The blue shooter takes a new spin and fires up a winner.
Mega Man has been through Dr. Wily’s lab a few times, but he’s sure never been traveling through the net. That’s where Mega Man’s latest adventure takes place in Mega Man Battle Network. The title features a quirky story, isometric graphics, and decent battle system to bring the blue bomber to a whole new genre.
The year is 20XX and everyone carries a PET or Portable Exploration Device with them. It’s used to make phone calls and receive emails, but they also contain an alter ego personality that’s catered to the user called at Net Navi. MMBN’s story starts out with Lan. His Net Navi is Megaman.EXE. The problem in this world is that if anything isn’t right in the Lan’s world, there’s a virus attack on the net – and that’s where Mega Man helps out.
Battle Network is a straight-forward RPG with great animation and graphics. The game takes place in an isometric view and has cartoon-like visuals to bring it to life. Players will see Lan struggle to get to class on time and follow him through each session of class. But it’s exploding ovens and stopped metro lines that’ll get Lan and Mega Man out of everyday routine and on to the net to battle viruses.
The battle system consists of a nine square grid for both Mega Man and his enemies. Once Lan jacks into the net from his house, Mega Man takes over and runs through the net world to look for viruses. The net world isn’t too big so there are plenty of battles. Fortunately the battle system is fun. Players pick different battle chips that can execute one command each. To fight, players can move Mega Man to each of the nine squares of space he has for movement to battle enemies. Battle chips that are alike can be used together. The chips include cannons, swords, and bombs that Mega Man can use. After a meter replenishes, Mega Man can choose his next set of battle chips. Battle chips also contain features to recover energy and escape from battles.
The enemies start slow in the game but move quickly later. The battles get a lot more action oriented when Mega Man has to dodge and use strategy to beat enemies. Players worried about the grid movement can be sure that there are plenty of fast battles in MMBN.
The sound and music is good to get you pumped for battle or keep you happy when you’re in town. Cannon blasts and other weapon sounds are standard and get the job done. Players can also link up with a friend to trade battle chips or to battle each other’s characters.
Mega Man Battle Network is a great spin on the Mega Man character and a well made RPG. Players looking for a deep battle system might not be interested in battle chips, but the quirky story and characters make the ride worth the price of admission.
