Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Protoman for Game Boy Adv Reviews & Ratings by IGN

You know, I'm tired of starting every new Mega Man Battle Network game review the same way, mocking the game's "rehash" status along with the obligatory "but it's evolved since last year" disclaimer. It's almost hard to conceive: not only have there been five games in the Mega Man Battle Network series in just as many years, but Mega Man Battle Network 5 actually, believe it or not, extends the series out to nine individual SKUs with all the dual-packs since Mega Man Battle Network 3 and the odd Chip Challenge spin-off. This makes the series the most recycled product on the system, ousting Activision's Tony Hawk series and its GBA sequels from the slot. Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel and Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Protoman offer minor tweaks to the five year old game design to make it, once again, the best in the series. But it's getting a little tired -- it might be time to give the franchise a very special two-hour series finale.

Mega Man Battle Network 5 takes Game Boy Advance gamers into the futuristic world first brought to life in 2001's original Battle Network title. Since then, this universe has been embellished upon not just in sequels on the Game Boy Advance, but also in the GameCube's Network Transmission platformer, and, of course, the Mega Man NT anime currently airing on Kids WB. The world's hook is that culture is tied so closely into the Internet, that it's a part of everyday life. Everything from computers to toasters are wired into the net, and every member of society carries around a Personal Electronic Trainer to jack into this internet for their day-to-day living. And it's within this computerized world that players will encounter danger; viruses, corrupted programs, and other virtual threats need to be taken care of, and it's up to main character Lan and his own PET Mega Man to do the job.

What can be said about Mega Man Battle Network 5 that hasn't been said already? The new game is entirely based on the version of the series that came before it, using many of the same graphic, audio, and interface assets to create a new adventure and storyline for its sequel. So, chances are if you're reading this you've already played through at least one of the games in the series, and since you have it's pretty safe to say that you won't see a whole lot of new elements in Battle Network 5 beyond another "rule the online world" storyline. For those of you who haven't experienced the series yet, Battle Network 5 is wise enough to offer up another rendition of its tutorial mode so that you can understand the unique battle system of the RPG series. Of course, the writers are clearly having a hard time coming up with new ways for the main character to "forget" everything he's learned from the past game, and in this case Lan's becoming quite the dumbass.

What's been said about the past four games in the series extends into Mega Man Battle Network 5. It features an enhanced version of the battle system triggered by random events within the virtual world, combining action elements in a turn-based design. The strategy comes in the form of constructing a deck of moves, attacks and abilities, since each turn gives players the opportunity to choose from a random selection. By defeating enemies, players earn more of these moves to strengthen their deck. It's a cool design for a battle sequence, and it's what makes the series better than the usual RPG. And in the case of this sequel, it's been streamlined enough with plenty of stuff to do and experience.

New to the series: Liberation missions which change the RPG into this strange strategy design where you'll move step-by-step through a "chess" like design to defeat the specific enemies. It's a way for the designers to change things up a bit, but it really segments the game harshly, and it's almost a hassle to go through these missions since they're artificially extending the length of the game by slowing things down considerably. Also added to the game is an interesting co-developed multiplayer mini-game, pitting owners of Boktai 2 against owners of Battle Network 5 using the Wireless Adapter in a strange race to see who can defeat an enemy using the specific game's battle interface: realtime in Boktai 2, turn-based in Battle Network 5. It's really interesting to see this weird linkage between two different company's completely different games, but it's a shame this extra mode seems incredibly thrown in and entirely unfun to play.

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