So is anyone else playing the Game of the Century? Well, ok, maybe that's a little overboard, but GotY easily! Definitely worth the 10 bucks, and then some. Sure, I've only beaten 2 bosses so far (hey, I may be old school, but I still suck at videogames ), but I've at least seen all the levels, and I'm more than satisfied.

It's not just the oldschool graphics and square wave music. Sure, all that stuff is neat (although the slow text rolling at the store or cut scenes is annoying), but the game has the feel of older games. You're meant to replay the levels. You're meant to master the game thoroughly. And the challenge level has been designed to suit that. It's hard. It's very hard. But not insurmountable. And easy to master once you know how. And still enjoyable once you master it. Thankfully, Capcom remembered that you need more than just being in 3D. It's almost constant challenge, all the time. Constant motion. No collecting items. Very few puzzles. Just different dangers linked together for 5 minutes at a time.

And as far as I can tell, they hit all of that as close to perfectly as possible. Sure, this is based on only one day of playing, but I haven't seen a poorly designed level. I haven't had any complaints about the cheapness of a stage or a boring stretch or whatever.

I also haven't had any complaints about everything being stale, either, which was probably my biggest fear. After all, that was MM6's biggest problem, despite being a pretty decent game on its own. But it seems like the 15 year hiatus worked out well for them. The levels themselves are all varied. They all have some pretty neat stretches to them. They all work well. The uniqueness isn't limited to a gimmick like making one of the robots female or having Dr. Light be the decoy for Wily this time around. It's truly a unique and inspiring game on its own merits, based solely on the gameplay.

You hear that Nintendo? Time to put Zelda in stasis for 15 years!

Ahem, sorry for that So, anyway, my first impression is that this game is one of the best Mega Man games ever. We'll see if that still holds up after multiple playthroughs and seeing the Wily stages and seeing how the boss weapons work out throughout the game. But as it is, I can't see too many major complaints out of this.

Buy this game. Now.

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[Warning: this review isn't exactly meant to be a stand alone review for someone who's never played the game before. If you're looking for descriptions of the game or basic overviews, get out, as you'll find none of that here. This review's long enough already.]

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