So I was led under the impression that A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda was a Mega Man-styled side-scroller where you pick a stage of any order you want, go around blasting robotic enemies, and steal special powers from the bosses. Not true; just because you have a robot (or a cyborg or a someone in a mecha or sorts) that can jump and shoot thngs doesn't immediately make it a Mega Man clone. If anything, this game resembles more closely to the oft-forgotten (and now freeware) MS-DOS game Abuse by Crack dot Com (comprising of a few former id Software guys), with a bits of Metroid thrown in. The story is that you're A.R.E.S., a combat robot with a mission to rescue Dr. Julia Carson, a scientist from United Earth working on a way to save the planet through a concept known as Deep Space Reprocessing by recycling waste, and investigate the DSR space station, the Junk Sector, and its Zytron outbreak. The game however only has five levels and most of the replay value comes from trying to improve your score and get higher ranks. A.R.E.S. is not alone on this mission as he's aided by Valkyl, an A.I. of a battleship who can rain down destruction after filling a special meter. Along the way, you'll collect various upgrades that gives you new abilities such as an exploding/electrical dash and better immunity to toxic Zytron gases infesting the Junk Sector space station. You also get a few new guns to play around with, which can be upgraded with the scraps and resources you collect from fallen enemies and scattered throughout stages. Said ability upgrades can be used to reach hidden areas to uncover secret items or data packs that shed some light on the mission, the Junk Sector, characters, enemies, and UE.

Sadly this is where things fall apart for me and this game because there's one glaring problem with this game that I have: the controls. I've put this game down before and recently picked up again this game again to see if it was just me or the game's sluggish controls that was putting me off, and I can say it's latter that's driving me to play other platformers with precise controls. I've played many 2D platformers in my day, but A.R.E.S. feels sluggish and sometimes unresponsive on both keyboard+mouse and controller. Not to mention he feels sluggish to move around in these levels, even with these upgrades to give him more advanced moves he feels slow to move around. Metagal has more responsive controls than this game. Hell, even Mighty No. 9 on Wii U has more responsive controls than this game. Speaking of levels, the level design can sometimes come off as cheap; a noticible moment is this climb from one of the game's bosses in the third level where you have to leap from platform to platform to the top, but thanks to medicore controls, I usually fall for a cheap death and my score/rank goes with it. Fun. The Metroid elements this game tries to use doesn't quite capture the sense of progression that other Metroidvanias games out there give and feels more like a chore to collect these upgrades to pad out the short longevity. Although the game as a nice soundtrack, but to be honest, there are some tracks that were completely forgettable and boring to me. While there's an EX version of this game that came out a few years ago that updates the graphics and adds another character, I honestly don't think a $10 price tag is justifible for an "update" when other developers lately are giving the updated versions of their games for free if they met a certain ceteria (e.g. Darksiders II, BioShock, Skyrim). Not to mention I'm not fond of the redesigns of Valkyl and especially not Dr. Julia Carson in EX.

Another reason I'm not giving this game a recommendation is how Extend Studios had the nerve to take advantage of the blacklash Mighty No. 9 is suffering through to "promote" sales of their game. They have to nerve to put the game on sale just around the time when the game was going on sale anyways during Steam's Summer Sale a few months ago for the sake of bashing Inafune. What was that 2% difference between the 77% for your "mighty" discount and the 75% discount during the Summer Sale supposed to represent, your respect for a struggling developer? Seriously, is kicking people while they're down your business practice now? Sadly I'm probably the only one who sees this sort of practice as mean-spirited, underhanded, and outright unprofessional. Hopefully A.R.E.S. will be more fun to play in Combat Core, but honestly, rather than working on an Episode 2 for this game (I'm sure you'll figure that out), I think what Extend Studios should be doing is working on their people skills.

Fun. Short. (VERY short.) Get it during a sale for cheap and it's absolutely worth a couple bucks.

I am a huge Mega Man fan and saw this game and thought that it couldn't be too bad. I was right, it was fun, but it was definately not the best game ever. It is however fun enought to try out. :)

it's not mighty number 9 and it didnt take your money and burn it in a hole

the game that WAS MIGHTY NO.9 before it was even spurted into existance by kenji inafune.

seriosly getting this is better then crappy no.9

It's very much Mega Man but doesn't quite live up to the highs of that series. Still if you're looking for a game in that vein you can do much, much worse.

Good for a few hours, get it when it's on a discount. One thing of note is the upgrade system, which seems quite redundant. You need 3 types of "scrap" to do upgrades, but they drop from the enemies with almost the same ratio. So why have three different types?

A.R.E.S. is kind of short, but very very sweet. While recently updated to the EX edition, also on Steam, this version costs half as much, so if you're on a budget, you can do a lot worse. The game has a very Mega Man X4 feel, with tight controls, an interesting upgrade system, and some really cool environments. Totally worth picking up, but if you've got a few extra bucks to spare, go for the EX version.

Pretty good mouse-aim platform shooter, as I recall. There was a boss fight I had trouble figuring out, but it was so long ago that I can't remember the specifics. Picked up the "EX" edition today based on their "Mighty" discount.

Quick Summary: ARES Extinction Agenda is a side scrolling shooter similar to Megaman, with a very short campaign. The game’s replay value comes from grinding for “recyclable parts” which are used to purchase weapon upgrades, and from trying to get a higher score on each level (faster completion and taking less damage). You’ll want to use a controller for this game.

You play a robot soldier named Ares, investigating the takeover of a human inhabited area where a mysterious gas has seized control of all the electronics (robot enemies). Throughout the game’s 5 levels you discover more and more about Zytron, the green gas responsible for this whole mess, and why it’s hell bent on killing all humans.

Ares gameplay is mostly side scrolling though there is some mild climbing and platforming. You have a double jump, but it’s not especially powerful, and don’t expect to be climbing walls like Megaman. Your life is measured in “energy” which can be upgraded by finding “data cubes” (collectibles) or by getting higher scores in levels. Energy does not regenerate so you’ll probably want to take your time if you’re a new player. There are a few weapons and outfits to choose from, but they don’t have that big of an effect on gameplay.

Pros:
+The game is fun if you’re looking for a short action packed diversion. The story is okay as well, though nothing special.
+Once you’ve beaten the game you can replay missions at will, trying to get higher scores and trying to collect all the data cubes. This allows you to grind for recyclable parts pretty easily and buy all the weapon upgrades to make your “hard mode” playthrough easier.

Cons:
-If you play with keyboard and mouse like I did, your aim may be better (mouse aiming) but you’ll run into the problem of keyboards not registering more than 3 buttons pressed at once. For example running, jumping, shooting, and using special moves simultaneously. This will lead to some embarrassing falls to your death.
-The game isn’t hard if you just want to play through, but if you want the steam achievements, they can be a pain. I played through the game twice and couldn’t get higher than C ranking. Maybe I just suck, but to get the high ranking you need to finish each round in half the par time, take no damage, and get 100 hit combos. I couldn’t even beat the bosses without losing half my energy.
-As mentioned before, the game is very short. It takes about 2 hours to beat the whole thing, even if you’ve never played the game before.

Overall ARES may be a short game, but it’s fun while it lasts and the download size is pretty small (graphics are good though). Give it a try if you have it, but don’t feel bad if you don’t have the game’s DLC – Berzerker suit. It just gives you a powerful weapon that passes through walls while making you take extra damage from enemy attacks. It isn’t that useful after the first couple of levels.