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Soon after the Battle Network series ended, Capcom tried its hand at yet another spinoff in Mega Man Star Force. We find ourselves in the mysterious year 220X. The Internet is a thing of the past, and EM (electromagnetic) waves are how everyone networks, courtesy of cyberspace and the NetNavis from Battle Network times. People use Transers to connect to cyberspace and can battle viruses using Battle Cards as needed. We follow Geo Stelar, a young boy who operates his cyberpartner, Omega-Xis -- and when they combine, they form Mega Man. His father disappeared three years prior, and he hasn't been to school since, making us all wonder what kind of a parent his mother is. The game is Geo's travelogue, logging his sequence of encounters with FM-ians, enemies from another planet, as he saves the world from a hostile takeover. Sadly, equal time is spent watching Geo be an emotional train wreck, ruining most of the connection you'll have with the character. But my biggest concern with the game is that it's basically Battle Network with a visual twist. Instead of seeing both characters on a horizontal plane, the perspective of your battles is now behind you. Literally, right behind you. You can only move left or right, so your area of movement is more limited. Everything else in the game is more or less a rehash of Battle Network games, only on the DS and less fun. Mega Man Star Force came out in three versions, each name representing one of the three satellites that orbit Earth in the game. Whichever version you choose, that's whose transformation you can use, but the rest of the game is constant, so really, just buy one. Or, better yet...
Check out our Mega Man Star Force review for a more in-depth look!
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Mega Man Star Force 2 may have shrunk the different versions to two, not much else has changed. This one's set two months after the first game; Geo is finally out of his emo shell and ready to enjoy life again. While visiting a neat laboratory in another city, they observe a new machine called the Star Carrier, which can transform radio waves into actual physical objects. Meanwhile, although the FM-ians are no longer a threat to society, there are others at play who want to rule the world with an iron fist, particularly the scientist Dr. Vega, who wishes to bring back the oft-forgotten continent of Mu and use its ancient technology to his advantage. Mega Man Star Force 2 is pretty much identical to the previous game in terms of gameplay elements. Because Star Carriers come into play, you can use Star Cards as well to improve your offensive power as needed. There are also Wave Command cards, actual cards you can place on your DS' touch screen; by tapping dots on the card itself, you can unlock abilities and other cards in the game. That's neat, except you had to buy them separately. Mega Man Star Force 2 comes in two flavours; both of them allow you to transform into the Thunder Zerker, but depending on which version you bought, you also get to use Wood Ninja or Fire Saurian... but you'd have to start a new game for those. Phooey!
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Uh-oh! Meteor's coming to Earth! Better stop it! Things have changed in the world since we last left it. Everyone is using Wizards instead of those classic NetNavis, which, for whatever reason, are more convenient. It is soon discovered, however, that these new Wizards cause horrible amounts of Noise waves in the EM world. Leave it to a group known as "Dealer", led by the nefarious Mr. King, to try and take advantage of this situation: somehow, they can use all that Noise to manipulate a meteor and cause it to come crashing to Earth, effectively place the world at Mr. King's mercy. Guess Geo will have to get back on the case. Now, oddly enough, in actual battle, you'll want to create as much Noise as possible to increase your haul at the end. That... doesn't make any sense. Then again, I'm talking about video games here. The Mega Man Star Force series ended with this title. Considering the format was already stale when the series began, its time had come.
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