Mega Man Network Transmission

"A nice change and a welcome addition to my game library"

This review is for the European version of Mega Man Network Transmission (which is the same as the US version I guess).

A Brief Lesson Of Mega History:
Mega Man goes back a long way, back on the NES he was already shooting his way through great stages with memorable music and bosses with absurdly stupid yet catchy names. This 2D shooting fest continued for 6 games on the NES , 2 on SNES and 1 on PSX. Then Mega Man X came along, basically an upgraded version of the old Mega Man, he blasted his way through 3 SNES games, 3 PSX games and most recently 2 PS2 games. Capcom decided it was time for a change and gave the blue bomber a very different type of game on the GBA, an action-RPG style mega man game. This proved to be a very successful decision because of the innovative gameplay and unique battle system. Now on to Network Transmission, It is a blend of the classic NES mega man games and the new Battle Network series actually. How it all comes together? Read on.

Gameplay:
This game plays as a sidescroller and you can only play as Mega Man in the digital world, you select stages in a menu system and a map of ACDC town. As Mega Man you must blast your way past viruses to get to the boss (Navi) of a stage, to help you with that task you get a certain amount of battlechips. A battlechip is a special weapon that deals way more damage then your regular buster and you can collect more battlechips along the way by defeating enemies or picking up items. As you progress through the game you can upgrade Mega Man's buster abilities, making his buster a lethal weapon on the net.

Controls:
Controls are easy and simple to learn, jump, shoot and slide to evade and destroy enemies. Very responsive, nothing wrong with them actually.

Story:
Your basic bad guy wants to take over the world and you save the day scenario, it works and these games are not about good stories so it's not a bad thing.

Graphics:
Cell shaded graphics (although not the quality of the Wind Waker), it looks great and even though it's nothing special it fits the game perfectly. Animation is also fluid. There are also several FMV cutscenes that have the same cartoon look as the game but they look great.

Music/Sound:
This is where the game really shines, an awesome soundtrack accompanies you while surfing the internet (I mean the internet in the game of course). Many songs may remind you of some NES mega man games so Mega Man veterans may enjoy the soundtrack even more. Sound effects do their job, character voices are in Japanese (with English subtitles) and sound great.

Replay Value:
It doesn't take long to complete this game but it's a pretty hard game so you will die a lot and have to remember some stage layout and boss patterns. After you complete it you probably will want to play through it again after a few weeks.

Fun Factor:
To me this one of the most important factors of any game, how much fun is it to play? Is it repetitive or boring at times? Is it frustrating? Things like that are not often rated I think but they are vital to the game. I had a lot of fun playing this game, the music really adds to the fun and if you're like me and enjoy a good challenge in a game you will definitely enjoy this game. It can get pretty frustrating if you keep dying in a certain place but it's all your own fault and not the game's.

Rating
I don't like giving ratings for every aspect of a game separately because it's about the package as a whole. This rating is for people who play games because they want some fun or a challenge, if you want pretty graphics with high polygon count and don't care much for 2D gameplay this is NOT a game for you. It has to be said that compared to the original NES games this game does not hold up but it's still a great game on its own.

Rating: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/05