Customer Reviews

Mega Man X8

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While I do enjoy playing X7, I find myself playing this one more. I think the main reason is X8 doesn't really rely on 3-D all that much. X7 got a little annoying, but the Mavericks were cool. This one, I just find the whole game awesome. Awesome levels, awesome power-ups (I mean come on, you can buy the blade that Sigma uses after beating the game once), awesome Mavericks, and a really cool storyline. Since X7 was the "test-subject" of the new age of Megaman, it had a few flaws. This game noticed those flaws and perfected them. Not at all hard to play, pretty easy controlling makes this game one that you can play over and over again.

The world of "Mega Man" is becoming more and more convuluted every day, it seems. Five different alternate timelines and sets of characters is enough to make the mind boggle alone, but the fact that most of those timelines feature at least 5 games to their credit is downright daunting.

That said, X8 is a true reward for true fans--if you've stuck by the Blue Bomber for this long and managed to endure hiccups like X6 and X7, then you're probably a worthy candidate for this game. If not, well, as with most Mega Man games, it's really not going to offer much in the way of newness. The basic formula here hasn't changed since Mega Man 8-bit debut on the NES in 1987--pick a boss, go through his stage, kill said boss, retrieve said boss's special weapon, and use it to kick the crap out of the next boss you pick. It's dressed up in a nicer suit now than when the series first debuted, to be sure, but it's the same thing underneath.

Straight-up platform gaming done right is always, by its very definition, a challenge. Such is the case with this game--even on its Normal mode, the learning curve is fairly steep. On Hard mode, unless you know the boss's patterns from rote, it's nearly impossible to get anywhere.

The developers have added a little bit to the title in terms of replayability by inserting scores of secret items in the levels that you'll have to work very diligently to find, but this doesn't do quite enough to make it a lasting experience. The most fun bit by far is that you can save your clear data from a game that you beat into a new file to play the game over again, but this time with your upgraded weapons and such already intact. It's a big help when you start into a game on Hard mode.

The voice acting is actually quite good this time around also. Seems as if Capcom has finally settled on X, Zero, and Axl's voices being fairly teenage in nature--in fact, the only really grating voice in the game is that of one of the new "navigators" (a support character who gives you tips throughout the level).

So the overall point, I guess, is don't pick this up unless you like an old-school challenge. You will, most likely, die. A lot.

In broad strokes, this Mega Man X game is like all the others. You have a first level that indicates a problem, then 8 bosses with accompanying stages, and finally, two or three stages with bosses until a final showdown. As usual there are some good songs/music, background graphics, and boss challenges that make the Mega Man series the success that they are.

What is different is that you can pick two Maverick Hunters to go into each stage, just like in 7, however this is relatively new to the "X" games, no pun intended but I'll take it. Also you get "chips" for beating enemies that can be spent to give the three characters upgrades. There are also secret areas in each stage and I had to use the Gamefaqs website to find them all.

X8 is another fun game like all the other Mega Man X games. This time, too, a surprise end boss makes the ending a little different. This is overall a solid effort on Capcom's part.

I bought this for my 9-year old son on his birthday. He loves MegaMan and really enjoyed this game. The graphics and gameplay are much improved over the past two MegaMan games. It brings together the spirit of the early games in MegaMan Anniversary Collection with slick 3-D graphics. The only downside is that it is pretty easy in "Easy" mode and my son completed the game relatively fast. Other than that, its a great buy!

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD*

GRAPHICS- At first glance, the new art style seems very un Mega Man-like; more specifically, everyone's legs have become much thinner than usual. As much as I prefer that art style, I don't see too many problems with this one. I especially like Alia's new hairdo, which is longer than it has been.

VOICES- Compared to the voices of X4 through X7, these are certainly the best English VAs I've heard. (The Japanese voices of X6 and X7 were the best, in my opinion)

CONTROLS- Mega Man X is back in 2D, and it's a nice thing. The 3D parts of X7 were nice, but let's face it; Mega Man in 3D... isn't all Mega Man. X and his friends run, shoot, dash, jump, climb and all sorts of other neat verbs. Some of the new skills are tricky to get the hang of at first, but when you master then, you'll clobber the Mavericks just that much faster!

MUSIC- It's been a while since the X games have had more than one awesome music track per game. The tunes in X8 are toe-tappin' treasures, from Lumine's eerie church organ theme to the adrenaline-stirring climb up the Jakob Project elevator.

STORY- Ever since the X series was transferred to a different writer since X6, I have worried about various plotholes, such as the rift between the X series and the Zero series; I'm still waiting for Zero to explain exactly how he came back in X6 from his demise in X5, and where exactly Axl comes into play. The romantic aspect is interesting, too; I'm also waiting for Alia and X to officially hook up. Layer, the new navigator, has a thing for Zero, but Zero is still heartbroken by the demise of Iris in X4 and is pretty cold to everyone but X and sometimes Axl. Whether or not these two get together can't be determined yet (though this reviewer personally hopes they don't, since it would totally mess up his "Mega Man Iris" fanfiction stories). Hee hee.

So, there's my review of Mega Man X8. It can be summed up in three words: "pretty dang good." Five stars.

It's sad to watch a series that was as good as Mega Man X slide into the ruin it's been sliding into for the last few years. Mega Man X8 works hard to revive what was once a great series. The problem is, the series may be a bit too tarnished after the last three installments. That means Mega Man X8 has to work hard for forgiveness. The good news is that it is better than X7. The bad news? The game could've been so much better.

The Jakob Project, an effort to get humans to the moon away from the repolid war, is in danger. Sigma (it's always Sigma) has threatened the leader of this project, Lumine. As usual, it's up to X and company to stop him.

The Mega Man X series has never been much for plot, and in X8 it's no different. While there is story, and it tries hard to be a satisfying one, it just isn't all that great. If you've been with Mega Man X since the first one, you probably aren't as interested in the storyline as you are in the actual action of the gameplay. Newcomers to the series might like the story telling aspect, but for those who've been with Mega Man in general since the 80's know that a game can hold together if it's a lot of fun.

Mega Man X8 has unique gameplay mechanics. It's really no different than the basic gameplay presented in the very first Mega Man X game. It's basically run and gun. Anything that's in your way you shoot and kill. You'll select a level to go into, march your way through and defeat the big bad boss at the end. The difference is you can do this in a tag team style way. Before each level you'll be given a choice of two characters you want to take into a level and a navigator. There's X, Zero and Axl, and they all have their own distinct abilities. X is no different than he has been in previous games. Zero has his Z-Saber as well as a multitude of other weapons and Axl has a rapid fire weapon and can hover in the air. Unlike previous games, the characters begin with abilities they'd otherwise have to acquire. For example, Zero begins the game with his double jump rather than you actually having to acquire it.

In each level you can switch between your two characters at the click of a button. If one character is low on health, you can switch. Likewise, if one character dies, the other steps in and fights the rest of the battle out. The only time this doesn't happen is if it's a one hit kill.

There have also been some unique changes to the gameplay. You now collect metals in each level. Similar to the Mega Man Zero games, you can exchange them for items. Energy bottles to restore health, powerups for your characters and more. The game also has rare metals. These are metals that will let you purchase bigger and better abilities for your characters. One, for example, might be another weapon for Zero. Another might be a sub tank. You'll also spend metals to increase a characters health or weapon capacity.

The game isn't without fault, and unfortunately, despite all the unique treatment the game has gone through that could make elements better, the faults of this game are more than enough to frustrate gamers. For one, the game is very challenging. Difficulty usually makes a game a lot of fun to play. The problem with Mega Man X8's difficulty is that too much of it derives from trial and error. In one instance you're supposed to jump into a pit, but you'll meet an untimely death because of the spikes below which there's no foreshadowing. In previous Mega Man X games, this was not a problem. They were hard, but not unreasonable, and I never had to go through several trial and error moments. The difficulty doesn't help the game, it only frustrates. Mix that with the unreasonable "retry" system instead of actually having lives. You only get five retries (and you have to buy three of them) and if you use them all, then you have to re-enter the level and start from the very beginning. This didn't bug me as much, seeing as how most levels are short anyway, but with the trial and error moments, you'll blow through most of your retries.

The level design of most of these levels is also not up to par. The main problem stemming from the levels where you ride vehicles. They move fast, and you don't. It's too easy to fall into a pit and die in one of them. Again, there are also plenty of trial and error moments there too, and these moments really degrade the game. Finally, the bosses aren't creative enough. Many of them just aren't really fun to battle against, and the abilities and weapons you get from them aren't exciting. Most of these weapons (save perhaps for some of Axl's) aren't going to be of much use to you. You're better off using your default shot than anything you'll get from the bosses.

Graphically, Mega Man X8 doesn't look too bad. Not the best graphics out there, but the game is still nice to look at. It's also fast paced with few frame rate issues (they don't come until the last level). If you're looking for a 3D side scroller that looks good, you've certainly found it for Mega Man X8. I can't say the same for the music unfortunately. Most of the voice acting is bad. At least Mega Man actually sounds like a guy in this one. This doesn't mean other voices are good. All the main characters have fairly good voices. Other characters, such as the bosses, have terrible voices. The minor characters didn't seem to be of any importance, and it shows in their voices. The level music isn't all that exciting either. There are maybe one or two good tracks (Sigma's Palace, for instance), but nothing remarkably special. Which is strange seeing as how even the Mega Man X games that aren't well liked (such as X5) even had good music.

As unique as Capcom made Mega Man X8, it can't quite live up to previous installments. The game serves its purpose as fan service, but doesn't have enough quality. From the trial and error moments to the not so special story, Mega Man X8 is only sending the series further into ruin. It's much better than Mega Man X7, and has a lot of secrets to unearth (more than even Mega Man X3), but it's just not a satisfying experience.

The Good
+The game, for the most part, doesn't look bad
+Some tweaks to the gameplay are very helpful
+Tag teaming works
+Plenty of extra secrets to unearth
+For a Mega Man game, the length is pretty satisfying, actually taking more than ten hours to do everything there is to be done.

The Bad
-Frustrating difficulty
-Way too many trial and error moments
-Level design isn't good
-Lame bosses
-Lame voices
-The music isn't really all that great

So while there are some pretty neat tweaks to the gameplay, it can't save Mega Man X8. What had potential to be a truly remarkable game, is nothing of the sort at all.

What can I say? This game plays like the older SNES games. All the flaws that made X5-X7 so sub-par are gone. A great buy.

I'd also like to remind everyone that the game does come with THREE difficulty settings.

This game has the same 8 boss challenge as the rest, but this time their are 6 characters in total to play as, the 3 maverick hunters with their counter parts the 3 navigators. I enjoy being able to switch off between 2 characters and the voice acting is much better than the previous X7. I've beaten the game plenty of times but I still continue to play it due to the challenge of completing the collection for armors, weapons, etc. It was a pricey game, and a little more than it's really worth, but still a good purchase overall.

Well a good X game is back. After surviving X4-X7, X8 has saved the series... but barely. It offers a true X experience that is fun but somewhat easy. I think that the character switch option (Which allows you basically two characters with two full health bars) makes it this so easy, and without it then it would be a lot better. This game also allows you to use a few different options with X's armor which makes it a more custom experience. The overall game is a great example of where the X series should go in the future and for the price is worth the buy.

Graphics still amaze me to this day, people that say this game is hard, just sucks at playing it. Im sure of it.