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.