slight controller delay
which can be hard to take in a 2D platform. However this can vary as I
understand between monitors & set ups.However with that
problem it's still a solid collection as a lot of these games are hard
to get and they are emulated really well.
Graphics 2 Sound 5 Addictive 5 Story 5 Depth 5 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 03-01-15
Review Replies: 0
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