Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge

"A very nice addition to the series..."

The MegaMan: Battle Network series has been very well done so far. But I think that this installment is one of the best ones. It will take a lot of getting used to for Battle Network players though. For one, you have almost no control in battle or of your character. But you will grow to love this game.

As I said, you have almost no control over battle or your character. What you do have control over is your PET. The PET is a device where all your battle chips are stored. Battle chips are used in a Program Deck. Your Program Deck consists of your Navi and battle chips. You use this deck for battles. It can be changed at any time though. Once you have created your Program Deck, it is time to battle.

There are tons of battle chips to collect. And you will need to know them well. The new gameplay of this game relies more on tactics. There are Electric, Fire, Water, and Wood type battle chips. There are also attack chips, defense chips, and recover chips to use. You have to use all of these kinds to have a well balanced deck. You also should have a Navi of each element in your deck. Because you never know when you will need to use Fire...Or Wood to take down an opponent. For example, you are about to face WoodMan, a Wood navi..., so you should use your Fire navi with Fire type Battle chips to take him down quickly. As you win battles you earn Battle Chips and Zenny, which is used to buy Battle Chips from shops.

At the start of the battle your, and youyr opponenet's battle chips are picked for your first turn. The battle chips are picked randomly from your deck. You have to have a well balanced deck in order to be good. You have no control over any of this. The one thing you do have control over is your Slot-In chips. Your Slot-In chips can be activated by pressing L or R (depending on what button you assigned them to) when your Custom Gauge is full. Your Custom Gauge fills up 5% every time a Navi makes a move. There are other ways to get your gauge up too. Such as a Battle Chip called FstGauge which fills it up 50%.

The graphics for the game are the same as the other Battle Network games. The battle animations are all very nice. Character and Navi sprites are great. And character pictures when they are talking looks awesome.

There isn't much of a story, unlike the Battle Network games where we find Lan and MegaMan fighting the evil WWW organization, who were trying to disrupt cyberspace with viruses. At the beginning of the game you choose a character, who will be your character for the rest of the game. You get to see how their story goes. Not just Lan and MegaMan's story. So you can choose between six different stories to see.

The music is pretty much the same MegaMan music also. The games music is still catchy tunes to keep you entertained as you battle. The battle sounds are also mostly from the Battle Network games, with a few new ones added in to keep things better.

There is some pretty good Replay Value also. There are hundreds of chips to collect to keep you going even after the game is done. There are also all the characters to play as, because each has their own story.

Another cool feature is Multiplayer. You can do the regular trade and battle. But there is a new thing. Every time you make a deck you get a Navi Code which can be seen on your Navi's stats. If someone else enters that code into their game then they can fight you in a tournament. A great thing if you have no link cable.

Quick Scores:

Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 8
Story: 8
Sound: 9
Replay Value: 10

Overall, this is a great game that any fan of the Battle Network games should get. And if you are new to the series then this is also a great place to start.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/05