Mega Man's Electric Sheep
Member
OK, even though I thought the last 2 X games were pretty terrible (I played them anyway, but thankfully as rentals), I had a good feeling about X8. Then some reviews came in which said it wasn't half bad. Except Gamespot, but they have zero credibility with me after their "POP Warrior Within is best on Gamecube" crap. So looking at the decent reviews, I took the plunge.
And I like it! It is actually pretty cool. The intro stage forces you to use certain characters either alone or in combination, after which you can select 2 of them to take into a stage. I have beaten Optic Sunflower and Avalanche Yeti so far, and have gotten to Burn Rooster and halfway through Gravity Antonion's stage (gotta love the ridiculous names).
Optic Sunflower's stage is a series of minichallenges. You'll go into a room and have to fight a flying robot while jumping on moving platforms, or some such thing. Based on your performance, you will move up or down a difficulty level for the next mini challenge.
Avalanche Yeti's stage is a 3d bike stage that looks like it's a mid level PS1 title. It is supposedly the worst stage in the game, but I had fun. At the beginning, the helper character tells you to watch out for "CrevASSes". :lol The stage is auto scrolling and involves shooting, going over ramps to jump crevASSes, and fighting two minibosses.
Burn Rooster's stage starts as an auto scrolling segment where you have to jump downward from platform to platform. If you get crushed at the top, you lose energy, but fall off the bottom and die. Then there's a platforming part with spiky walls, and another, harder auto scroll.
Gravity Antonion's stage involves pressing buttons on the floors and walls to flip the stage 90 degrees. It gets tricky because of spikes and boxes which try to crush you when they are flipped.
There are also intermission stages which pop up after you clear a stage. These are mini levels of sorts which take you back into the stage with a modified objective.
The bosses so far have been very well done. They have relatively long life bars, but it doesn't feel like you have to sit there and whittle them down forever. The bosses also do different things based on how low their life is. For instance, against Avalanche Yeti, when he was near death I had to contend with 2 giant snowflakes bouncing around while he jumped around the screen trying to freeze me (at which point you have to call your other character to break him out) and burrowing into the snow to pop out and do a ryu uppercut, yeti-style. Optic Sunflower kept changing the layout of his room, and you had to use the blocks to avoid lazers by standing underneath or over them. Burn Rooster makes the floor move up in down in segments after the fight has been underway for awhile.
You get "money" in levels which can be spent in the shop. You have to buy continue chips, which serve as lives. On the normal difficulty, you get 2 chips and can buy 3 more for a total of 5. They are cheap, so when you do a stage and die, you will have earned more than enough to refill them.
The game is no cakewalk, but seems about average for Megaman X cheapness levels. It is definately not a game where you will finish every stage on the first try.
So if you have ever liked an X game, give this a rent at least. It is not going to change lives, but it is a pleasurable outing for megaman x, and reminds me why I used to like this series. And it has Bamboo Pandamonium. :lol
And I like it! It is actually pretty cool. The intro stage forces you to use certain characters either alone or in combination, after which you can select 2 of them to take into a stage. I have beaten Optic Sunflower and Avalanche Yeti so far, and have gotten to Burn Rooster and halfway through Gravity Antonion's stage (gotta love the ridiculous names).
Optic Sunflower's stage is a series of minichallenges. You'll go into a room and have to fight a flying robot while jumping on moving platforms, or some such thing. Based on your performance, you will move up or down a difficulty level for the next mini challenge.
Avalanche Yeti's stage is a 3d bike stage that looks like it's a mid level PS1 title. It is supposedly the worst stage in the game, but I had fun. At the beginning, the helper character tells you to watch out for "CrevASSes". :lol The stage is auto scrolling and involves shooting, going over ramps to jump crevASSes, and fighting two minibosses.
Burn Rooster's stage starts as an auto scrolling segment where you have to jump downward from platform to platform. If you get crushed at the top, you lose energy, but fall off the bottom and die. Then there's a platforming part with spiky walls, and another, harder auto scroll.
Gravity Antonion's stage involves pressing buttons on the floors and walls to flip the stage 90 degrees. It gets tricky because of spikes and boxes which try to crush you when they are flipped.
There are also intermission stages which pop up after you clear a stage. These are mini levels of sorts which take you back into the stage with a modified objective.
The bosses so far have been very well done. They have relatively long life bars, but it doesn't feel like you have to sit there and whittle them down forever. The bosses also do different things based on how low their life is. For instance, against Avalanche Yeti, when he was near death I had to contend with 2 giant snowflakes bouncing around while he jumped around the screen trying to freeze me (at which point you have to call your other character to break him out) and burrowing into the snow to pop out and do a ryu uppercut, yeti-style. Optic Sunflower kept changing the layout of his room, and you had to use the blocks to avoid lazers by standing underneath or over them. Burn Rooster makes the floor move up in down in segments after the fight has been underway for awhile.
You get "money" in levels which can be spent in the shop. You have to buy continue chips, which serve as lives. On the normal difficulty, you get 2 chips and can buy 3 more for a total of 5. They are cheap, so when you do a stage and die, you will have earned more than enough to refill them.
The game is no cakewalk, but seems about average for Megaman X cheapness levels. It is definately not a game where you will finish every stage on the first try.
So if you have ever liked an X game, give this a rent at least. It is not going to change lives, but it is a pleasurable outing for megaman x, and reminds me why I used to like this series. And it has Bamboo Pandamonium. :lol
