Played on:
Xbox 360
When I played Mega Man 10 at Capcom’s CES game showcase back in January, the first thought that crossed my mind was how damned tough it was. It was a sentiment I shared with the Capcom folks, and undoubtedly one they’d been hearing all day. I knew the game wouldn’t be easy, of course. I played Mega Man 9 when it came out, and countless other Mega Man’s in the series (To this day, I haven’t beat Mega Man X’s 4-6). But, despite all that, it’s still a bit embarrassing when you’re getting rocked (repeatedly) by a fiveish-minute long demo in front of some PR reps. That’s right, kids—Mega Man’s back, and, as usual, Capcom isn’t pulling any punches. With all the games around these days that revel in hand-holding and making things easy on the player, MM10 continues the series tradition by mercilessly owning you at every turn.
The stage Capcom was demoing was Strike Man’s, a stadium level that’s actually one of the easier ones in the game. The most difficult part of Strike Man’s domain is probably the mini-boss, a giant robot who likes to throw soccer balls and paralyze you with his hands, which, as you might imagine, is a challenge. There are also many other notable designs from MM10 that will kill you many times. Sandstorms that fly across Commando Man’s level obscure platforming sections (as in everything is sand except Mega Man himself) and at times push you backwards or forwards into spikes, with your only recourse being to run in the opposite direction and hope you’re not going to run off the platform. Nitro Man is hard enough to beat, even when using the mega buster he’s weak against, but his level also has a number of timing challenges that force you to jump up and over fast moving, on-coming vehicles, while petulant little flying irritants shoot at you, throwing your timing off, and generally being very hard to kill. The game’s mini-bosses can be irritating, as in Strike Man’s stage, to downright vicious—although there’s nothing quite as bad as, say, the mechanical elephants from Concrete Man’s level in MM9. Of course, MM10’s finale outdoes still itself, throwing enough challenge at you to test even the most seasoned gamer.
However, despite the series pedigree, Capcom has thrown the less hardcore types a bone, including an easy mode (for the first time!) for those who want to get a taste of the old-school design, just at a fraction of the would-be cost—be it to your sanity, television or controller. Basically the game on easy is exactly how you would expect it to be—enemies are slower and fewer in numbers (or changed altogether) and bosses aren’t nearly as difficult. There are also platforms above almost every deadly surface in the game (although not some where you might expect), making this mode a cakewalk. There are fewer instances of immediate death this time around and the level design does seem slightly less sadistic (whether or not this was so it would be easier to put platforms everywhere or not is unknown), but MM10, on normal at least, is still by no means easy. Memorization and patience are the key here, particularly when it comes to navigating some of the sections I outlined above, some of which you’ll need to play for hours before you can master the timing necessary to get through them without much trouble. And if you want to get your hands on the coveted (and might I add, completely insane) trophy (or achievement) awarded only to masochistic gamers who beat the game without getting hit? Good luck with that—I wonder if that award’s been given out to anyone anywhere.
But, then again, that’s what we’re all here for. You don’t play a game like Mega Man 10 for fun in a typical sense—you play it to challenge yourself, as well as the game. It’s the same reason people love Contra, or flocked to Demon’s Souls because they want to triumph over extreme cases of adversity. And in that regard, MM10 works very well. If you’re into old school games—and if you’re not, you’re probably not even reading this review—you will find yourself getting into the level design here, slowly making your way through each stage, besting all the little challenges you encounter until that proud moment you can make it all the way through to a boss encounter in one life, if you’ve been hit at all.
Rounding out the package, Capcom elected to include Proto Man, Mega Man’s brother as a playable character from the get-go (rather than as DLC in the previous installment). Playing as Proto Man is also challenging, since he takes double the damage per hit as the blue bomber does, but he makes up for it by having a shield to deflect projectiles when jumping, the ability to charge his mega buster and slide, which can help with bosses (interestingly, beating the game with Proto Man won’t yield a score on the game’s internet rankings). Still, it’s one more way you can get your struggle on. After all, the most hardcore challenges are the ones that are completely thankless.
