Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar

The Good
Taking the good bits from the previous game, this title has good use of colour, scenery, game mechanics and variety of battlechips. Just like before, you can play other Netnavis, but better than that, you can cross fuse as them without sacrificing an element chip. Being able to transform into a cyber beast is also an added bonus. No liberation missions here, but there is a similar minigame involving net ghosts.

The Bad
This game still manages to include all the goofs and bad parts from the previous games including the smaller sprites and PC speaker music. To top it off, you need to battle abysmally bad boss netnavis, that look like they came from outside the Mega Man franchise. And once again The Japanese version hogs the extras that would have brought some improvement including internet area minimaps and additional locations.

And the plot now takes a turn for the worst in the series as Wily is back to his old box of tricks again. Who thought it would be a good idea to include Iris and Colonel in the 21st century? Forget about Wily's robotics project now that there's robots everywhere, he's more upset about a war, which was never referenced in any of the other games. And it's an anticlimax that he becomes good for good. To add ruin to the theme, you are now exploring a backwards, square part of Electopia where corporal punishment and outdated school rules apply. What a messed up country.

The Bottom Line
It is evident that this game took a tremendously sharp decline in quality after the promising release of Battle Network 5. Of all the games in the series that had the worst storyline, Capcom just had to stuff it in the last one. But that's what happens when you try to mish mash Mega Man X4 with this series (Need I mention Pokemon clone again?). If you want to get the series over and done with, rush through this title or get back to the Zero series.

The Good
I don't know why people who mention the Battle Netwok series always talk about the first 3 games and systematically forget the last 3. This is incredibly similar with the original NES Mega Man series, again people only talk about the first 3 games (especially 2 and 3) and forget about the last 3.

Well all I can say is that they're wrong, because, ladies and gentlemen, Mega Man Battle Network 6 (from now on MMBN6) is a great game. Probably the best of the series I'd say. It exists in two versions : Cybeast Falzar and Cybeast Gregar. Cybeasts (I guess that's a contraction of Cyber-beasts) are two legendary creatures that exists in the net, Falzar is a giant bird while Gregar is a giant wolf. I played Falzar, but most of what I'm saying probably applies to Gregar too.

As in previous MMBN games, you take control of Lan in the "real world" who has the navi Mega Man installed in his PET (personal terminal, some kind of cellphone) and you can jack into the "cyber world" where you control Mega Man and fight "viruses" (random monsters) and other navis (bosses). There will be regularly some catastrophe going on in the real world and it'll be up to Lan and Mega Man to jack into some computer to fix it.

The graphics are really similar to MMBN5, except for the portraits who have been improved. Compared to MMBN1-3, the graphics are much sharper and more detailed, with smaller sprites. Like in all the rest of the series the music consist of essentially chiptunes which creates a nice electronic feeling to the game.

Now comes what is really new and special about this game. For the first (and last) time in the series, the game does NOT take place in ACDC town. The story starts with Lan moving to another town, because his dad (who is a very famous engineer) got a new job about making an expo about the future of computers etc... What will happen once over there ? Will he make new friends ? You have to play to know. That being said, the story of MMBN6 is incredibly deeper than the ridiculously linear and predictable storylines of earlier MMBNs. It actually features a lot of new characters, as well as true plot twists (older MMBNs only had really predictable twists). Now Capcom EVENTUALLY got rid of this annoying "4 locations" sheme present in all previous MMBN games (they only features 4 locations you can travel to by metro). Well, to be honest there is only 5 locations but that's a major improvement over only 4.

The battle system is the same as ever but this time Mega Man can "cross change", that is fuse with other navis, and this feature is AMAZING. You first have to pass a test while taking the control of the navi you want to cross change with, and if you pass the test, it allows you to cross change. You can also take control of the other navis again if you want (although you can't make any progress in the story with them).

This system really adds something to battles. Of course elements come in play, that is if you cross change with a fire navi, you'll deal double damage to wood viruses but will take double damage from water attacks. You can (and should) also cross change with the beast Falzar, which makes it one of the most powerful forms ever. (in the Gregar version you can cross change with Gregar obviously). The only "side effect" of this system is that it makes the game a little easier than the previous MMBN games, but who cares, it's so fun.

There is also a lot of subquests that you can do for rewards (the good old "jobs"), and a lot of jokes in the game, that makes it really worth playing.

The Bad
I cannot really think of anything bad about this game. Maybe that the music is not very memorable, that is it won't really stick in your head, but that doesn't mean the game has bad music, just that it could have been better (the music of the first 3 games comes in mind).

The only bad thing I'd think of is that the game is too short, but after all it's not THAT short.

The Bottom Line
This is the last game in the series, and definitely one of the best. If you liked other Battle Network games, this is a must play. Otherwise, someone who like both action and RPGs should like this game, there is no need to have played the first 5 to understand the story.

Keys features of this games are :

• Fun (boss) battles

• Ability to Cross Change Mega Man with other navis

• More interesting story than previous MMBN games

• Dozens of fun side quests