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The Lowdown
Pros: Excellent graphics and animation, same Rockman exe gameplay, cute
story
Cons: Same old Rockman exe formula, little differences between two
"versions"
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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Capcom
knows when they have a winning formula. The Rockman EXE series (known as
Mega Man Battle Network in America) featured funny characters, great
graphics and a major gameplay change in the Mega Man formula. Rockman
EXE has been so popular in Japan it has spawned numerous games, action
figures, manga and even an animated series that follows the games.
However, Capcom is doing the same thing it did with the original Rockman
series, make sequels that are pretty much the same game.Rockman EXE
comes in two flavors Red Sun and Blue Moon, each game has minor
graphical differences and a few different stages. In either game you
start the game as veteran net battler Netto (or Lan in America) Hikari.
Netto starts out in his house where you get a brief tutorial by Netto's
father, which will get you familiar with the game. If you've played any
other Rockman EXE game before you'll already be familiar with the
gameplay. Battles take place on a row of panels that Mega Man can walk
around on the panels to target enemies and evade attacks. After a
certain amount of time you can add in battle chips, which allow for high
damage attacks. When your chips are all used up you'll be forced to wait
a few seconds to input new chips. While waiting you can still dodge
attacks and shoot the mega buster to give some minor damage. When you're
not battling enemies you're walking around either the real world or the
net world. While walking around the world you can talk to people,
collect items and jack in to electronic devices, if you're in the real
world.
The main difference between this game and other games of the EXE
series is the soul system. Instead of the style change that was
prevalent in past EXE games the soul system takes over. Souls allow
Rockman EXE to gain new abilities, upgraded states and a cool look.
Souls can be gained from other Navis. Some of the soul fusions are
really cool like Rockman fusing with Gutsman or fusing with Blues. The
types of souls that you obtain are one of the few differences in the
game. For instance you can only get the Guts soul in the Red Sun edition
and you can only obtain the Blues (Protoman) soul in the Blue Moon
edition. The other difference are the types of chips that you can get,
but these differences are minor. The overall story of both games are the
same.
The story of Rockman EXE 4 revolves around a space agency called ANSA.
In the start of the game a scene plays with two ANSA scientists talking
about experiments they're doing in space. It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to figure out something is going to go wrong and Netto with
his friends are going to save the day. I don't want to give anything in
the story away, but don't expect an epic story here. This story can
easily be an episode of the anime series. The graphics look very similar
to the anime series. Clips of the characters faces are well detailed for
the GBA. The static graphics easily rival first generation PS2 games.
Capcom used few colors in the backgrounds to allow more colors for their
sprites. This technique makes the graphics look more vivid than another
GBA games. However, the graphics are pretty much the same as other games
in the EXE series. Some of the enemy sprites are directly lifted from
previous EXE games. While the sprites look nice, the backgrounds don't.
The backgrounds consist of a pattern of flashing images, which is just
distracting. Also while in the net world the graphics are redundant,
which leads to confusion when walking around the net world.
If you've played a Mega Man Battle Network game (Rockman EXE) game
before you know what to expect when you play either edition of Rockman
EXE 4. The formula is still the same old formula, luckily for Capcom it
still remains fun. Also lucky for Capcom there are hordes of EXE fans
that love the characters who will get this game just to see the Netto's
next adventure.
Everything is in Japanese, which means you'll have a hard time if you
don't understand any.
US Bound?
This game is slated for a spring 2004 release in America.
Overall
If you're an EXE fan you'll like this game, but if you're not a fan of
the series there is nothing new in this game that will draw you in.
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