Megaman StarForce: Pegasus (DS) Review
Posted by Jordan Williams on 10.10.2007
This game celebrates 20 years of the Blue Bomber. This game also celebrates that the last five years have really all been the same two games over and over.
Megaman.
We all know him in some form or another, and that's not really a good thing. A character and self titled game that started out being nothing more than a painfully hard side scrolling platformer has now ballooned out into tons of franchises spanning tons of consoles and handhelds.
Again, that's not really a good thing. But every dark overexposed cloud as a silver lining sometimes. Can Megaman's latest outing in Megaman Starforce be said silver lining? Well there's only one way to find out.
The story isn't really much to explain. Rather than this being a completely new game it's really more of a story upgrade to the (pretty decent) Megaman Battle Network series with just a few minor changes.
Note: There are three(3) versions of this game. The version I reviewed was 'Pegasus'. To my knowledge all of the versions share the same type of gameplay with minor changes that do not have an overall effect on the game.
Graphics
Hm. This is a bit tough. The game is broken into two distinct styles. On the over world setting it's in the very familiar Megaman Battle Network isometric sprite style. Nothing entirely new there. Nothing at all. At first glance it looks just like an old GBA game.
But however, when it shifts into its battle modes it uses some of the DS' power. The battles are presented in an over-the-shoulder view. The view is fully 3D and has a nice cel-shaded look to keep with the anime art style of the game. But it all really ends there. The monsters are nice the first time you see them, but eventually they all just become palette swaps. It might seem like this is a short description but honestly if you played Megaman Battle Network, the over world art isn't that new to you and the battle graphics are simply just too plain to really deserve another look.
It doesn’t even have those nifty FMVs that DS users have been so accustom to seeing nowadays. This would’ve really helped, because when you are not in a battle or going to a battle the game has to do all of its narrative via text boxes. It's a long LONG process. Seeing as the text boxes are so small that the character can only say about a sentence at a time. This makes for very long and boring conversations. Most of which you don't even need to listen to.
Gameplay
Here is where the game makes its biggest and smallest leaps. I know it's bad that I keep referencing back to Megaman Battle Network, but with a game that's so similar to it, it's almost impossible NOT to.
The random encounters and boss battles are set up on a grid and you simply choose your battle card during your turn, and the game switches over to a real-time battle in which you dodge, fire, and use the special attacks you selected. Once the timer refills, you do this again until the battle is over. Exactly like Megaman Battle Network.
There are some minor changes, however. Depending on what version of the game you get, you will unlock a Star Force based on version (Leo, Pegasus, and Dragon) which will up your attack and allow you to choose even more cards in one turn.
All in all, if you've played any of the many Battle Network games, you are going to know exactly how to play the game before you even play it.
As with the more recent games, there's the ever present "gotta catch 'em all" style that will satisfy those who are gunning for that 100% completion. But there's nothing really to show for it. This game does feature online play among the three versions and in it self does have fairly great perks. The buddy system is actually integrated seamlessly into the online experience. It's just a matter of actually finding someone to play it WITH. It's a great idea if you can ever use it.
The use of the touch screen is minimal as well. You can select your battle chips with it, but other than that it's completely missing during the normal game and only appears once a 'level' for a mini-game corresponding to whatever digital dungeon you are crawling. This should've been used A LOT more effectively. The lack of touch screen usage only makes this game look more like a GBA port rather than a DS game.
All in all, outside of the online offering. This is an old hat that you've played before. Nothing really new here.
Sound
Anyone who's ever played a Megaman game will not be surprised here. It has all of the standards beeps, boops, and synth you come to expect.
This is not saying that the music is bad. The music is fairly forgettable, but it's very good. Although there only seems to really be about four or five looping songs in the game you will never notice the level of detail they have unless you put headphones on. Only then will you hear all of the underlying melodies and beats in the songs. Sadly, the DS speakers just aren't powerful enough to transmit that without holding it up to your ear.
There sound effects are nothing new either. If you've heard one explosion or buster shot, you've heard them all. There's no voice acting in the game outside of the pause screen, and even then it's a barely understandable mechanic twinge.
Lasting Appeal
If this review seems sort of short and too the point, it's not me being lazy. This game is just much uninspired to those who have played its predecessors. For a franchise that's 20 years old, it's been showing its age for about 5 of those years now. The game itself is about 6 hours long if you run it straight through, however there are quite a few side quests you'll miss out. Those along extend the game time for another two hours or so. After that it's just the standard 'run around and find those last three battle cards you are missing' affair that comes with games of this genre. This is the type of game you buy, beat, then trade it back in for in-store credit before it's not worth it anymore.
Fun Factor
This game is fun for about two hours, tops. By then you will either keep playing just for the sake of beating it, or you are a hardcore Megaman fan and you will beat it because you will be doing the Blue Bomber a great disservice if you don't. Either way, the game is fun for a limited time; once that time expires you aren't going to want to bother with it again.
The 411
If you are a fan of MMBN, or just a Megaman fan in general. You are going to have fun with this because it's essentially the same game. If you are new to the series you aren't going to make it passed the first two hours. You'll be sick of the extensive dialogue and constant backtracking by then. I personally enjoyed the game for a bit, but once I beat it I didn't really feel the need to pick it up again...
That reminds me...I need to drop by GameStop.
Graphics
7.0
The Cel-Shaded 3D Battle Graphics are nice. Everything is an old hat.
Gameplay
6.0
You've played this game before. It hasn't changed.
Sound
6.5
It's a lot deeper than it sounds. Just a shame you don't get a chance to hear it.
Lasting Appeal
5.0
Unless you really want to find everything, you aren't going to come back to this.
Fun Factor
5.0
If you played all of the Battle Network games and got tired of them, avoid this. It's the same game.
