Mega Man 2.5D Game Sample - PC
32Mega Man 2.5D is one of the many existing Mega Man fan games out there, and one that has gotten a considerable amount of attention for having a sort of "2.5D" feel. There isn't really too much to say about the game from a historical standpoint, but here is a passage from the main website:
"Mega Man 2.5D is a fangame developed by a small team of obsessive Mega Man fans. It began in 2009 as an animated proof-of-concept. This got a surprising amount of positive response, and because of this a couple of us got together with the goal of making a playable game out of it.
There are mainly two things that set Mega Man 2.5D apart from most other Mega Man games. The first is the co-op mode, where two players team up to take on Dr. Wily. The other is the use of camera perspective changes which is featured a lot in the single-player mode of the game."
Outside of that, the game is a mash-up of MM concepts and enemies, with a bit of a neat visual look on familiar 8-bit MM graphics. Being as it is a fan game, I think it is pretty neat, but the game is still pretty new and it is NOT without problems, so instead of "attacking" the game based on balance and the like (that isn't so much an issue...it takes both the "good" and "bad" balancing elements of MM games...for better or worse, so if you know what to expect, you "might" be okay, though some still express that the game is needlessly difficult in spots). Instead, I will express the actual issues with the game.
It looks good and sounds good, but just one visit to the main website's forum (or "FAQs") will show you that the game has numerous technical issues. The game crashes quite often, particularly if you leave the game alone for an extended period of time (so game stability, if you will) and there were a couple of Co-op issues listed too, as well as various odd bugs. I only had the game crash twice...which, given the circumstances, wasn't bad. The game stability seems to be improving as the game is tweaked and updated. The other gripe I had was with controls, which others experienced too...the play control doesn't seem to be "spot on", which can make simple leaps of faith sometimes feel like difficult leaps of faith. Keys for some also don't seem to "map" well and joystick support has been a noted issue. I used "Joy to Key" with that in mind and out of fairness to the good team that made the game, I didn't play as well as I could in this game, even though I am familiar with classic MM, because my cheap Best Buy controller has problems...for example, "up" on the joypad doesn't work at all, lol...but yeah, the controls could be a little tighter, even given that, but they work regardless...jumps just feel a bit more awkward than I remember old MM games being.
Those things aside, the game is pretty neat and if you download the "non-installer" version of the game and follow the FAQ on the website, you should get the game to run...I have NOT had framerate issues and the like that some had. My general issues were early crashes at the start and a bit of play control. That is all. The game is new and they are still taking feedback and fixing stuff, which is pretty normal of any release, really.
Beat robot masters, get powers, find E tanks...pretty normal stuff. Level design was okay for me for the most part. There are "letters" on the stages (I didn't try to grab the one in the video because my controller was acting up, such as when I start shooting at the wall because my controller sometimes inputs a "left" as a "right"...really need a replacement) that will allow you to fight a secret boss if you get them all (B.O.N.D). You can play with Proto Man, but as far as I can tell, he is identical to MM.
You can get the game at:
http://petersjostrand.com/index.php
Just as a note, I am now wanting to play MM8BDM again.