BaD #10: A Day with Steam Punks

On 02/13/2015 at 05:44 AM by daftman

Linked to Article Series: Blog a Day (BaD) 2015

One of the unequivical facts of gaming today is that there are not enough new Mega Man games. Heck, there are no new Mega Man games! So when I came across a game on the App Store that is an obviously love letter to the blue bomber, I really want to love it. Steam Punks wears its inspiration pretty blatantly. Sure, it has a...wait for it...steampunk setting instead of some time in the near-ish future but it's totally Mega Man. You can choose what order to play the levels in, the bosses have funny names, and you get their weapons when you beat them. The main character even jumps the same way as Mega Man, lifting his front leg. You know what I'm talking about

But that's where the problems start. The jumps are super floaty, like your character is playing with moon gravity while the enemies are on earth. Speaking of the enemies, they all have way too much life. Maybe you can upgrade your gun or something, I don't know, but it was frustrating how long it took to kill anything. And the levels are long, dull, and hard, though that last bit might be because of the controls and aforementioned floaty jumps. I've never liked virtual controls for games like this. My thumbs always wander and then I'm pushing and nothing happens because I'm no longer pushing the buttons. It wouldn't be so bad if the game supported physical controllers (my wife got me one for Christmas; it's awesome) but it doesn't. Talk about a missed opportunity.

I love that Steam Punks is trying to fill the hole left by the absence of real Mega Man games. It has nice graphics and the music is very gamey, which I love. It's a great effort but it's just not very fun to play, in my opinion, and that's not like Mega Man games at all.

Cary Woodham

02/13/2015 at 07:37 AM

I can't imagine trying to play a Mega Man style game on a tablet.

I'm working on revieweing a pretty good iPad game right now, though. It's called Adventure Time: Game Wizard.

daftman

02/14/2015 at 05:55 AM

I don't normally play these kinds of games either because I can't stand the touch controls. That's why I wish this game supported controllers.

There have been several good Adventure Time games, I think, but I haven't heard of that one.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/13/2015 at 09:50 AM

I'm thinking of getting a controller for my tablet. It's too bad this game isn't all it's cracked up to be. There might be better megaman clones out there though.

02/14/2015 at 05:57 AM

You should get a controller. It's really nice to have one for the games that support it. It's just difficult to know which one to get. The one I have goes on either side of my phone and connects via the lightning port, so it wouldn't even work with an iPad.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/13/2015 at 12:36 PM

Yeah, if there's one thing that makes Mega Man games great, it's the tight jumping. The ONE thing. Nah, obviously there's tons to like there.

So is this game like the Mega Man water levels jumping kinda floaty all the time?

02/14/2015 at 05:58 AM

That's a good analogy! It's like being underwater all the time.

KnightDriver

02/16/2015 at 12:49 AM

What a beautiful game!

02/16/2015 at 07:29 AM

I know! I just wish it played as well as it looked.

PixlBit