I got Mega Man Star force Leo a few weeks ago when I found it used at gamestop. Having been a while since I last finished the Battle network series I decided to pick it up. Mega Man Starforce is after all the successor the Mega Man Battle network, and while the game is still has addictive has battle network is still has the same problem of the repetitiveness of it's predecessor. While a few things have changed at the core Starforce follows the battle network formula for better and for worse.
Story.
The story takes place 200 years after battle network. Despite it being set in the same world none of the places that Lan and Mega Man journey to are shown, and other then a brief cameo by magic portal that can be trigger by having a battle network GBA game in the 2nd slot Mega Man.exe isn't shown.
In 2200X a NAZA space station send out to contact aliens on another planet vanishes. 3 years later Geo Stellar a son of one of the crew members still hasn't gotten past is fathers mysterious disappearances. Geo doesn't have friends and he decides to stay home from school so he doesn't get close to anyone. One day while out star gazing an alien known has Omegaxi's lands right on top of him, seems Omegaxi's is made out of EM waves the same waves that now control the internet and only people with special visors can see him.
It seems that Omegaxi's has stolen a key to a doomsday weapon that planet FM wants to unleash on earth. And other Fmieans are coming to earth to get it back, FMians can take control of people who have loneness and sorrow in there hearts. Lucky for Omegaxi's Geo has plenty of both. Fusing with Omegaxi's Geo becomes the newest super hero on the net Mega Man, it also lets Geo literally surf the internet and get into computers that the FMians have infected.
The story isn't to bad and Geo is a decent character and he is a bit different then Lan, while Lan was friendly and hyper active. Geo is of course shyer and a bit more subdued at first. And Omegxis seems to be hiding a few secrets of his own in why he stole the key in the first place.
Graphics.
Ok there are two areas were the graphics differ. The outside of battle and in battle arenas. Outside of battle the game looks a lot like battle network. The only thing that keeps it from being a GBA game is that the colors are a lot better and more vibrant. Still top down, 2d, 16 bit graphics that were in battle network. The game ups it a bit though when you enter battle has the game goes fully 3d with a camera behind Geo (and yes the way battles are done has changed to accommodate this change). The 3d sprites of the viruses are pretty good and the effects aren't bad, but there is nothing that will make you go wow or anything. The graphics get the job done but don't expect them to push your DS to the limit.
Sound.
We get a few new sound tracks for the series. But like Battle network you will know when the main theme song for when Geo gets pumped up plays, while it sounds different it is the same type of music played during the same scenes in battle network. Also I was disappointed that there was no voice over's for any of the scenes or even for "pulsing in' to the net. MMBN5 DS version at least had a few voice clips.
Gameplay
Like the battle network games the chapters are linear but the new areas once unlocked can be traveled back to easy enough for side missions. The main chapters usually have an FMian taking over a human, Geo discovering, going through a computer dungeon each with a gimmick (now involving use of a stylus and touch screen) beating the boss and then saving and going to bed. This isn't to say that there isn't a lot to do on the side because there is a lot of side quests. The people in this world all carry transers and in wave form Mega Man can look into these transers to see if a person needs help, helping people will usually get you rare card.
Of course like Battlenetwork you will be also journey through two worlds, or I should say 2 and a half worlds. Unlike battlenetwork Geo can't jack into any faulty computer, rather he has to find a wave hole using his special glasses and stand on it then pulse in (the dialogue has changed to EM Wave Change Geo Stellar on the air). Once pulse in he goes to the wave road above the world (thankfully unlike battlenetwork you can see the world below you so you know were your going). Then you have to find the computer that is malfunction get Mega Man close enough and press the location on the touch screen to have Mega Man jump into it. It kind of adds on extra part to it but fortunately enough the dungeons have been shorten to make up for lost time spend on the wave road.
In battles things have changed a little bit to. The basics are still here killing enemies gets you cards, cards go into your deck, and you can use the cards against your opponents to give Mega Man more powerful attacks. Once out of cards Mega Man will have to wait for the ATB bar to fill up before he can choose more cards. The changes here though are a few, things have been streamed down a lot. No long to cards have A, B, C numbers on them. Rather Mega Man is limited to his choices by either those cards that match (like 2 cannons) or ones on the same row has his first pick, also sliver cards don't count and can be picked up the 2nd it appears in Mega Man's hand.
Simplifying it more is that the amount of space that Mega Man has to move around has gone from 9 to 3, just the back 3 rows can be moved around in. To make up for the obvious lack of range Omegaxi's can lock on to an enemy by pressing the down directional button before attacking with a chip. This causes Geo to move right next to an enemy before throwing the attack at them. Useful but the slight change in camera can make it disorienting. Also for those enemy who throw wide attacks Geo he can block the damage by pressing Y at the right moment.
It's not all bad a few other wrinkles in the battle system to help make things more interesting. First is the brother band system. This is a system that can be used with NPC characters in the game, and supposedly with your friends through the internet. After a little bit of the story unfolds, thanks to Omegaxi's pushing him Geo will decide to make a few friends on the brother band. Each brother he makes grants him a special power, like the ability to stay at one HP if he takes a big hit that would normally delete him. Also the brothers will appear has cards, when you select them it will pick a card out of your brothers 6 favorite cards and add it to your hand so you might be able to score a few rare cards in the heat of battle to help things out a little bit.
Also Geo will encounter some Amians (there from the rival planet AM wouldn't you know) that will grant him some special powers. The powers of course differ from the 3 versions, in Leo he picks up the ability to fuse with Leo and spew flame when Leo's card appears in battle. Also if Geo times his attacks right and gets a counter card the special move he does tremendous damage. It helps liven things up but the whole system is only a step beyond the double soul system used in MMBN5.
A few uses of the touch screen appear here and there but most of the time it's more of a pain in the butt to pull your stylus out so you can play tap the buttons that appear on the screen mini game. All though there is one clever use of the stylus has a radar to find missing programs in the junk yard computer.
Despite it's repeativeness Star Force still can be addictive and can still pull you into collecting rare monster chips and battles. The over all game is still fun and there is still lots to do after the main game is done.
Final Recommendation.
MM Star Force has the same issues has the battle network series. It's a bit repeative and we have seen this and pretty much done that. But it isn't a terrible game by itself. Same rules that apply to all mega man sequels applies here, sick of the series don't pick it up. Still like net battling then pick this one up.
