So I downloaded an SNES emulator and dusted off my ‘old’ Dualshock 3 controller last week. Then I found all these great old games that I wanted to play so bad as a child but never got to, and now I finally did. One of those games is Mega Man 7 or and I thought I’d do one of these so called ‘retro reviews’ because, well, I’m so original and why the hell not?
So Mega Man 7′s story picks up where Mega Man 6′s story ended. The story starts with Dr. Wily being under arrest and the world is then threatened by the evil scientist’s robots. There is a total of 8 robots that you have to beat in order to save the day. The story is very simple but the storytelling is in my opinion not too bad. It isn’t in your face like in most modern games and it really doesn’t distract you. However it’s still there and gives you a reason to do what you are doing, defeating evil robots.
When we are talking about old-school 2D platformers, the most important part of the game is how it plays and whether or not the jumping alone is going to make you rage quit. I’m sad to say that the jumping was very frustrating at times, indeed. The problem with the jumping in Mega Man is that Mega Man himself only jumps so high. The platforms are then placed so that you will barely make it or not make it at all. There are definitely games out there that do a worse job at this. But still, it’s very frustrating at times. The other frustrating thing is the fact that spikes kill you instantly and then you have to play the whole level again. Just because your foot barely touched a spike.
The boss robots in Mega Man 7 were very challenging and I did rage quit a few times. Boy, I had almost forgotten what it feels like to rage quit. I don’t however think hard bosses are a bad thing because there is no better feeling in the world than finally beating that ‘son of a bitch’. This might be because I grew up with games like this that had some very hard-to-beat bosses and I sort of miss those in newer games. Don’t you agree that some games today are just way too easy to beat?
The graphics in Mega Man 7 are fantastic. The very first thought that went through my head when the game started was “wow… This game looks really nice. That is some amazing pixel art.” And that’s true. Mega Man 7 is also a very colorful and I guess you could say ‘happy’ looking game. I really don’t know if there is anything bad to say about the graphics. Sound design was also quite good in Mega Man 7.
Conclusion
I do agree that Mega Man 7 isn’t the best game in the Mega Man series. However, Mega Man 7 is a very fun game and I would definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for something different and/or old school. If you don’t like old-school games, you should at least be able to appreciate the absolutely fantastic pixel art. That is, if you even like pixel art.
Score: 7 out of 10
