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
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