Mega Man Battle Network 4 Red Sun

"A Very Good Game"

Yet another game in the quickly growing Mega Man Battle Network series. Though it doesn't stack up to BN2 or BN3, but it's still a pretty good game in it's own right. I think if they would have spent a little bit longer making the game it would've been better, though. My guess is that they just wanted to put out another game quickly. Alright, now to the ratings.

Gameplay: 8
Same as before except for 2 things. The first is battle chips. A lot fewer and not as good as before. In BN3 there was a total of 305 chips. Here, in BN4, there are only 215 not counting secret chips. The other big difference is that the Styles system is gone. Instead, we now have the new Souls system. When you defeat a Soul Navi in the Tournaments, you get their Soul and can use it in-battle. You must, however, sacrifice a chip with the matching attribute to get the Soul and the Soul lasts for the next 3 times you open the Custom screen. You can only use a Soul once per battle.

Story: 7
They also radically changed the storyline. Instead of fixed events and scenes happening, here you participate in Tournaments. Who you face in the Tournaments is random, but there are certain enemies you can fight in only 1 Tournament. Other than that, the storyline is basically that an evil organization called Nebula wants to destroy the world, and then create a new one. They're going to do this by making an asteroid hit the Earth. You, as Lan Hikari, must stop the asteroid from hitting the Earth.

Graphics: 8
The sprites are now much smaller and therefore, harder to see. The characters in dialogue boxes look, for the most part, like crap. Other than that, they're pretty good. The chip pictures and sprites look good as well.

Sound: 9
In a few places, the music is horrible. However, most of the places have a good theme. Don't even get me started on the panic music, though. The sounds of Megaman when he uses a chip are well done, too.

Replayability: 9
This game has an infinite number of times that you can play through it. However, you MUST play the game 3 times in order to beat it thoroughly. After the third time, it starts to get boring. At least it can entertain you for a while, though.

Rent or Buy: Rent
The only thing I can say is if you rent it, rent it for a while. It's a waste of money otherwise.

Overall:

Gameplay: 8
Story: 7
Graphics: 8
Sound: 9
Replayability: 9

Overall: 8

Which Version Should I Buy: Red Sun
The Souls in RS are much better than the BM Souls. There is also a deadlier Giga chip in RS: HolyDream. For more info on the differences, check The Dark Unknown's Differences FAQ.

It's a good game, but don't expect it to entertain you for long. If you're going on a road trip, this is a good game to bring with you as it can take quite awhile to sift through all the different scenarios.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/04