Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun Review (GBA)

Three games ago, the Mega Man Battle Network series was one that was partially respected for being a bunch of fun titles. They weren't the best games in existence, but they proved themselves as enjoyable titles with some depth that made them challenging at points. Now the forth installment is out and we're not going to partially respect this one, but complain about the utter lack of spit and elbow grease put into this game.

Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun is a carbon copy of its predecessors, but for those who've never played one before, it's fairly simple. Just like this world, there is the real world and an Internet world that players explore. In the real world, players perform actions as Lan, an exuberant sixth grade student with plenty of equally hyper friends. On the web, though, players assume the role of Mega Man, a computer program and alter ego of Lan, who battles malicious programs to ensure online personas are safe to enjoy the net.

Battling these programs happens, for the most part, randomly on a grid spilt between you and your opponent. You can use normal attacks and battle chips collected during the game. You select from five at the beginning of the battle, but get more when your custom gauge fills up.

While random battles might consume a majority of time, there are plenty of scripted battles, as well as tournaments, to test your mettle, that take place throughout the game. Unfortunately, these battles range from annoying to challenging; especially as a simple task to collect an item in the digital world can take upwards of ten minutes too long thanks to the high encounter rate. It evokes a frustrating feeling that we should never have to experience while playing a game.

Additions to the game are few and far between this time around, which is saddening because the new Dark Battle Chips could have been an extremely worthwhile gameplay element. There's plenty of talk about turning Mega Man to the dark side by using these chips, which provide a quick way to end some of the more difficult engagements. Of course, the downside is that Mega Man will permanently lose one hit point.

It would have been nice to see actual changes in the way Mega Man responded to Lan or something that really indicated we were taking Mega Man down this path of evil. You know, have this program grow a menacing beard or start smoking a pack a day something that would let us know he wasn't a prim and proper Mega Man anymore.

Of course, this only hits upon the larger problem of there being no story in Mega Man Battle Network 4. There's an asteroid that's going to hit the Earth and Lan and Mega Man have to figure out what's going on with these Dark Chips. It sounds like there'd be some more substance behind it, but that's about the extent of this story. It's a more than a little disappointing.

This is the worst incarnation of the series to-date, and quite possibly a sign of what's to come in future Mega Man Battle Network titles. It could be a future of rarely changed graphics, too many random battles, pointless collection quests, a general lack of plot, and new gameplay elements that are rushed and awkwardly implemented. Is that what you really want, Capcom? There's plenty that can be done to turn this series around, and the first step is making sure any sequel is a vast improvement to Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun, which really isn't asking much.

Our Final ScoreBad

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