Mega Man 10

 The Mega Man franchise is one that, for the most part, has stood the test of time.  It has had so many sequels and spin offs that most new gamers might not even recognize the side-scrolling platforming shooter as the original style of Mega Man game.  That is unless you played the last faux-retro Mega Man game they put out in 2008.

Now I could go on and on about the controls, the feel, the look, the straight up style that this game exudes, but to be honest none of that really matters.  All I have to say about those things is "Yo, do you like Mega Man?"  I'm going to save both you (the reader) and I (the writer) a lot of time by just discussing the things new to this sequel, everything else is the same as any of the last plainly numbed Mega Man games, except 7, and 8.  

Now let us get to the most important aspects of any 8-bit Mega Man game.

First up, the 8 Robot Masters.  This time we have Sheep Man, Blade Man, Commando Man, Strike Man, Pump Man (Giggidy), Solar Man, Nitro Man, and Chill Man.  Sorry no female robot masters this time.  Of course we have the bosses that are basically clones of prior masters.  Pump man is pretty much Wood man, and Blade man jumps around, sticks to walls, and shoots like Crash man.  However there are a few notable bosses that stand out. Such as Sheep man who turns into clouds of wool and shoots down lightning from above, and Strike man who throws baseballs at you and spins around in the air.  As always defeating each of the bosses will gave you one of their abilities, i.e. killing Pump man gives you his water shield, and each of the robot masters has their own weakness to another masters ability.  

The music of Mega Man 10 is that great 8-bit upbeat techno-rock that instantly brings a wave of nostalgia.  There are a few songs however that seem to be lacking, Pump mans stage starts really slow and a little boring for the first half, then picks up and sounds great until the song loops.  Strike mans is the opposite however, it starts out great then halfway in, it turns into this theme park bubble gum and lollipops song that just sounds out of place.  The music is still one of the big attractions to this game, and even though the songs sound good 'n all, I wont be humming any Mega Man 10 songs like I still do for many of the other games in the series.

One of the biggest changes to the game is the inclusion of Protoman as a playable character.  Although you could play as Protoman in the last game, he was only playable if you purchased his DLC pack that came out soon after the games launch.  Similar to the last game, shortly after its release there is downloadable content that allows you to play as Bass, which is the first time we are able to play as him in an "8-bit" game.  The add-on is only $2 and came out very shortly after launch, so I will talk about its content.

Mega Man plays just as you expect, he can shoot out three pellets at a time and can use his dog Rush to jump higher or move safely across the screen.

Protoman carries a shield that appears when he jumps and can block small projectiles. He can also charge his arm cannon to shoot a more powerful shot. He has items that mimic Mega Mans Rush Coil and Rush Jet in functionality. By pressing down and jump, you can slide dash, both to move faster and to go under low moving objects.  Protomans downfall is that despite his extra abilities, he takes twice the damage that Mega Man does, also when hit he is knocked back twice as far.  He also can only have two shots on the screen at once instead of the three that Mega Man can have.

Bass can shoot in seven directions (every way but down) and shoots in rapid fire, only having to hold the button instead of tapping it constantly.  He can dash like Protoman, however he does not slide, so he can not go under small objects.  While he doesn't have the coil and jet like the others, he does have his own wolf Treble.  Treble can combine with Bass and turn into a jetpack to allow Bass to fly around the level.  The down side of Bass is that he can't run while shooting, his bullets do half the damage of Mega Mans, and the pellets don't go through walls like the other characters.

Bass was my favorite character to play as, simply because his rapid fire shooting and flying abilities made many of the games levels, bosses, and mini-bosses, seem fun and easy.  Oh that's another thing I forgot to mention...  THIS GAME IS EFFING HARD!!!

As soon as I picked this game up, I got my ass beat.  Again and again I died, but something happens after awhile, my mind goes blank and all the sudden these skills come rushing back to me, almost as if I was channeling my child self who used to be so good at Mega Man 2.  The same thing happened with Mega Man 9.  An hour or so of failure, then I just kind of snap back into it.  Now this game is hard, but not quite so bad as the last one.  They also included an easy mode, but it makes the game a little too easy, leaving out enemies and covering most of the one-hit kill traps.  You can also unlock a hard mode after you beat the game, but that is just insane.


Mega Man 10 is a solid game that offers exactly what you'd expect from it and then some.  Fun gameplay, awesome soundtrack, tight controls, a tough challenge, and a variety of playable characters.  I can basically sum up this entire review by saying, if you like Mega Man games, you will like this one too.

Pros:  
A nice challenge system for people who want a little more out of the game
That nostalgic feeling
Feels like an old school Mega Man game

Cons:
Some music not up to par with others in the series
Having 108kb DLC right off the bat? Come on Capcom I thought we were past that.
I can't wait till Mega Man 11 comes out with all three characters playable from the start, then you have to buy Zero or somthing