RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

After his father was lost in space a few years ago, Geo stopped going to school and spent a lot of time looking at the stars. While looking at the stars one evening, Geo meets an alien named Omega-Xis. It turns out that Omega-Xis knew Geo’s father, and he decided to help Geo protect the Earth by fusing together to become Mega Man. This fusion allows them to pulse into an ordinarily invisible plane known as the wave world, a place that has been infested by beings known as FM viruses.

FM viruses are fought in real time on a long grid that is three spaces wide. Mega Man can normally only move back and forth through the three spaces on his side of the grid whereas his enemies are granted far more freedom of movement. To even things out a little offensively, Mega Man is capable of locking onto enemies, allowing him to briefly dash into the enemy’s field to use weapons at close range, and he has also been given a powerful shield to help make up for his hindered evasion. Abilities such as charged shots, rapid fire, and counterattacks add up to make Mega Man quite formidable. Aside from the standard blaster, thirty or so cards may also be placed into Mega Man’s deck, six of which will randomly appear each round. Under normal circumstances, he is allowed to select either two cards from the same column or as many cards as he wants of the same type from this selection. Making a good deck can be enjoyable, especially when some of the more complicated rules come into play, such as favorite cards and Brotherbands. Brotherbands allow friends, both in-game and real-life via WiFi, to raise each other’s HP, share favorites, and offer some sort of special ability such as an auto-barrier. Brotherbands, along with the ability to switch blasters depending on the situation, replace the custom chip program from the later Mega Man Battle Networks. Altogether, the battle system has a lot of potential. The downside is that very little of this is ever used outside of a boss fight or particularly difficult random battle, leaving the rest feeling a bit bland.

Those familiar with the Mega Man Battle Network subseries may remember that several titles held above average difficulty, particularly in the optional areas. Along with the changes to the battle system, the difficulty has also been tweaked, making it much easier this time around. There are still a few optional challenges here and there, but overall the game is more accessible as a result. Hardcore fans might not like this particular change, but the versus mode can help compensate there.

Overall, the interface is quite solid. The response time is good, and there are useful features such as auto-rapid fire and auto-charging that are a welcome addition. The menus could improve by taking advantage of the touchscreen, but they’re fine other than that. It does seem a bit odd though, given that the touchscreen is used in several waveroads and dungeons, as well as when taking control of special Navis.

In the transition to the DS, Mega Man Star Force received a few minor upgrades to the story, not that that’s saying a whole lot. While still very far from being epic, there is slightly more emphasis placed on story rather than dungeons this time around. On the down side, the game is rather short, most likely taking only ten to twenty hours to complete, and the story is also cut short before it really begins to take off. While this does leave a bit more for a sequel, it hurts this title in the process.

Surprisingly, Mega Man Star Force has a very limited soundtrack for such a short game. This alone wouldn’t be so bad if the most prominent of the tracks, especially the track that plays any time there is some sort of danger, were among the best the soundtrack has to offer, but they’re typically lower in quality. There are some good tracks, and there’s nothing wrong with the sound effects, but they’re overwhelmed by the negative.

As far as visuals go, there hasn’t been much improvement since the GBA titles. The major difference out of battle is that the wave world is superimposed over the real world as long as the visualizer is equipped. The greatest graphical difference is in battles, which are now in 3D. Aside from bosses and certain special effects, the 3D visuals don’t look much better than the sprite artwork present in its predecessors, so it’s really a matter of personal taste as to which is actually better.

Despite this being the start of a new subseries, there are many similarities to the Mega Man Battle Network subseries. The game mechanics have been tweaked a bit, the battle graphics changed to 3D, and the difficulty has been toned down, all for better or worse depending on the player’s preferences. The story has received some minor upgrades, but the game’s a bit on the short side, and the music is still very limited. For those that found the Mega Man Battle Networks to be getting a bit on the stale side or just plain disliked them, Mega Man Star Force probably isn’t original enough to change that. For the rest, Mega Man Star Force might be worth a look so long as the player doesn’t go in with particularly high expectations.