Mega Man 3

"Mega Man really is mega!"

Mega Man returns for another game, and it is the best so far (lets just pretend all the other mega man games don't exist at the moment). Its better then 1 and 2 put together, honest! Mega Man 3 is about robots, evil robots, all with MAN at the end of their name. Its pretty scary, seeing so many robots, just imagine if the world turned into that. Robots everywhere. As long as they don't try and kill me, I wouldn't be bothered though. Oh, and they better be my servant as well. Anyways, Mega Man is a great robot, he is blue, and is good, not evil. This game is also good!

Mega Man is yet again equipped with a gun. A buster gun. You can defeat enemies from a distance with this, some will take a lot of shots, some will die fast. Defeating certain bosses will gain you their weapons to use, but you only have a certain amount of ammo for them. You must collect ammo for them, fortunately it isn't universal or anything stupid like that. You can also find health pick ups to restore your health, and E-Tanks, which can be used to restore your heath as well, but are portable and aren't instant use. The other guns are new yet again, although some might be partially based on previous weapons from Mega Man 1 and 2. Blasting robots is always fun, and with more cool and well designed enemies in this, it gets better. Although the idea of just shooting enemies gets a bit boring. Fortunately, you have to hit certain enemies in a certain place, or they might do something to make your weapons harmless to them. This means you can't just press the fire button over and over again, you have to keep on your toes to defeat enemies in this game. This is what makes the combat better, because if it was the same as Mega Man 1 and 2, it just wouldn't of been better.

Your main objective in the game is to defeat 8 evil robots, then defeat 4 more, then do a couple of levels, THEN defeat the final boss. Mega Man 3 is longer then 1 and 2 by far, the levels are short, but it has more levels in it. Well, they are pretty short but they are as long as Mega Man 2s levels but there are more, so that makes it longer. OK, so that idea has been used over and over again, but the levels are more better then Mega Man 2s. And that is saying something. The levels are based on the boss, well, sort of. If there is a fire boss, the level would be fire type. But instead of elemental bosses, they just have different weapons. Like the Gemini Man, he uses a space laser, so the level is set in a space like place. Its pretty cool, the level design is better, and more enjoyable. So far, everything for Mega Man 3 is looking good.

So what has been added in Mega Man 3? Well, instead of items, you get a little pet robot dog, but it more or less does the same things as before, but a bit different. You get different weapons, different levels, different bosses, and, the graphics are actually slightly better! And the music is too. More on those in the second to last paragraph. The controls are the same, and so is the story, more on those in the next paragraph. So Mega Man 3 adds more. Mega Man 2 was pretty similar to Mega Man 1, its like they just rushed out a sequel. In this though, I think they took more time in making it better, because it certainly is! Thank god the difficulty system is out though! Mega Man was always meant to be a hard game, and this one is. For those who aren't as good, sorry, your just going to have to try again. Thats about all the new stuff, doesn't seem a lot, but trust me, its better.

Whats bad though? Well, the length again. Its the longest of the original 3 Mega Man games, but its still not that long. The end levels get similar to the end of Mega Man 2 as well. You just have one large room, a dozen teleporters, go through, beat boss, come out, do it again. This is bad because its just boring sooner or later, its good once you actually beat them all. Also, the story line is exactly the same! Dr Wily has made more evil robots, beat them, beat him, end of. They could at least try something new. Also, the controls are exactly the same, which is actually kind of good because they are good as they are. The only problem is, its as if Mega Man moves a grid, and half a grid if you tap the directional button. This is annoying and can lead to annoying boss fights. Still, that doesn't really matter that much. Not many bad points then.

The graphics have also improved. No, honest. OK, so Mega Man looks exactly the same, but every thing else has more colour in it, and looks better. Instead of drab backgrounds, they are colourful, and look great. The music is of same quality, and is as good as Mega Man 2s music, but it is different. So thats good, better graphics, and better music, meaning capcom CAN improve graphics and music.

Overall Mega Man 3 is a solid platformer. Its actually as good as the Mario platformers on the NES, so this is pretty good. Better then Mega Man 1, and 2 put together, you cannot go wrong with this. Better graphics, better music, better levels, better everything, better game. If you have a choice, Mega Man 1, 2 or 3, get this one. This just proves Capcom CAN improve a whole game as well.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/06