Lan and Mega Man are back in their second adventure, which is probably the best in the series!
Released June 17, 2002
Only on the Game Boy Advance
Mega Man Battle Network is back, and this is of course the second installment in the excellecnt series. This game has a great story, great combat, and is just plain fun to play. Let's go into a little more detail.
The plot of this game starts out with our main character Lan Hikari starting a nice, peaceful summer vacation. Well, the peace is disturbed before long, though. A new evil organization called Gospel, plotting total control of the world, starts commiting netcrime all over the place. Lan decides to step in and quickly becomes an enemy of this group. It later becomes obvious that Lan Hikari and his Netnavi called MegaMan have the hope of the entire world resting on their shoulder as they take on this evil organization.
This game has the same combat system as its predecessor, in which you have a 3x3 grid to run around in, and the enemy has their own battlefield as well. You use a set of attacks called battle chips, which you equip outside of battle to have them randomly appear during the fight. Each battlechip has a different range, and a different style of attacking. You fight internet viruses as well as several different bosses, and combat gets more and more challenging as the game progresses. And you also get what is called a style change, a type of thing that powers up your stats, gives you special abilites, and lets you use a new charge shot attack with your Mega Buster.
This game has about the same graphics in the real world as the previous game, but the internet has a new design that I find more pleasent to look at and easier to navigate. Places like the Undernet have a more sinister and mysterious look to them, and each of the countries you go to have a unique interntet design to them.
The sound in this game also sounds great, and has some pretty good musical moments. It has a nice happy sound while you're in places like ACDC Town (Lan's hometown) and Okuden Valley (a camping area) but has more suspenseful tunes in places like the Undernet (a place on the Net that is full of evil Navis and strong viruses). One thing that I find nice is that after you beat the game, the track resets itself and you won't have to hear the "world in peril" music every time you walk around in the real world.
There is also a lot of extra things to do in Mega Man Battle Network 2, such as the request board, which is full of side missions in which people need you to do a variety of tasks for them. Some are things like finding a certain evil Navi and deleting them, while others are things like trading chips with somebody that needs a certain kind. And there is also some optional boss battles to fight, and some secret areas that remain locked until you beat the game and complete a certain task. This game has plenty of other things for you to do and will definitely keep you busy for a while.
Breakdown of Categories:
Graphics: 8/10
Plot: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Replay Value/Lasting Appeal: 8.5/10
Pros and Cons:
+Great Story
+Fun combat system
+Has a lot of extras to keep you occupied
-You can only have two style changes saved
-Some puzzles in this game are rather tedious
Mega Man Battle Network 2 is a superb game and I would highly recommend it to Battle Network fans and RPG fans.
Overall score: 9/10