Preview
Platform:
Game Boy AdvanceDeveloper:
Capcom Co., Ltd.Publisher:
Capcom USA, Inc.Previewed by
Ash Paulsen on 2006-06-03
Mega Man.EXE and his brother/operator Lan Hikari are set to star in one more chapter of the
Battle Network saga this year that (according to Capcom) is supposedly to end the series for good. Some people will see this as a relief and a blessing, and some - like me - will see this as the sad, but timely end of a series that, while it may have never changed radically from title to title, was almost always dependable in its quality of aesthetics and gameplay execution. But if this series is to end, then the least us fans can hope for is a strong finish, right?
It's too early to tell at this point, but so far things are looking good for this latest and possibly last chapter in the long-running
Battle Network series. There was only a relatively small demo of the game playable at E3, and considering it encompasses only the story's very early scenes, there was really no way of checking out the various battle system and gameplay tweaks Capcom has promised for this latest chapter, which include a new "Beast-Out System" that has Mega Man fuse with a Cybeast, a super-powerful Internet demon-beast-thing that the game's subtitles and story (apparently) center around.
Capcom has promised the usual range of changes between the two versions of
Battle Network 6,
Cybest Gregar and
Cybeast Falzar, but the only noticeable one of those changes at E3 was the presence of, well, the different titular Cybeast depending on the version of the game you were playing. Any other changes between the two versions of the game were unnoticeable or irrelevant considering the demo only encompassed the game's opening scenes.
In any case, what I was able to notice was the game's localization, which seems to be coming along rather nicely and also shows signs of retaining the same unique charm that its forebearers have sported.
There is more, of course. The visuals are mostly unchanged from
Battle Network 5's, except for a couple of things: first off, for the first time ever in the series, Mega Man's in-battle normal form sprite has been redrawn and looks much sleeker now. I don't know why this is happening only now, at the supposed end of the series, but better late than never, right? Secondly, character dialogue portraits have been redrawn once again, sporting an even fresher, more streamlined aesthetic than we saw in
Battle Network 5.
I could only hear a small bit of the game's music, but I can definitely confirm that it's of the same catchy, synthesized, old-but-new-school Game Boy style that this series has always featured (if that makes any sense). Sound effects, unsurprisingly, seem to be mostly unchanged.
In the end, though it was impossible to take the all-new features that
Battle Network 6 brings to the table for a spin, nothing in particular struck me as anything that should make series fans worry about this latest chapter. The game wasn't anything overwhelming, to be sure, but at the very least it would seem that
Battle Network 6 is shaping up to be yet another solid, quality title in this deservingly-successful spin-off series.
