Mega Man 11 is (original) Mega Man's 12th game. It consists of 8 main levels which are capped off by bosses, which are followed by an extra 3 levels (ok, in this game it's actually 2), which are then capped off by a boss rush and a final boss fight which will go through two phases. Stop me if you've ever heard this before.

Mega Man 11 is in the awkward position of being the revival game for a series that already had two revival games that preceeded it, so it's understandable that they wouldn't go the same route as 9 and 10, but at the same time their decision to stick to formula this strictly makes everything really bland. The level design is fine, even though I notice that in this game levels last a bit too long, and the basics of Mega Man gameplay are still fairly fun, just like they were 30 or so years ago, but considering that the only curveball thrown into the mix is the Double Gear gimmick, which is kinda interesting in theory but broken at best and a non-factor at worst, it makes the game feel very by the numbers, which is never a positive feeling.

At the end of the day Mega Man 11 is a game for the diehard fans that stuck through the complete drought in content that the series has gone through for almost a decade, and they will be satisfied to see that Capcom hasn't (yet) screwed up anything about Mega Man gameplay, which means that ultimately it does its job. I just wish they aimed for slightly more than "passable game that will be completely forgotten about as soon as we announce/release the next Mega Man game", but beggars can't be choosers. I guess.

Reviewed on Apr 17, 2021


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