Mega Man Battle Network (GBA)
Story:
Graphics:
Music:
Sound Effects:
Control:
Missions:
Navis:
Battle Chips:
Items/Upgrades:
Ending:
Replay Value:
Polish:
Extras/Easter Eggs:
Novelty:
Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
Graphics:
Music:
Sound Effects:
Control:
Missions:
Navis:
Battle Chips:
Items/Upgrades:
Ending:
Replay Value:
Polish:
Extras/Easter Eggs:
Novelty:
Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
Mega Man Network Transmission (GC)
Story:
Graphics:
Music:
Sound Effects:
Control:
Missions:
Navis:
Battle Chips:
Items/Upgrades/Support Utilities:
Ending:
Replay Value:
Polish:
Extras/Easter Eggs:
Novelty:
Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
Graphics:
Music:
Sound Effects:
Control:
Missions:
Navis:
Battle Chips:
Items/Upgrades/Support Utilities:
Ending:
Replay Value:
Polish:
Extras/Easter Eggs:
Novelty:
Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
Mega Man Battle Network 2 (GBA)
Story:
Graphics:
Music:
Sound Effects:
Control:
Missions:
Navis:
Battle Chips:
Items/Upgrades:
Ending:
Replay Value:
Polish:
Extras/Easter Eggs:
Novelty:
Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
Graphics:
Music:
Sound Effects:
Control:
Missions:
Navis:
Battle Chips:
Items/Upgrades:
Ending:
Replay Value:
Polish:
Extras/Easter Eggs:
Novelty:
Overall Score: X (+Y merits, -Z flaws)
Mega Man Battle Network 3 (GBA)
+0 Story: Some months after the events of MMBN2, a Net competition called the N1 Grand Prix grabs the attention of NetBattlers everywhere, including Lan and his friends. Around the same time, the WWW reemerges with a series of mysterious attacks that soon whip the public into a panic. The WWW's secret plot, it is revealed, is to collect the Tetra Codes that keep Alpha, the primordial Internet, locked away. If released, Alpha will devour all of Cyberworld, and the whole of society will come crashing down with it. Once the story finally gets going, there are some interesting twists and turns, and we finally get to see where Dr. Light and Dr. Cossack's Battle Network counterparts have been hiding this whole time...but boy, does the game take its sweet time in giving the player a clear sense of purpose and direction. The whole N1 Grand Prix plotline is just a means to an end, as is the whole Undernet ranking plotline, and the filler-tastic gameplay that characterizes those parts of the game makes the plot feel that much weaker. The game is also a bit heavy-handed with its "power of friendship" speeches, which would probably pull on the heartstrings more if the theme weren't forced upon the player practically every time Lan interacts with any of the supporting characters.
+2 Graphics: No complaints here; everything is clean and crisp, and the special effects are as good as ever.
-1 Music: Despite favorable updates to some familiar themes from the previous game, I find a lot of the soundtrack to be plodding and grating. Yoka (appropriately, but unfortunately) sounds like some waddling animal leading you around; Hades Island is an ominous vibe in search of a decent melody; that awful tension theme (the one that consumes the overworld just before the endgame) has about six measures' worth of unique and meandering notes, played on endless repeat EVERYWHERE YOU GO. Some of the more energetic themes (Sci Lab, DNN Station, most of the battles) and serious themes (Wily's lair, inside the hospital computer, Undernet) are up to snuff, but too much of the soundtrack is too generic or vamp-tastic to tolerate for the length of time you'll spend backtracking through the same few locations.
+1 Sound Effects: All the blips, bleeps, whooshes, and swooshes we've come to expect from the series. Nothing overwhelmingly neat, but functional, appropriate, and non-obnoxious sound effects are really all I ask.
+2 Control: Lan and MegaMan are responsive as always, menu navigation is easy, and the Navi Customizer is straightforward. All good!
-1 Missions: I have rarely seen a Mega Man game try to stretch so little content so far. An unacceptably large portion of the game is spent backtracking through the same few areas in a series of scavenger hunts and fetch quests, and I'm not thrilled about the layouts of some of these places, either—interminable hallways, confusing jumbles of one-way conveyors, and an overabundance of narrow passages requiring you to rearrange everything to equip the Press program. Ick. Some of the missions you're given can completely derail the flow of the game, too: navigating the hospital computer is a grinding nightmare if you're short on Fire chips (especially if you're a completionist and MUST BURN EVERY TREE), and some of the clues you get while working your way up through the Undernet rankings are acceptably vague for a sidequest, but not for a required part of the game. The battles, at least, are challenging and creative, balancing enemies and enemy combinations that allow for a variety of strategies with ones that force the player to try a more specific approach.
+1 Navis: Though the distribution of Navis inspired by the Classic series is weighted unevenly, there's still a good assortment of challenging challengers. Returning competitors GutsMan, ProtoMan, and Bass join FlashMan, BubbleMan, MetalMan, DrillMan, PlantMan, and FlameMan, along with BeastMan (who really should've been called SlashMan), KingMan, DesertMan, CopyMan (an encore of GutsMan, really), and MistMan to create an overall challenge that requires more strategy than simply mashing the attack button or using the same few powerful chips that work well everywhere else. (Which is to say, I had trouble with some of them.) Someday I may pick up the Blue version to see Punk or subject myself to the requirements for finding DarkMan, JapanMan (what was wrong with "Yamato"?), and Serenade, but for now, they aren't taken into consideration. Attack patterns are varied, with many bosses utilizing minions or lingering attacks that clog up the battlefield, and a few bosses requiring unique approaches to be able to hit them in the first place. I find the bosses' visual designs to be on opposite ends of the same spectrum: either memorably cool or forgettably bland.
+1 Battle Chips: A number of old favorites return, complemented by a wide variety of new, interesting, and occasionally overly situational chips. Basically any attack pattern you need is covered, whether it's hitting straight ahead, diagonally, a whole row or column, around the edges of the battlefield, or even right behind you. Chips such as Sensor, Totem, and the various chess pieces introduce obstacles/companions to the battlefield, granting you both cover and cover fire. I'm not so keen on the likes of Snake, Lightning, GodStone, OldWood, Geyser, Panic, and FireRatn, which require very particular conditions to be of any use—though I appreciate that you can use other chips to build a strategy around them—and I still haven't figured out how to get StepSwrd, VarSwrd, Team 1, CopyDmg, or Rope to work. The damage output is impressive on many of the chips, though; CrsShld, Lance, Mine, TimeBomb, DesrtMan, RndmMetr, and a number of others dish out some serious hurt, and they're easy to use on their own or in combination with other chips. I also like some of the less-traditional chips that do more than just heal or deal damage—being able to paralyze enemies and knock them back, swap out the terrain for something more favorable, bypass foes' armor and barriers, go invisible, speed up your CustGauge, and create a one-time dummy duplicate of yourself all make for more dynamic and enjoyable battles.
+0 Items/Upgrades/Styles: The assortment of upgrades is rather good, but the distribution leaves something to be desired. HP Memory, RegUp, and Sub Memory upgrades are back, but the real attraction is the Navi Customizer and its wealth of programs. Not only can you increase your HP, charge speed, and damage output, but you can take on other abilities, such as retaining 1 HP on a fatal blow and upping the odds of running into enemies of a certain elemental attribute. To install a program, you need to Tetris it into a small grid, which can be expanded with other upgrades, all the while following somewhat irritating rules about where it can be safely placed (Command Mission does a better job of executing this kind of upgrade-at-your-own-risk concept). This might be more fun if it weren't such a chore to reorganize your layout, which happens all too frequently, either because your current layout isn't ideal or because you need a different program installed to proceed. These mandatory programs (most notably the aforementioned Press) also put you at a disadvantage, because you usually need to remove something beneficial to make room for something that merely drives the story forward. On top of that, character progression is extremely slow; there are long spans where you can't buy or find anything to permanently improve your hero, and stocking up on programs you can't or won't ever use just adds insult to injury. I can't say much about the different Styles, because I went from Normal to HeatGuts and seldom had any compelling reason to switch. Charge up to engulf a third of the enemy's area in flames? Sold.
+1 Ending: Alpha explodes, leaving behind a mysterious door, behind which lies the last remnant of Lan's grandfather. Gramps congratulates Lan and Hub on a job well done, makes polite conversation with them, and hands Lan a letter to bring to his father. Alpha's destruction has destabilized the area, so they don't have long to chat before they need to evacuate. On the way out, our heroes are captured by a portion of Alpha that survived the battle, and the only way to escape...is for MegaMan to sacrifice himself. It's a little contrived, and the sappy farewell probably goes over better with a younger audience, but it's an adequate climax. Lan returns to the real world, where he is congratulated by his friends and berated by Chaud, who has obviously learned nothing about the power of friendship despite all those speeches. As Wily's base begins to explode, the children take a leisurely stroll back to the boat. Back at the Beach Street dock, the gang is reunited with their friends and family. Chaud has a vaguely heartwarming robotlike conversation with his dad, and more back-patting and dénouementing ensues. Dr. Hikari ventures briefly into MMX territory when he raises the philosophical question of giving Navis personalities and the ability to think for themselves. Lan gives himself a pep talk to help himself face tomorrow without MegaMan...but THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP arrives to reassure him that he doesn't have to do it alone. As the credits roll, there's a montage of the various characters doing various things in various places (with a COMPLETELY unnecessary scene of an elephant doing its dirty business in front of the kids). In the end, Dr. Hikari finishes decoding Gramps' letter, which teases a new area of the Net to explore, and Lan awakes to the voice of...MegaMan!? Along with a brief and cryptic "Where am I...?" speech from an unspecified character before that, there's clearly a sequel in mind. Otherwise, the ending does a good job of tying up loose ends, and the character development and scene changes are interesting enough to justify the length (over 20 minutes!), though there's certainly some filler and repetition that could be trimmed down.
+2 Replay Value: My head hurts when I start to think about what it would take to collect and accomplish everything in the Battle Network series, and this game is where I gave up all hope of being as thorough a player as I am with the traditional platformers. Which is to say, there's a lot to come back for. Secret areas, secret bosses, Battle Chips, Programs, Program Advances, Error Codes, Style Changes, time trials, virus breeding, job sidequests, multiplayer Netbattles...oh, and let's not forget there are two different versions of the game with slight differences between them (not even taking Black into consideration).
-2 Polish: The first two Battle Network games convey a sense of care and respect for the Mega Man name, successfully translating the essence of the franchise into a brand-new context. The third one conveys a sense of surprise at its own existence, stalling for time until it figures out what to do with itself. The dialogue and gameplay are loaded with filler, character progression is slow, the story takes its sweet time to get going, the map designs are not player-friendly, and I can't help but feel like the game was targeted specifically at children--the Pokémon generation, if you will—rather than a general audience like practically every other Mega Man game. I'm also annoyed at Dr. Cossack's mangled moniker of "Cossak." He deserves better, localization team.
+1 Extras/Easter Eggs: Most of what I'd mention here technically ties into the replay value, but there's enough hidden replay value that it's worth a point. Otherwise, nothing much stands out—a small visual reference here and there, mostly.
-1 Novelty: The game spends its first few hours rehashing the gameplay of MMBN2, and even once the game takes on an identity of its own, there's not much we haven't already seen in some format. Malfunctioning home appliances, bad guys masquerading as good guys, heroic self-sacrifice...the gameplay eventually broadens to include enough new content for the game to stand on its own, but it's not enough to elevate the game above feeling more derivative than innovative.
Overall Score: +6 (+11 merits, -5 flaws)
+2 Graphics: No complaints here; everything is clean and crisp, and the special effects are as good as ever.
-1 Music: Despite favorable updates to some familiar themes from the previous game, I find a lot of the soundtrack to be plodding and grating. Yoka (appropriately, but unfortunately) sounds like some waddling animal leading you around; Hades Island is an ominous vibe in search of a decent melody; that awful tension theme (the one that consumes the overworld just before the endgame) has about six measures' worth of unique and meandering notes, played on endless repeat EVERYWHERE YOU GO. Some of the more energetic themes (Sci Lab, DNN Station, most of the battles) and serious themes (Wily's lair, inside the hospital computer, Undernet) are up to snuff, but too much of the soundtrack is too generic or vamp-tastic to tolerate for the length of time you'll spend backtracking through the same few locations.
+1 Sound Effects: All the blips, bleeps, whooshes, and swooshes we've come to expect from the series. Nothing overwhelmingly neat, but functional, appropriate, and non-obnoxious sound effects are really all I ask.
+2 Control: Lan and MegaMan are responsive as always, menu navigation is easy, and the Navi Customizer is straightforward. All good!
-1 Missions: I have rarely seen a Mega Man game try to stretch so little content so far. An unacceptably large portion of the game is spent backtracking through the same few areas in a series of scavenger hunts and fetch quests, and I'm not thrilled about the layouts of some of these places, either—interminable hallways, confusing jumbles of one-way conveyors, and an overabundance of narrow passages requiring you to rearrange everything to equip the Press program. Ick. Some of the missions you're given can completely derail the flow of the game, too: navigating the hospital computer is a grinding nightmare if you're short on Fire chips (especially if you're a completionist and MUST BURN EVERY TREE), and some of the clues you get while working your way up through the Undernet rankings are acceptably vague for a sidequest, but not for a required part of the game. The battles, at least, are challenging and creative, balancing enemies and enemy combinations that allow for a variety of strategies with ones that force the player to try a more specific approach.
+1 Navis: Though the distribution of Navis inspired by the Classic series is weighted unevenly, there's still a good assortment of challenging challengers. Returning competitors GutsMan, ProtoMan, and Bass join FlashMan, BubbleMan, MetalMan, DrillMan, PlantMan, and FlameMan, along with BeastMan (who really should've been called SlashMan), KingMan, DesertMan, CopyMan (an encore of GutsMan, really), and MistMan to create an overall challenge that requires more strategy than simply mashing the attack button or using the same few powerful chips that work well everywhere else. (Which is to say, I had trouble with some of them.) Someday I may pick up the Blue version to see Punk or subject myself to the requirements for finding DarkMan, JapanMan (what was wrong with "Yamato"?), and Serenade, but for now, they aren't taken into consideration. Attack patterns are varied, with many bosses utilizing minions or lingering attacks that clog up the battlefield, and a few bosses requiring unique approaches to be able to hit them in the first place. I find the bosses' visual designs to be on opposite ends of the same spectrum: either memorably cool or forgettably bland.
+1 Battle Chips: A number of old favorites return, complemented by a wide variety of new, interesting, and occasionally overly situational chips. Basically any attack pattern you need is covered, whether it's hitting straight ahead, diagonally, a whole row or column, around the edges of the battlefield, or even right behind you. Chips such as Sensor, Totem, and the various chess pieces introduce obstacles/companions to the battlefield, granting you both cover and cover fire. I'm not so keen on the likes of Snake, Lightning, GodStone, OldWood, Geyser, Panic, and FireRatn, which require very particular conditions to be of any use—though I appreciate that you can use other chips to build a strategy around them—and I still haven't figured out how to get StepSwrd, VarSwrd, Team 1, CopyDmg, or Rope to work. The damage output is impressive on many of the chips, though; CrsShld, Lance, Mine, TimeBomb, DesrtMan, RndmMetr, and a number of others dish out some serious hurt, and they're easy to use on their own or in combination with other chips. I also like some of the less-traditional chips that do more than just heal or deal damage—being able to paralyze enemies and knock them back, swap out the terrain for something more favorable, bypass foes' armor and barriers, go invisible, speed up your CustGauge, and create a one-time dummy duplicate of yourself all make for more dynamic and enjoyable battles.
+0 Items/Upgrades/Styles: The assortment of upgrades is rather good, but the distribution leaves something to be desired. HP Memory, RegUp, and Sub Memory upgrades are back, but the real attraction is the Navi Customizer and its wealth of programs. Not only can you increase your HP, charge speed, and damage output, but you can take on other abilities, such as retaining 1 HP on a fatal blow and upping the odds of running into enemies of a certain elemental attribute. To install a program, you need to Tetris it into a small grid, which can be expanded with other upgrades, all the while following somewhat irritating rules about where it can be safely placed (Command Mission does a better job of executing this kind of upgrade-at-your-own-risk concept). This might be more fun if it weren't such a chore to reorganize your layout, which happens all too frequently, either because your current layout isn't ideal or because you need a different program installed to proceed. These mandatory programs (most notably the aforementioned Press) also put you at a disadvantage, because you usually need to remove something beneficial to make room for something that merely drives the story forward. On top of that, character progression is extremely slow; there are long spans where you can't buy or find anything to permanently improve your hero, and stocking up on programs you can't or won't ever use just adds insult to injury. I can't say much about the different Styles, because I went from Normal to HeatGuts and seldom had any compelling reason to switch. Charge up to engulf a third of the enemy's area in flames? Sold.
+1 Ending: Alpha explodes, leaving behind a mysterious door, behind which lies the last remnant of Lan's grandfather. Gramps congratulates Lan and Hub on a job well done, makes polite conversation with them, and hands Lan a letter to bring to his father. Alpha's destruction has destabilized the area, so they don't have long to chat before they need to evacuate. On the way out, our heroes are captured by a portion of Alpha that survived the battle, and the only way to escape...is for MegaMan to sacrifice himself. It's a little contrived, and the sappy farewell probably goes over better with a younger audience, but it's an adequate climax. Lan returns to the real world, where he is congratulated by his friends and berated by Chaud, who has obviously learned nothing about the power of friendship despite all those speeches. As Wily's base begins to explode, the children take a leisurely stroll back to the boat. Back at the Beach Street dock, the gang is reunited with their friends and family. Chaud has a vaguely heartwarming robotlike conversation with his dad, and more back-patting and dénouementing ensues. Dr. Hikari ventures briefly into MMX territory when he raises the philosophical question of giving Navis personalities and the ability to think for themselves. Lan gives himself a pep talk to help himself face tomorrow without MegaMan...but THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP arrives to reassure him that he doesn't have to do it alone. As the credits roll, there's a montage of the various characters doing various things in various places (with a COMPLETELY unnecessary scene of an elephant doing its dirty business in front of the kids). In the end, Dr. Hikari finishes decoding Gramps' letter, which teases a new area of the Net to explore, and Lan awakes to the voice of...MegaMan!? Along with a brief and cryptic "Where am I...?" speech from an unspecified character before that, there's clearly a sequel in mind. Otherwise, the ending does a good job of tying up loose ends, and the character development and scene changes are interesting enough to justify the length (over 20 minutes!), though there's certainly some filler and repetition that could be trimmed down.
+2 Replay Value: My head hurts when I start to think about what it would take to collect and accomplish everything in the Battle Network series, and this game is where I gave up all hope of being as thorough a player as I am with the traditional platformers. Which is to say, there's a lot to come back for. Secret areas, secret bosses, Battle Chips, Programs, Program Advances, Error Codes, Style Changes, time trials, virus breeding, job sidequests, multiplayer Netbattles...oh, and let's not forget there are two different versions of the game with slight differences between them (not even taking Black into consideration).
-2 Polish: The first two Battle Network games convey a sense of care and respect for the Mega Man name, successfully translating the essence of the franchise into a brand-new context. The third one conveys a sense of surprise at its own existence, stalling for time until it figures out what to do with itself. The dialogue and gameplay are loaded with filler, character progression is slow, the story takes its sweet time to get going, the map designs are not player-friendly, and I can't help but feel like the game was targeted specifically at children--the Pokémon generation, if you will—rather than a general audience like practically every other Mega Man game. I'm also annoyed at Dr. Cossack's mangled moniker of "Cossak." He deserves better, localization team.
+1 Extras/Easter Eggs: Most of what I'd mention here technically ties into the replay value, but there's enough hidden replay value that it's worth a point. Otherwise, nothing much stands out—a small visual reference here and there, mostly.
-1 Novelty: The game spends its first few hours rehashing the gameplay of MMBN2, and even once the game takes on an identity of its own, there's not much we haven't already seen in some format. Malfunctioning home appliances, bad guys masquerading as good guys, heroic self-sacrifice...the gameplay eventually broadens to include enough new content for the game to stand on its own, but it's not enough to elevate the game above feeling more derivative than innovative.
Overall Score: +6 (+11 merits, -5 flaws)
