Story:
Dr. Wily wants to take over the world by force with the help of his robots. Dr. Light (Wily's former colleague), the leading researcher on robotics, wants peace between robots and humans. Mega, Dr. Light's helper robot wants to thwart Wily's evil schemes, so he asks Light to change him into a battle robot, becoming Megaman in the process. Megaman embarks on a journey to protect the world from Wily and his evil robots.
The story is fairly thin. Nothing too exciting here, but this game isn't focused on the story. This remake has a few minor voiced dialogue moments that are more fluff than significant events.
Score: 5/10
Graphics:
The remade graphics are quite sharp in design and execution. The chibi visual style of the characters is a nice touch that helps differentiate this "normal" Megaman game with the Maverick Hunter series of Megaman games.
The only criticism I have is for the "old-school" game mode. The camera is pulled back further than the "new remake" mode. This results in everything shrinking in size on the screen. For example, imagine you're holding a book up close to your face to read the text. Now imagine holding the book back as far as your arm can reach and then trying to read the text. What was close and readable before has become tiny and (potentially) incomprehensible.
Score: 8/10
Gameplay:
This is a side-scrolling 2.5D action/platformer. The controls are simple and effective: move, jump and shoot. The challenge comes in the boss fights and various platforming segments. The bosses have various attack patterns that requires varying levels of skill to evade. After defeating the boss, Megaman absorbs their individual power and utilizes that ability in his own arsenal. Some of the platforming segments require precise movements and jumps to succeed.
The game has 3 levels of difficulty, with hard being a true test of player skill.
A cool mechanic in the game is the ability to playthrough the entire game as 1 of 8 unique boss characters. Each boss has different attacks and abilities. For example, Cutman can throw boomerangs and wall jump, while Fireman can melt iceblocks by touching them and shoot a wall of flames.
Overall, a simple system that is fun and challenging for all skill levels.
Score: 8.5/10
Sound:
The VA is minimal, but effective. Dr. Wily is the standout here.
The music has been updated and sounds great. It's mostly electronica music.
The sound effects are good.
Score: 8/10
Replayability:
The game is fairly short. An average runtime is ~5 hours. The game has plenty of extras, unlockables and bonuses to enhance replayability.
1. Playing through the game as 1 of 8 bosses.
2. Create and play your own stages.
3. Metroidvania style unlockables/hidden items in all the stages.
4. Hard mode.
The best feature is #2. The creation system is simple and easy to use. I believe players can upload/download their creations either by ad-hoc (buddy system) or infrastructure (internet hub).
Score: 8/10
Final Score: 7.5/10
