not a very fun game but lumine makes me go jaw drops to floor, eyes pop out of sockets accompanied by trumpets, heart beats out of chest, awooga awooga sound effect, pulls chain on train whistle that has appeared next to head as steam blows out, slams fists on table, rattling any plates, bowls or silverware, whistles loudly, fireworks shoot from top of head, pants loudly as tongue hangs out of mouth, wipes comically large bead of sweat from forehead, clears throat, straightens tie, combs hair Ahem, you look very lovely.

Honestly, not a bad game. After the shit heap of 6 and 7, this game was a nice breath of fresh air. I like the new artist and the slight redesigns they did of everyone. It looks really nice. New characters look cool too.

I'm glad they finally updated and moved onto the next generation of consoles in a new and interesting way. X, Zero and Axl all have a unique way of playing that makes them distinct and equally viable compared to one another. I had fun playing as everyone one and switched them up depending on the stage (unlike 7 where I sidelined Axl after I got X lol). Giving Zero different weapons he can switch between anytime is cool, X's interchangeable armor is cool, and Axl's copyshot not being worthless is cool.

Chip system is alright, if not a bit grindy. Some stages still are a bit dickish and too long for me sometimes.

Overall, I liked this game. If they had continued, I bet refining this style would've eventually made a great game. But things ending here is fine with me. Give it a shot and see if you like it.

X8 should have the reputation of a bad game. I don't care that X7 is technically a worse game, this game has some hideous fuckin stage design both first time through and on replays. The movement is actually pretty fun, but you get to enjoy it so little because of how gimmicky so many stages are and require you to move in certain ways. The Bamboo Pandemonium stage is one of the most freeform, but it requires Ride Armor to do most of the shit in it that I barely want to count it. The upgrade system also kinda sucks ass because of how expensive everything gets so you have to do tedious grinding shit to get all of your tools. Like fuck dude, why is so hard to just make a megaman game with better movement and fun boss fights? The tutorial stage is the only good part of this game.

On it's own it's a solid Megaman X game but coming off the heels of X6 and X7 this feels like a Godsend.

First the Good, the game made many improvements on what X7 tried to do. Way better voice acting, the game does away with 3D platforming sections, Axl isn't just a worse X in terms of gameplay and feels more distinct and the subweapons for all 3 characters are solid I'd say though far from the series best. Also the mixing and matching of armor parts was a neat change in the formula (though I just used the entire Icarus set for the Giga attack for the rest of the game when I got it) and THANK GOD the bosses don't take 5 mins to kill each.

As for the Bad, this games one flaw lies in the level design. Almost none of it feels like Megaman X. Instead of having setpieces like in the previous X games, the setpieces here take up the entire level like running and then chasing the robot in Trilobyte's stage, the challenges in Optic Sunflowers stage or the 2 full driving levels that drag on and on and on are unbareable. When the stages don't have gimmicks that span the entire level the level design is just really bland like the frustrating amount of spikes in the final level or the boooooooooooring sidescrolling stages in Burn Rooster's level. Some other nitpicks would be that while the bosses are way less time-consuming than in X7, they do spend about half of the fight being invulnerable to any damage which can get frustrating. The music while better than X7 isn't on par with X1-6 imo. Lastly, the game starts off surprisingly difficult, but becomes bareable after you snowball with HP Upgrades after the first level or two.

Level design aside, the game is a solid return to form for Megaman X that not only makes improvements on X7 but occasionally on the entire series

MEGA MAN MARATHON #5

This is one of my favorite games. The final boss BLOWS in NG+ I shouldn’t have done NG+. I didn’t even beat it it had one hit left and it did that Indra kill screen nuke bs and I just didn’t wanna bother anymore. That’s my only negative with this game. I adore literally everything else (except I don’t like the new designs as much idk.). The religious references are weird too but aight ig. The gameplay is fast and fun, I love every characters playstyle, love the new types of stages etc. it’s just great. In my Top 5 oat. 10/10.

While it's not quite up there with the series' best, as a few too many gimmick levels ultimately hold back what could've been a truly excellent game, it's also hard not to view Mega Man X8 as the second coming when compared to X6 and X7. While I'm not usually one to praise a display of raw competence, there's a lot to love about the title, from the ever so solid gameplay and music, to its surprising replayability. Definitely worth a go, especially if you've put yourself through the two preceding titles just prior.

"Now it's time for X8, the worst 7/10 you'll ever play" - PKMudkipz.

Yeah, that's about how I'd describe it, even if my score is half a star higher.

Mega Man X8: Paradise Lost (It's the only Mega Man X game with a subtitle, so I'm bringing it up cuz I think it's interesting) is the return to form that came way too late for the franchise.

After X6 and X7 (and arguably X5 if you didn't like that game) besmirched the X series' reputation, X8 was made as a kind of apology for the past 3 to 4 years of failures.

To put it in perspective, X5 came out in 2000, X6 came out in 2001, then in 2003 we got X7, and this game only came a year after that in 2004. I cannot begin to fathom how exhausted the dev team for this series was, if they were the same ones making all of the games.

X8 though compared to X7 is like night and day. The control is quick and snappy, nothing feels sluggish or slow. 3D sections are limited to Ride Chaser stuff, which I will get back to later I really want to talk about those.

They also fixed problems I had with certain characters, for one, the voice acting is much better than X7. X doesn't sound like a literal robot anymore, and Axl's voice isn't the most grating noise on the planet.

They also worked to make Axl and X more distinct from one another gameplay wise. Axl has different weapons from X now, most of which don't seem to consume ammo. He can actually aim now, the auto aim from X7 is nowhere to be seen. He can also hold onto walls and rain fire onto enemies from there. His Copy Shot was also improved and it doesn't take an eternity to kill enemies with it, and the Copy Shot is actually more useful for item collection and upgrades.

This game transformed Axl from my least favorite X character to play as, into my favorite X character to play as because of his now diverse action set.

The others are also not slouches, Zero gets multiple weapons for usage in combat that you can unlock. My favorite is the D-Glaive because of its sheer range and how it makes his Rasetsusen technique (the one where he spins in midair) incredibly devastating.

X of course gets two sets of armor once again, but like in X7, you can utilize the individual parts right away without having to collect everything, giving you the individual benefits from the start. This also allows you to do the thing I brought up in my X5 review, being the mixing and matching of armor pieces for your preferred playstyle.

I primarily used the Icarus Armor because X's Giga Crush is incredibly helpful for taking down bosses, and his charged attack is just a massive fuck you laser, which rips enemies to shreds. I tried the Hermes Armor but the X Drive is considerably less efficient for me personally. Plus, the Icarus Armor gives X this nice red color, and red is my favorite color so it's just a bonus.

I can't really speak for the Special Weapons for this game, because since X6, I've just gotten so used to just using the buster (or rather the Nova Strike in that game) because from what I can tell, the Special Weapons in X6 and X7 kind of blow. The Buster/Axl's A-Bullets are all incredibly effective, and when it comes to Zero, the technique I mentioned earlier is easily the best, along with his regular combos.

I did try the Blast Launcher from Axl, and it was damn effective. Maybe I'll try Weakness order when I replay this game eventually.

The story was interesting if nothing else. The humans want to migrate to to the moon after having to deal with the multitude of Maverick Wars that have taken place, and this requires the use of a new generation of Reploids, all of which have the same copy ability as Axl.

At one point, the elevator, simply called the Jakob Elevator, and the beginning of much of the religious symbolism this game has, suffers a malfunction and one of the carts on it flies off and crashes. X is of course the first person on the scene, and calls for help, until suddenly Sigma exits the cart... and then suddenly a bunch of Sigmas exit. X is, reasonably, scared shitless until the Sigmas transform into regular reploids, with a purple haired pretty boy named Lumine appearing to explain the situation.

Lumine is the director the Jakob Project, and a New Gen Reploid like the others. They transformed into Sigma because his model is very durable, which sets off many red flags for me personally, but X ultimately just accepts it without pressing for more info.

Then while going through... Noah's Park... This shit writes itself. While going through Noah's Park to deal with Maverick Mechanaloids, the Maverick Hunters encounter a once again revived Vile, who looks incredibly like Boba Fett now, finally completing his design arc from X1 to now.

They treat Vile like he's a major recurring threat, but the last time he appeared was 5 games ago. Kind of makes me wonder why he wasn't in X5 honestly, Dynamo was kind of just there, and his reappearance in X6 didn't make much sense either. You could probably replace Dynamo with Vile in those games and it wouldn't really change much.

Anyways, Vile kidnaps Lumine, and then suddenly 8 New Gen Reploids go Maverick. This is apparently not supposed to be possible given how the New Gen Reploids are immune to the viruses that have turned others into Mavericks.

Over the course of the game however, it is figured out that Sigma's DNA is within all of the copy chips. Axl is luckily excluded due to being a prototype, but what this ultimately means is that all New Gen Reploids can go Maverick at will.

Technically I thought that that was kind of how it always was, with exception to like, X3 and X5, but it's whatever.

After all 8 Mavericks are defeated, the Hunters go to the Moon to confront Sigma who is clearly involved. Ultimately however, it turns out that Lumine was pulling the strings all along, and he eventually turns into a giant robotic archangel who must be destroyed.

The incident shakes X, but he is comforted by Zero who reassures him that they will always have to fight to defend everyone, thus ending X8's story.

Comparatively speaking, this is probably the best X story since X4 (the dub is really what hurts that game, from what I've heard the X4 story is considered relatively ok.) It brings up a lot of interesting questions concerning Axl and the New Gen Reploids, and slowly watching the characters piece together what's really going on is engaging.

Back onto the gameplay though, now I have some complaints.

Level Design in this game is only slightly better than X6. This game has almost the same level of spike obsessions as that one, and it is very egregious.

Once again, I have to admit that I hate spikes as a video game obstacle. They're just beginners traps that screw the player over for not already knowing the level design, and instead of actually being a genuine challenge for the player, they're little more than a fake difficulty spike.

The only levels that don't have spikes in them are the Ride Chaser levels... which have two realms of quality.

Central White is ok, if not a little annoying for the miniboss taking a lot of time, but Dynasty is easily the worst level in the game hands down.

It's the only part of the game that controls like ass, feels like you're flying through fucking Coruscant with the amount of sign posts and shit you'll be careening into, it's a fucking mess. The devs seem to know that too because they didn't lock any hidden items or anything behind the stage.

Other stages of note though go to Inferno, the worst regular level of the game, because not only does it have 3 separate autoscrolling segments that can result in instant death, but it is also littered with spikes.

Booster Forest also sucks because the process of unlocking shit in that level all relies on bringing the one ride armor the game gives you to the end of the stage. I hate when games lock items behind gimmick mechanics, so this part just pisses me off. Also has a fuck ton of spikes so that's a bonus.

And of course, the Final Level is also a spike obsessed mess that gets on my nerves, I'd be more willing to give it a pass for having spikes if it wasn't for two things. The fact that X6 ruined Spikes in Final Levels for me, and the fact that the Retry System in this game has been completely ruined.

Since at least X5 (or maybe X4, it's been a hot minute since I've played that one), when you would game over, the game would just let you start from your last checkpoint. This is kind of what mitigated the shittiness of the level/boss design from X6 to X7.

This is not the case in X8. If you run out of retries, you are forced to go back to the R&D Lab and pick the stage and start over. By default you only get 2 retries, and you have to buy more to get a max of 5, and if any of those bought ones go away, you have to buy them again. It just feels like an unnecessary and honestly dickish change given that the Level Design ain't that much improved from X6.

Then there's the Metal System. I'm mixed on this because while it fixes problems that were created by the X5-X7 era of Mega Man, it also just doesn't feel 100% like the best decision to make.

First of all, Heart Tanks no longer exist. You buy health upgrades for all of the characters in the R&D Lab. While I appreciate this feature, it could have just been simpler to keep the Heart Tanks but make it so that it raises the health of the entire party. That way the exploration for those upgrades would feel more earned. It's more of a minor complaint since the exploration for items is still there, but this is a solution for a problem that didn't need to exist in the first place.

Secondly, certain upgrades can only be found. This includes Zero's weapons and stuff. This isn't a bad thing, except in Booster Forest where almost all of that shit is locked behind utilizing the Ride Armor. Trying to get the items in Booster Forest is ten times more difficult than the Final Boss of the game, and not in a fun way. Even the smallest mistake will result in your run being restarted, and it fucking sucks.

Back onto the good side of things, I like the Double Attack, which allows the two characters (they kept that mechanic from X7) to do a massive attack on an enemy or boss for big damage. I actually like the Dual Character system in general in this game, as many of the problems it had from X7 have been mitigated. Here, if one of your characters dies, instead of losing a life, you are simply switched to the other character, and if you raise your Double Attack meter enough, the other character will be revived.

You also have a health system that works similarly to the Mother series, where it slowly goes down but can be recovered if you switch characters. It's honestly a very neat system.

All in all, Mega Man X8 couldn't make up for the failings of its predecessors, but here's hoping that maybe someday it will get the sequel it rightfully deserves.

This was definitely still the worst 8/10 I've ever played though.

X8 is what you get if you decide you're going to fix X7 but somehow figure that the only issue with that game was the camera, which is an incredibly daft way of looking at the problem. X7 was going to be a bad game from the moment they started developing the tech for it, trying to map a fast-paced 2D action game to 3D, without much regard for preserving the way it played.

The result was a tedious mess with a long list of issues, which includes: awkward physics that create problems not only during fights, but while climbing and moving around on platforms. 3D animations that are just not as snappy as 2D -- achieving that requires a lot of polish -- resulting in a game that feels slower overall. Characters feel unresponsive, as attack animations are far longer and unnecessary additions such as turning animations are added. In fact, while the playable characters are the ones for which this issue is immediately noticeable, almost every enemy in the game has this issue too, which means that bosses feel stilted and unthreatening.

There's more: back when the games were 2D, there was a clear distinction between foreground and background due to distinct rendering styles (X6 is arguably an exception, but it's not a bar for quality). When everything is 3D and stuff flies into and from the background, that distinction is a lot harder to make, resulting in stages that are more difficult to read, and hits or deaths you would have seen coming from a mile away before.

This is also an issue with lighting, color, and the use of perspective. For the former two, 2D games enjoyed well-defined color palettes with defined edges between one stage element and the other. You could see spikes in your peripheral vision as soon as it entered the screen, thanks to their marked shape framed by the clearly understandable platforms, whereas now they blend into details on floors and walls. Details which, by the way, you wouldn't normally see, if not for the use of perspective to accentuate that yes, this is a 3D environment you're looking at! It looks pretty, but adds more noise and makes distances harder to parse compared to the 2D analogues.

The PS2 itself factors in, its relatively low processing power for a 3D console contributing to the limited visuals, slower pace, loading times, etcetera. Only after all that, then you have the design issues, including the camera that seems like it belongs in an RPG of sorts. But forget about the camera for a moment, and look at everything else that comes before it. Can a good Mega Man X game come out of that mess? It can't. And that's what X8 ultimately felt like: a sequel that removes the 3D gameplay from X7, but keeps most of the other problems.

Which isn't to say the game is an exact copy of X7, it did bring new ideas to the table, among which are some very cool ideas and some terrible ones. On the good camp, characters have been reworked and are much more interesting this time around. All of them are available from the start, and power ups are no longer restricted to the character that picks them up. Each of their main gameplay issues have been solved, as well.

X is now back to having two armors, the Hermes and Icarus armors, both of which are crazy powerful and can be mixed and matched if you feel like it. The downside is that they're ugly as heck, but I'll take it after X7's pretty but anemic Glide Armor. His charge shot is back to being good, since it covers a larger part of the screen and there is no lock-on mechanic anymore. This also means Axl loses the spot of top ranged character, but as he can now hover for an extended period of time as well as control the direction of his shots, he finds himself a niche in shooting things outside of their attack ranges.

Something that also helps Axl is a newly added mechanic where switching characters allows the character in the back to restore HP, encouraging the player to not focus on a single protagonist. Still, I prefer having Zero in the back, who still feels sluggish compared to his X4 incarnation, but his Z-Saber now reaches farther, and if it doesn't fit your playstyle, he can collect other weapons to use, like a glaive and a hammer. It's all very stylish, and while I personally stuck to the Z-Saber, I hear the extra weapons are legitimately useful on the Hard difficulty setting.

That said, to get those weapons, you have to go through the upgrade system, and this is where things gets stupid. X8 decided just picking up the upgrade in a stage was too easy. Not only did they make the acquisition methods convoluted -- I don't think most of these are possible to figure out without a guide -- but you also have to grind metals in stages to be able to equip them.

How grindy is it? About a third of my final playtime was spent away from the controller while the shoot button was held down and Axl farmed metals for me. There are faster methods than the AFK one, but it's still hours worth of farming, and you have to do it to get all the upgrades. To add insult to injury, extra lives also have to be bought with metals: the EX-tank is gone, the game is back to booting you to stage select on a game over, and if you want to have more than two lives, you're going to have to fork over those valuable metals.

It's an awful system. Better than rescuing reploids for upgrades and having to redo stages over and over, I guess, but still awful. And then again, you still have to do that, since backtracking is at its worst since X5. In fact, X8's stage design is centered around frustration more than anything else. There are two Ride Chaser stages that play like X7 stages on steroids and can just eff right off. There's a Ride Armor stage that's infuriating in how the armor handles, and in the wonky stage gimmicks that force you to retry dozens of times. There are spikefests that call to mind all of the innate issues to the game I've mentioned above. It's all awful.

There's also a ranking system for the stages, NG+, multiple navigators you can experiment with on stages, but god, I am not submitting myself to this game one more time, and neither should anyone. Mega Man X8 is a sad attempt to salvage the franchise, and puts a long-delayed end to a franchise that kept going for at least three games too long.