Mega Man Battle Network 3 Blue

"If it's not broken, don't fix it"

Megaman Battle Network 3 Blue has the same formula of the first 2 games. Somethings threatening the net, wrecking havoc, Lan and Megaman save the day. Don\'t misunderstand me, with a 200 regular chip library and a variety of Mega and the coveted Giga chips to collect, this game will keep you busy for hours. Let\'s get down to the rating system now.

First of all, I must answer this question \'\'What\'s the difference between the two versions?\'\' Besides different enemies you fight and the difference of a Giga Chip if you play the game after beating it, there is really no difference. Flip a coin, choose you favorite color, pick the one your friend doesn\'t have so you can trade. Also, blue you can get Shadow style and in white you can get Ground style.

Storyline 5/10
Like I said above, nothing new about the storyline. A few funny moments, and a sad ending that leaves you with a cliffhanger, you\'ll be pretty familiar with the problems involved. After playing the first two, I could almost script out what was going to happen next, and I wasn\'t too far off. In case you aren\'t familiar with the general story here it is, Lan attempts to stop the WWW (again) in this installment. As you continue along, you only hear bit and pieces of their grand scheme and you foil them at smaller points along the way. Then at about three quarters of the way through, your dad helps you piece together whats happening and you are asked to stop Wily from continuing out his plans (which is the end of all net society). You and your friends go and stop him in a showdown with a long fight to get to him and then Lan saves the world. Again, there is a sad ending with a cliffhanger that didn\'t happen in the previous two games.

Controls 10/10
Simple, move around, talk to Megaman/Lan, Jack in, jack out, shoot buster, use chips, talk, status screen, etc. all the same. Why change something that\'s so easy anyway? Responsive, simple and exactly the same as how they were. No need to read the instruction book if you have played either of the previous two.

Gameplay 10/10
In Megaman Battle Network, you travel the Internet fighting viruses and solving problems. You do this by using your Buster weapon and using chips. You gain chips by either buying them or defeating enemies. These chips are used as one time attacks to aid you when your Buster is too weak or slow. Destroying a virus quickly will give you a better \'\'Busting Rank\'\'. The higher the \'\'Busting Rank\'\', the more zenny (money) you earn or the better the chip you recieve from your enemy. Another new feature is that now you can customize your Navi with a navi customizer. Buy buying customizer programs you can make Megaman stronger, faster, and even give him new abilities (like walking on air). New styles to earn and while leveling up styles you get Navi customizer programs. Your style may also affect what color programs you can use and the only way to bypass them is with an error code that you can either find in the game through message boards and talking to people or cheating and looking at a FAQ. Job board is still there from the second game to get chips, programs, zenny while helping those on the net. You now get bug frags with a Counter, killing an enemy as it attacks you. Bug Frag machines and Bug Frag merchants keep you in constant need of these gems. Also SimonSays in various net squares have you jam a high number of buttons in a minute to aquire these in larger and larger quantities, with the highest giving you 30 bugfrags for 99 buttons in 60 seconds. People who have played the first two will definitely appreciate the improvements made in this game.

Difficulty 10/10
Playing the normal games is fairly easy with some difficult parts, but continuing on after words to the Secret Area, you will find it quite difficult. Also, going for all 7 stars will keep you playing and questing for quite a long time. Finding the perfect chip folder and trading probably a hundred times at a chip trader that STILL won\'t give you the right chip also adds more of a challenge.

Graphics 7/10
Pretty much the same graphics as before. New PAs get better pictures, enemy sprites are the same and the newer ones look better than ever. It angers me that the cut out the Jacking In animation that was all the rave in the Japanese versions. Everything is done beautifully and anyone who has played the previous version will find this game quite recognizable.

Sound 5/10
Still the low point of the game. Yet another game I have to turn my speakers off to, assuring me that they will not burn out and some day work with a great sounding game. I also must mention that the Jacking In sound and graphics featured in the Japanese version was mysteriously omitted. That alone dropped the score 2 points.

Overall: 8/10
Definitely get this game, enjoy it. I spent 56 hours in 7 days and I\'m still not finished. I would say to buy this game. Replay value is virtually zero since you just play through once to get everything. Happy Gaming.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/03, Updated 08/06/03