Review: Rockman 2 β

 

β is Beta

 My boss order: Flash, Metal, Wood, Bubble, Quick, Clash, Heat, Air

Vanilla?

When booting the game, you have the vanilla intro. Then the title screen very slightly modified, and the classic stage select. Then you select a stage, and notice the layout is different, but until now, no new palette and no custom music. That's right, this is a "vanilla" Rockman 2 romhack. But is it really?

The further you play, you will notice that it is not. Despite the palettes and music untouched, the boss them are changed to be harder, and have different weakness. Some enemies are also slightly changed, and there are some rare new graphics. These changes are a bit off-putting, the game try to feels vanilla while it is not.

 

Oh boy

Even if vanilla, aesthetic should be rated, on how the vanilla graphics are used. And I have to say it is rather lackluster. The original RM2 has some great graphics, but here there's isn't as much. While some looks good, like bubble man and the waterfall section, some level have very simple, if not no background at all, just a blank black BG like Woodman stage. It is a bit disappointing.

 

This is sort of a maze level.

Being mostly vanilla, the main focus of this game should be the level design. Unfortunately, it is not the best. It is hard for sure, but also infuriating. I recognize the game try to do new things and use new elements, or mix new elements not commonly see together. However it also overuse some enemies.

And some times when elements are mixed or used in new ways, it isn't for the best, and feels really bad to play. I can't really explain why, but I had a sour feeling in some of the levels.

Take for example the screenshot of Metal Man stage above. Normally the screws are in a corridor section. Here the game change it to put them in more open space But it feels really bad to have precision platforming with these. It is hard, and annoying to have one tile jump on conveyor, especially on top of the screen where the screws can spawn directly into you.

 

You don't often see "bloopers" and "pokeys" together

The game changed some things but not for the best. It seems the game fixed the "pause trick" of resetting your momentum when pausing in the air. Sure, it was more like a bug, you can fix it so people don't abuse it. But it felt good to abuse it, to have a safety net for awkward jumps. Now there's not any at all. Also this game has many, many one tile jump. Too much precision platforming, and the item 1 and 2 to help you in those section are behind the two hardest levels (well Heatman's level is not hard, but the boss is, and it's weakness is not Bubble and it may be Airman so fuck it).

 

One of the few new graphics is THAT! WTF

One of the reason why I felt bad playing it is the lack of polish. I encountered multiple times platform that don't act like they should. See below some example. While maybe Metal Man ones can be understand as a way to get down it's still a dick move that made me die on my last life. And in Quick Man stage the collision doesn't match the platform, while the shadow under do. Minor anomalies, but still should've been fixed before release.

 

Test your game

 

One other reason is the teasing. By that I means every level have a secret hidden (E-tank or live) in plain sight but you can't collect unless you have the required item (mostly item 1) or have a weapon to destroy the barrier (I learned too late that metal blade CAN destroy barriers here).. It's annoying to see so many paths and E-tank you can't get especially since the boss are hard and they can greatly help if you don't have their weakness.

Blind jump. Went the wrong side? YOU DIE LOL

As of now, I've played 6 levels in 3h30. I'll quit for tonight, but I don't know if I will continue. Yes I'm the sort of guy who can give up on games after playing for a while if I notice I don't have fun. Because there's so many great games to play, I don't feel bad giving up a bad game. But games I don't have fun aren't necessarily a bad game, sometimes it just doesn't fit my tastes. It's my own feeling. Having said that...

Temporary rating:

⭐

Poor 

Edit: Picked up the game again for one hour. Heatman stage isn't too bad, and I've found how to exploit it's pattern and it's weakness to quick boomerang. Finally with item 1 I can get past Airman's first part (btw item 1 move downward now, while item 2 move immediately without waiting for you). The second part isn't too bad despite using wind. And Airman is weak to Heatman. So finally done with the 8 robot masters, Wily's fortress stage 1 is slippery but other than that it's okay, Mecha dragon is as annoying as ever. But Wily stage 2 is annoying, it's one of this stage where it expect to correctly use your items to progress, but in a annoying way. I'm stuck on one part where I keep dying. Will try again later maybe...