Level Start

Sony's Playstation, released in 1994, was one of the fifth generation consoles; a generation that harbored the capacity for a fully rendered third dimension.  At the time, Sony wasn't looking to produce two-dimensional games, instead focusing on its 3-D competition with Nintendo and Sega.  However, Sony would eventually integrate them into their releases when they realized how 3-D could work for 2-D.  The graphics power of the console itself allowed two-dimensional games far greater depth with more colors on the screen at once, plus three-dimensional effects to render more stylish and realistic art, designs and also more fluid animations.  The Megaman X series was three games strong at this point, and the series aimed to continue, with X4, onto the Playstation.  The series continued all the way to X6, before it took another leap into the sixth generation.  This generation built on three-dimensional design, rendering it even more realistically.  Now the question you've no doubt heard concerning this series is, "How many games were there again?"  With nine games, the series attempted to conclude several times.  So it was that with the second conclusion, released on December 6, 2001, the series began to show its age.  It is with Megaman X6 that our criticism lies.  

The next question you may then ask is, "Where did the X games go wrong?"  Video game customers are arguably the toughest customers you'll find in any market.  If customers' high standards are not met, bad reviews will travel fast.  Video games are a form of entertainment, one that the customer directly interacts with through sight, sound, touch, and thought.  With these instantaneous senses, the customer demands a product as responsive as they are.  This includes many standards presumed before even playing the game, some which may go unnoticed, and others which must stand out as masterpieces, if only for a second.  By the fifth game, X was just getting by without facelifts, new features, and fresh themes.  How did the series survive so long?  A supporting fan base.  Even more basic than this answer is the reason Megaman games have such a timeless following:  the gameplay.

Within a video game, the key element is gameplay.  Basically, this is how the customer, (which going forward will be named the player) controls themselves within the game.  If the avatar of the player is not a fluid extension of their reactions, the game is seldom tolerated, let alone recommended.  The environment in which gameplay takes place in is the level, and therefore "level design" is an element which directly affects gameplay.  Not too metaphorically, the level is a playground, with the player being a child.  Playgrounds have certain concrete standards pertaining to safety in order to assure that children are playing in a safe environment.  Secondary to these are the aesthetic standards of the playground, such as color and shape.  After these elements, the playground designers then continue to explore how to creatively entertain and engage children.  The same is true for level design.  This kind of design is consistent with aspects of graphic design; it's merely applied to game level format.  Like graphic design, the environment must have purpose, style, color, and innovation, among other dimensions.  

Again, the game we are examining is Megaman X6, an installment of a certain series renowned for its success in just such categories as level design and gameplay.  However, X6 was made outside of the series finale, Megaman X5, and was not backed by the series creator, Keiji Inafune.  It was also rushed for the Christmas season of 2001, to quickly cash in on the series' popularity.  These simple facts explain the reality behind every pixel:  X6 is a cheap exploitation of overused programming and franchise popularity.  The game was perceived as just the middleman to an easy profit.  Within the parameters of level design, its first flaw is in the layout, that is, the locations of platforms and pathways through the level.  The relationship each level's general layout has with the placement of obstacles and enemies is a dual example of impossible maneuverability and what seems a deliberate attempt to frustrate the player.  Another crucial flaw is an overabundance of instant death traps that terminate the player on contact.  The placement of these in some cases contradicts the structure or theme of the level, or stretches the theme as an excuse to include traps.  Many levels must be played several times, regardless of the adaptability of a player, because there are things present that simply cannot be foreseen, leaving it up to trial-and-error.  It is in this observation that another crucial clue lies.  The games in this series were all about developing skills with the character and adapting to the challenge as you proceeded.  This always revealed a purposeful, rhythmic flow through levels, which gradually became an all too simple realization yet still difficult to execute.  X6 lacks this subtle harmony, and the proof is in the very way one plays the game: frustrated, memorized, and overly cautious.  

The next flaw plays into level design, but is somewhat separate, and that is difficulty level.  The player's ability to terminate enemies, and their durability, are significantly spiked compared to other games in this series.  This makes areas harder to maneuver when timing and speed are the issue.  Also, the importance of enemies' placement soon becomes evident because it simply is ignored.  Progression through a level is thus reduced to memorization of the mind and fingers.  When video games first emerged in the late 60's, this need for memorization was the very definition of the era.  However, as technology has allowed games to develop into an art form, the intention for the game to attack the player from all sides has fallen out with the public.  This aspect also relates to graphic design and may have evolved with it.  Graphic designers are always trying to challenge their audiences, be it the public or their contemporaries.  They may not have as much justifiable space for challenge as video games, but it is a dimension of their work.  As graphic design has evolved with constant study and changing times, so difficulty in the level has too; an over excruciating challenge will always have the potential to frustrate and drive existing and potential customers away.  

Much like movies, video games have a thematic genre; that is, one pertaining to the kind of atmosphere set with design and plot line.  There then exist genres pertaining to the style of gameplay.  The category our game falls into is action, which then functions under the subcategory platformer.  In this genre, the player's character moves on a 2-dimensional plane, across various suspended and grounded platforms.  The manner in which they accomplish this is up to the mechanics and design of the game.  For a game to successfully entertain the player, it must achieve certain standards in visual and structural layout, both noticed and unnoticed, before it can deal with extra aesthetics that take it outside average appeal.  Other factors affect overall success of the levels in a game, namely the musical score, and of course the game mechanics themselves, but these are separate dimensions entirely; for our purposes we will address the art and design of the level itself.

The next big design flaw with Megaman X6 is its palette.  The color scheme for each level seems poor, overly vibrant  and almost neon.  In one level set in the Amazon, the background forest is dark green set against a bizarrely middle tone of purple with some gradation.  The environment contains muddy grayish greens in the foreground.  The setting then shifts to the inside of a cave.  The cave is a bright, grayish turquoise.  A strange metallic structure is barely visible in the background, and does not blend well given its relative distance.  The biggest offenders are the final levels, which also possess by far the worst level design, laden with unnecessary spikes and poor platform placement.  The background of these final stages of the game does invoke a sense of mystery, yet it is so packed with content that any attempt to make sense of it is quickly abandoned.  It contains many layers of translucent and intersecting green squares and lines; again these colors are practically glowing.  Nailed against wall floating in black space are two giant mythological animal composites.  the foreground directly contrasts this with bright yellows and reds.  The result is a visually confusing level.  

Probably the strangest aspect of the game branches off the game's lackluster story.  The story introduces a force called the Nightmare, which does not come in the form of just enemies, but affects the level itself.  The effect can obstruct pathways with large damaging metal blocks, rain fire or acid, limit visibility, or bombard the player with floating rocks.  This added game element is no doubt an attempt to provide greater challenge and variety to completed levels, which can be revisited (replay value picking up the slack of poor design).  It ends up creating an even harsher path through the levels, should they be affected by the randomized Nightmare.

To be fair, the challenge of the game has been viewed as a rare and defining trait by unconditionally devoted fans (those popularly titled as 'hardcore').  The widely accepted view that the game holds the most difficulty of every installment in the series also attracts a certain audience.  However, the question of difficulty is hardly an excuse, as it is mostly due to poor level design, and not something that stands on its own.  If there is a redeeming aspect to the design flaws and difficulty it is most certainly the challenge to complete a game placed into such a standalone category.  In this way, while its flaws cause it both a reduced audience and recognition in the industry, it more intensely attracts and is praised by the limited category of fans it appeals to.

It is unfortunate that the game fails in such a crucial category.  The game has been universally praised for both its soundtrack and increased control in gameplay (only due to its lifeless adoption from its predecessors).  If it had not been so rushed, and had been proposed to the series creator, the art and design of the game would have received more attention.