While the Mega Man games have a special place in my heart, it’s the Mega Man X series that I turn to when I want a fast-paced action game. The dashing, wall-clinging, and overall speed of the X games make it one of the best action series’ ever made, and it is downright criminal that there hasn’t been a new one since the PS2. Luckily, Batterystaple Games is just as mad about it as I am, and has made Echoes of Eridu to fill in that gap in my life.
Having played it at PAX East 2014, I can tell you that the controls are spot-on with the X series, and I was right at home within instants. You’re given the choice between using a sword or gun character right from the beginning, and are then left to go to town on the spectacular-looking robots that fill the factories and mechanical labs you race through. The game’s procedurally generated, so those places will be different every time you boot up the game.
It wouldn’t be a proper Mega Man X experience without great music, would it? Well, the devs nailed that, creating a pounding soundtrack that reminded me of some of the best times I’ve had running around blasting robots. I only got to hear a handful of tracks over the mess of the show floor, but the snippets I did catch were great. They chart new territory while feeling like they capture the pace and tone of the X series, so I know I’ll need to get a soundtrack when I pick up the game.
Not only that, but you can also bring a pal along to play the game co-op as well, something I always wished of the original X series. I was worried that this would result in killing my partner with my typical breakneck pace, but the game screen widened quite a bit when I got ahead of my partner. If you do get them killed, you can always sacrifice half of your health bar to bring them back to life, though.
You might want to think about it before doing that, though, as the game is a roguelike, so once you’re dead, it’s back to the title screen. You can collect various improvements and pickups for your character as you play that carry over onto new runs, though, so eventually you can build up a stockpile of equipment that will help you get through the game.
Building yourself up won’t be a slow endeavor, though, as the game moves at a quick pace. I was flying through stages like a Mega Man X champ in seconds, enjoying the tight controls and high speeds. You can be too, if you help them out by giving them a Greenlight vote and tossing them some cash on Kickstarter. The folks at Batterystaple Games really have a great feel for what was good about the Mega Man X series, and are using their own touches to add flares to it the devs at Capcom never dreamed of. They just want your life to be that much more awesome, so throw them some cash or a vote to help make that happen, would ya?
