Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Protoman

"Okay...but nowhere near as good as MMBN3"

First off let me just say that I've only played MMBN3 and MMBN5. I was too lazy to buy MMBN4, but I hear that it was terrible anyway. But that's not the point. Anyway, here we go:

Graphics:
Personally, I thought they were ok. I usually don't notice graphics too much unless they're really bad or really good. The sprites themselves were good and the battle animations I thought were well done. I give 9/10.

Sound/Music:
The background music I found not to be as catchy as MMBN3. In fact, I hardly noticed it at all. Although that may be somewhat the point I still think it could be at least something I'll remember. As for sounds, nothing real new actually. Once again they were good, but hardly what I'd call spectacular. 7/10.

Story:
The story didn't particularly catch me either. Dr. Regal using some research data that Wily and Lan's grandfather worked on called SoulNet to link peoples souls together so and make them all evil. The end was a good twist but I won't spoil it. It seems unique and cliche at the same time...weird. 8/10

Gameplay:
Ouch. More or less it's the same but they changed a few things. Things I personally find downright stupid. The battle system itself hasn't changed. Using same code, or same chip, etc. That part I liked. I don't like the fact that they removed the styles that were in MMBN3. The new soul unisons are cool, but they only last 3 turns and are limited to only 6 per version. Then there's the infamous Dark Chips. Mad powerful and can be used for 'Chaos Unison' but using them detracts 1hp permanently which makes them almost useless. Navi Customizer is back and adds a little variety to the game and is more or less the same as it has been. The biggest new addition is Liberation missions. I must admit it's fun...for about 1 mission. Afterwards it is just plain annoying. First off you have only 3 turns to beat each encounter. Not to mention later in the game the enemies get much harder with their v2 and 3 styles...but for some reason you still end up with the v1 chip. So eventually, it becomes more luck than anything. All in all I'd rate this a 6/10.

Replayability/Extras:
I don't think this game is really meant to be replayed. It only has 1 save file so you'd simply start all over as if you're new again with nothing new the 2nd time around. Extras, there's Nebula Hole or something like that but that's it. MMBN3 had much more extras than that. Many more things to do. Although this isn't too major of a part of the game, it's lacks very much here. 3/10.

Average: 6.6/10
My score: 6
Like I said, it was pretty good. If you're a Megaman fan go ahead and buy it. I did ^^. Heck, even if you're not a Megaman fan I would recommend this game too. The style of gameplay is good, just needs to be restored to how it was in MMBN3. Although the average is 6.6, in my mind I have a 6 so...there you go.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/05