Support NeoGAF

[Wario64]

6.8

http://www.gamespot.com/gba/rpg/megamanbn4blue/review.html
http://www.gamespot.com/gba/rpg/megamanbn4red/review.html

"Feature for feature, Mega Man Battle Network 4 sounds just as good as Mega Man Battle Network 3 was. Unfortunately, the flaws are tougher to ignore this time around, partially because the few, new tweaks don't make the game more exciting to play but also because the story is so far out in left field that it doesn't support what actually happens in the game."

 

[Fifty]

About time they review it.

Fair enough score. The story really does suck... I didn't like the new tweaks, and from what I've seen, only the hardest of hardcore megaman fans are embracing it (maybe they're just loyal, who knows) We've got quite a few big megaman fans here, so I'm sure they'll comment.

 

[belgurdo]

I neither agree or disagree with the review, since I only bought the first two BN games and don't care about any more

 

[NotMSRP]

We have to come up with a new number for GS to use.

 

[nubbe]

The story in BN4 is absolute shit, there is next to no story and it’s really shallow and has almost nothing to do with what you actually do in the game.
The way the game progress is extremely annoying! The main thing you do is run back and forth between different areas to collect some stupid items which some moron has hid… Which you need to find so you can progress to the next event… You get sick of this during the first 5 hours…. And it continues until the game ends…

Now, BN4 has some really nifty features like the Navi Souls… This feature dramatically alters how you play the game and they make battles much easier or harder depending on how you use them.
Rolls soul for example is awesomely powerful and almost trivialise most of the game
The tournaments could have been fun if they hadn’t tried to make then the main event in the game, because they are the main event… they had to make them long and tedious with lots of “mini games” which has no actual goal other then to take up a lot of time.

I’d say BN4 has the best features and battle system of all BN games thus far, but it’s the weakest games due to the shitty story and annoying tournament “mini games”.
One of the annoying parts is how late you get the Navi Customizer. Not having access to it earlier greatly hampers your ability to get chips and overall progression, the same kind of design flaw as in BN3… You should have access to it earlier and get some random power ups here and there… Like in the earlier games.

I think it’s sad that all the new great ideas go wasted… They are really awesome.
BN4 could have been the best BN game if they had put more attention to playability and story.

Score: 5.1

MMBN2 > MMBN3 >MMBN1 > MMBN4

 

[Fifty]

Yeah, the Roll Soul is by far the best. Whenever I used it I would finish the battle with full health. Tell me there's something better than that! It was too easy... I wanted to play through it on the harder levels, but there was just so much BS with having to go from point A to point B, I got tired quickly.

 

[Agent Dormer]

Yeah, it's pretty bad. Gonna end up scoring it a 2.5-3.

 

[kiryogi]

I just finished BN4 first playthrough, 22 hours. (And to note, I haven't played a BN since 1..) I love most of the changes that have been made over time. My only gripe here is that the Add option is gone :/ The story wasn't too much of a biggie for me, I'm just here for the spontaneous battling. The increased amount of navi battles is a big ace. Scavenger hunts were stupid and vague as hell though :/ Gonna be going through hard mode for another 2 souls now, not gonna be happy with having to redo story, but at least they upped the ante on the enemies

Short and simple, I'd give it a 7 or 8. It's always about the gameplay more so than story in my experiences with .EXE. You can only do so much with a game that's worked like a kid's animated show.

edit: I want roll soul! But wind soul is pretty cheese too, minus the slow buster.

 

[Agent Dormer]

I just finished BN4 first playthrough, 22 hours. (And to note, I haven't played a BN since 1..) I love most of the changes that have been made over time. My only gripe here is that the Add option is gone :/ The story wasn't too much of a biggie for me, I'm just here for the spontaneous battling. The increased amount of navi battles is a big ace. Scavenger hunts were stupid and vague as hell though :/ Gonna be going through hard mode for another 2 souls now, not gonna be happy with having to redo story, but at least they upped the ante on the enemies

Short and simple, I'd give it a 7 or 8. It's always about the gameplay more so than story in my experiences with .EXE. You can only do so much with a game that's worked like a kid's animated show.

edit: I want roll soul! But wind soul is pretty cheese too, minus the slow buster.

Actually, one of my biggest problems is that the amount of random battles and a rather obtuse layout makes for an awful experience when you go on these fetch quest. It's rather annoying to get in all these battles every time you go into the Net, especially when you can easily beat them. I mean, it's an extra 20-30 seconds, but it's an annoying 20-30 seconds.

 

[kiryogi]

Whoops, forgot to address that even though I mentioned it in my first impression. I guess I sorta forgot when I finally got to the tournaments >_> In general I don't think RPGs should be using a random encounter system :/ Tho on a funny note, I actually wanted to get into random battles when I was trying to make money for the YumLand pcode. (I was robbed most of my zeny from the ColdMan scenario) That was one bit of stupid design IMO, or shouldn't be in modern RPGs.

 

[epmode]

i loved the first two, but this series is dead now. nice work, capcom.

 

[Agent Dormer]

It really pissed me off when I had to go find the ghost in the net, which had me going around every square inch of the net. It was annoying as hell that I had to fight upwards of 20-30 battles to find all of those stupid specters. On screen enemies would have improved this game greatly.

 

[kiryogi]

It really pissed me off when I had to go find the ghost in the net, which had me going around every square inch of the net. It was annoying as hell that I had to fight upwards of 20-30 battles to find all of those stupid specters. On screen enemies would have improved this game greatly.

Well Navis are on screen In any case, there is that subchip for avoiding, or do what I did later, try to run. :/ It's sorta annoying to think that you fight all these battles and you don't really gain much. While in other rpgs there's usually experience involved.

 

[nubbe]

The battles don’t bother me that much since you can avoid them (Subchips and a Navi Customizer block) and they give a chance to get better chips…

The most frustrating part was that you always had to run all over the place to look after some stupid shit in several different areas and then you had to run somewhere else to talk with someone or get another item… it felt like you where running back and fort just because of creativity bankruptcy to make an actual story.

It felt like the entire games was the Job quest in BN2…

 

[6.8]

HAHAHA PH33R M3

 

[Lyte Edge]

Damn...I'm starting to wonder if I should just sell off BN3 and BN4 now.

 

[dark10x]

HAHAHA PH33R M3

XAN?

 

[Fifty]

It's sorta annoying to think that you fight all these battles and you don't really gain much. While in other rpgs there's usually experience involved.

Heh, that's what I said in the other thread.