A vast improvement on Megaman X7. The game feels a lot more thought out, and it shows. Unfortunately it is outdated.
While robots are destroying the Earth, the humans are migrating to the moon, via the Jacob Project. Its essentially a huge lift. X is sent to investigate a crash site, after reports say it was from that project. He is shocked to find Sigma inside. Thankfully, it turns out that they're copy reploids, assuming Sigma's role. The director of the project, Lumine explains this to X. Shortly afterwards, a huge maverick is spotted. Upon defeating it, the Maverick Hunters get attacked by Vile, a known criminal, and he has captured Lumine.
Though the feel of this game is like X7, you can't help but get a sense of Deja Vu. Perhaps its because its laid out like every other Megaman X game in existance. There are one or two stages that are totally different from the usual formula, but you will notice similarities to older X games.
The three characters play very differently, but not enough to make it alienating to anybody who's used to one character. X does what Megaman always did, Zero slashes things and Axl has rapid fire, hover and copy ability. Ideas that were good, such as the tag team system, return here and are put to good use. New here is a double attack, which basically deals more damage than anything else. It doesn't feel that natural and is unwieldy, so most will stick to the tried and tested methods.
One problem with this game is the level designs. Some are too easy, while others will frustrate you. Especially when spikes are involved, as they kill instantly. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but there is no "life" system. Instead, you have retry chips. You have to "buy" more of these, and you can't get more from the levels themselves. This ups the difficulty dramatically, and unless its on easy (infinite retrys!), it will frustrate you immensely.
Another is the bosses. Again, varying difficulty levels. But this is a more forgiving aspect, since the X series has generally more difficult bosses. However, it does feel like it is a lot harder than you'd remember.
The graphics here are better. A lot better. X and his friends and foes look a lot better than in the last X game. The environments still look a little cluttered, but nowhere near as psychadelic as the last attempt.
Sound has also improved, mainly because no annoying tunes are around! The voiceovers also have drastically improved and the fairly good translation helps that a lot. The same sound effects that X7 had are around, and thankfully they were actually pretty good, so it fits well here. Music is however the thing that stands out as the most improved.
X8 is a vast improvement on X7. Without a doubt. It recovers the old Megaman X style in narrative, the old style of gameplay, and indeed, makes itself seem more accessible. It does however, even with all this, feel old. The levels are a little crazy, due to the life system and the bosses are about as difficult as the older X games. Maybe having old school gameplay helps the player a little, but that doesn't mean it feels fresh.