Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team

"Not as good as MMBN3, but still a great game."

Many gamers were disappointed with the release of Mega Man Battle Network 4: it had little plot, the tournaments felt like a gimmick, and the game itself was short. This time around, the series returns to its roots while adding an interesting twist, the Liberation missions. Let's break it down:

PLOT: 3/10 Mega Man games aren't really known for their story; Mega Man Battle Network 5 is no exception. You will most likely be bored by the story; thankfully, 95% of all cut scenes can be skipped by pressing select. This makes the awful mistranslations bearable. Speaking of mistranslations, all English teachers should stray from this game: typos are everywhere. Many of the characters refer to others as the wrong gender, speak as if they were the character they are talking to, or just not making any sense, period. Many of the typos are in places you will see a lot, such as "bigin" (begin) as one of the options in the chip trader. Honestly, I gave the game a 3 for plot instead of a 0 because the typos are so damn funny sometimes.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10 The game play hasn't changed much in the regular battles. You still fight using battle chips obtained from enemies. Mega Man gains the ability to "cross" with his fellow navis, meaning he gains some of their traits (both physical and visual) for a brief time. This system was in Mega Man Battle Network 4, but it is presented much better this time around. In the previous game, six crosses were available per version, and to get all of them you needed to beat the game three times!!! Thankfully, you can get all six crosses in one play through. The crosses themselves are handy and sometimes really cool. Dark chips are available as well, although it is recommended that you stay away from those as they permanently drain your health. One disappointing aspect of the boss chips is that they only come in three forms: version 1, SP, and DS. DS means you have to be a dark navi to use the chip, and it just isn't worth it. If you've played Mega Man Battle Network 3, you'll know that their were five chips per boss, and you could use all five without any special conditions.

The new element to Mega Man Battle Network 5 is the Liberation missions. They play sort of like a strategy game. They are sort of interesting and mix it up. In the missions, you take the roles of all your team mates, brining a total of six or seven playable characters. In certain points of the game, you can also play as them when walking around the net, which is a special feature of the DS version. All of the evil navis are fought through Liberation missions, which means that the amount of themed levels is small, (levels like the oven, bath, bombs, etc from Mega Man Battle Network 1-3) but they are present. This is a big improvement over the last game which had one or two levels.

SOUND: 7/10 I felt that the battle music was extremely grating, as there is a weird static sound in the background. The sound effects themselves do a decent job. The voice over work was nice (Mega Man and Proto Man talk to you occasionally, and Lan talks as well). The majority of background music fits. The music still changes when there is a problem or danger, which is really annoying.

REPLAY: 9/10 The game is pretty addicting, and there are two different versions to play with different bosses and chips. It's worth it to give it a second play through.

BUY OR RENT? If this type of game is your thing, definitely buy it. It's pretty long wand has a lot of extra side quests and a whole chip library to fill. Plus, the game is two versions (Proto Man and Colonel) in one! Buy it if you liked Mega Man Battle Network 3.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/06