Back in October, I took a look at the first of the 6 Megaman Battle Network games, and I liked it quite a bit. However, it was just the first in the series. We got 5 more titles in this franchise, and today’s review covers number two. Is it better than the one that came before it, and does it do more than it’s predecessor? Well, sit back, relax, and read my review for Battle Network No. 2. Let’s begin!
Story
Taken from The MegaMan wiki:
“The following summer after WWW's defeat, a new terrorist group called Gospel emerged. Their tactics differed considerably compared to WWW, as they appeared to have no set goal. Gospel's plan had seemingly consisted of only causing random destruction with their NetNavis. Lan and MegaMan battled every member and prevented the worst possible situations. However, Gospel's hidden plan was to re-create the ultimate NetNavi, Bass.EXE (Forte.EXE in Japan). Using bug fragments, they planned to make a large army of Bass Navis to take over the world. Unknown to Gospel, their method of creating Bass was imperfect, and his abilities were vastly below predictions. In an attempt to increase Bass's power, the leader of Gospel overloaded energy into Bass, and changed him into a giant multi-bug organism, who was named Gospel, same as the organization. Although the bug beast was stronger than before, Lan and MegaMan managed to eliminate it.”
Battle Network 2 is definitely a step up from the first one when it comes to it’s story. Though the blurb above is the game’s story in general, there are plenty of twists, turns, and surprises that make things rather unpredictable & shocking. On top of that, BN2 is more balanced in terms of black & white, to the point where there’s slivers of grey sewn in that don’t feel overwhelming or unnecessary. The stakes are higher, the battles are larger, and the world might not be the same afterwards.
Setting
Battle Network No. 2 has stayed somewhat the same for the most part when it comes to it’s world. You still have the Net, and you still have the real world. AC/DC Town is still the main hub, and you have a portion of your school to explore (A small portion though). It’s everywhere else in the real world that’s new for this game. There’s a peaceful woodland campground, an airport with a bunch of things to do and it’s accompanying jetliner, and the marine harbor & it’s accompanying Science Center (Where Lan’s Dad works). On top of that, there’s the distant land of Netopia, which comes across as more European when compared to the Japanese vibes of Electopia. Regardless of where you go in the real world, things come across as a little more detailed than the first Battle Network: there’s slightly better texture work, and the colors seem slightly brighter as well.
The Net, on the other hand, has gotten some big changes! Since the scale of the story is bigger in this second go-around, the areas of the Net are larger & more maze-like, and are more numerous as well. Even though you don’t travel to any other nations besides Netopia, you do get to go to the various internet areas of other countries, and they all have their own unique color pallette & textures. The Undernet makes a return as well, and it’s a little more darker & alien than in the first game. Set against a blacked grey background & platforms, the usage of neon-like colors given this place a rather alien vibe. Like a place that good NAVIs shouldn’t be in unless they had no choice, or a district of a city that an average joe/jane like you & I wouldn’t be caught in. The Undernet also has perhaps some of the best loot of the game.....along with a few secrets that I won’t spoil here.
Characters
Like the game’s setting, for the most part the cast of characters in Battle Network 2 remains largely unchanged. The main cast is still well accounted for: Lan & Megaman, Lan’s parents, Dex & Gutsman, Mayl & Roll, Yai & Glide, Chaud & Protoman, etc. We also have some other returning characters from the first game, but they don’t make quite as much of a splash as they did in the original Battle Network. There’s a few new side characters that pop up when needed, and they all provide something to the overall experience (Interacting with some moves the story along), but the biggest strength of this game when it comes to characters.....lies in the Gospel Netmafia.
Let’s get this out of the way: Gospel is a far bigger threat to the world than what WWW ever was. Not to say that WWW never caused harm, as they surely did, but their goals were rather simplistic. Gospel on the other hand has far more ambition behind their plans, and they have nowhere near as much comedic undertones to their actions. All of the various members of the group are all nihilistic in some way, and the leader of Gospel is not just nihilistic, but is a little misanthropic as well. I will not spoil anything else about them, save for the fact that there is a surprising reveal about their origins. Regardless, the organization poses a bigger threat to the world & The Net than WWW ever did, and there is no line that they won’t cross.
Gameplay
For the most part, Battle Network No. 2's gameplay remains largely unchanged from what the 1st one did (Like it’s setting & characters). You wander around, do side quests & progress the main story, search for items and such to upgrade your character, take part in fights, etc. The base components haven’t really been touched in this regard, but it's the little things that have changed.....and that’s where things get interesting.
For starters, there are now Subchips to acquire. These aren’t used in battles, but instead outside of them for a variety of purposes. You can now heal outside of battles (Something that didn’t happen in BN1, as you auto-healed), sneak past basic enemies, unlock special codes for items, and a few others I can’t recall as I’m typing this. The Subchips add more variety to the main Chips, which the variety of such has expanded quite a bit, but still has many of the original ones as well. Like the original game, if you match 3 Chips of the exact same kind, you’ll get a special super chip that’ll do something absolutely crazy!
Enemies have also gotten a boost as well. Practically all of the viruses from the first Battle Network are accounted for, but now there’s a host of new ones as well. The new viruses are perhaps the more challenging, as many of their attacks either hit really hard sometimes, or they can altar the battlefield in ways that will be incredibly detrimental to you. Luckily, the armor system that was in the first Battle Network has come back to protect you, and has been improved also. You now can see what kind of armor you’re wearing, as they all come in a variety of colors. On top of that, each of them affect your stats in various ways, and they also have their own weakness as well. Be sure to switch armor sets whenever you can.....but we all know that Fire Armor is best!
Finally, there’s also the shortcut pads. On Lan’s home PC, there’s a shortcut system that’ll take you to various parts of the net, which in turn negates backtracking by a significant margin in certain areas. You can unlock it early, but you’ll only have one or two parts to go into. I got mine unlocked towards the end, where by that point I had just about all of the parts available (Think I had it all when I eventually got to it). This is super useful in so many ways, especially if you’re farming for a specific chip in a place that’s further away from some systems.
There are also a few secret things to do once the main story is completed, but I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t played yet. Suffice it to say.....it’ll be a pleasant surprise once you find them.
Graphics & Sounds
The only thing that’s not really different from this game when compared to the first Battle Network are the graphics & sound quality. There’s nothing really all that difference look wise, and all of the sounds come across like something you’d hear in BN No. 1. One difference when it comes to the audio is the music: for whatever reason I seemed to like No. 2's soundtrack just a little more when compared to what No. 1 offered (Even though that game had a nice OST in it’s own right). Another difference is the final area’s graphics. I won’t spoil what it looks like, as it would reveal some endgame spoilers, but I will say it’s the weirdest of the areas I’ve seen so far in these games, as the usage of odd colors & strange shapes gives it a very alien feel. More alien than the Undernet, btw.
Overall & Rating
Battle Network No. 2 is definitely a step up from the first game. Though it still has some faults to it, they don’t impact the experience as much as they did in the inaugural one. Everything great that the 1st title did was improved here, and it would only get better from that later point. If you liked what the first Battle Network did, then No. 2 will have more of that!
Battle Network No. 2 gets a 9 out of 10.
And that was my review for the second Battle Network game. A small cut above what BN1 was, it still managed to provide a unique experience that was just different enough than what was before it. I began the 3rd game fairly recently, so I should have a review for that one eventually. In the meantime, I gotta get back to the top 5 lists of this year, so see you all this Friday for the top 5 games of 2024. Until then, take care!
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