"A Breath of Fresh Air"

After the abomination that was Battle Network 4, Capcom has come up big with Battle Network 5: Colonel and Protoman. After playing through BN4 I was really wary about buying this game. I finally decided to pick it up, and after about 20 minutes I immediately fell in love. The Liberation Missions are genius, the story is fresh, and the ability to use other Navis is extremely cool.

Ok, now to the Review:

Gameplay: 10

The same old Battle Network style that we all know and love is back. This time with a great twist. In some liberation battles, you can be potentially fighting from the front and back. You have to use R&L to switch which direction you are looking in. Another new twist is that you actually control other Navis and fight as them in the Liberation Missions.

Graphics/Sound/Music: 8
With the Remixed theme song greeting you at the opening screen, you are welcomed into a visually and audibly pleasing world. Soul Unisons look cooler than ever, the Chibi style Megaman that was introduced in BN4 remains, and looks better in this game.

Story: 9
Once again, an improvement over BN4. No more of the stupid tournament, doing the jobs, fighting the boss, then going to another tournament. This game actually has a storyline, and is not bad. It is based around Nebula and their plots to take over the Internet (whoa thats original), but this time only Lan and a few mercenary Navis are able to save the world (sorry Gutsman and Roll). This time it isn't so overwhelmingly ridiculous that an 11 year old kid is saving the world by himself, AGAIN. This time he has a colorful cast a characters. A thief, an assassin, and a princess to name a few in Colonel version.

Replay: 8
As always, you beat the game, the you have to finish your Library, battle friends, etc... Nothing really new here except you can do crossover battles with Boktai in which both are timed as to how fast they can delete/purify Shademan. Pretty interesting...

Overall: 9
Such an improvement from BN4. That is the main point here. Returns to its roots of strong gameplay and highly addictive battles. Feels similar to BN2 in its sweetness. This is a game you definitely want to buy if you are a Megaman fan. A purchase you won't regret...

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/05