By
Bryn Williams |
Jun 1, 2003
Jack into the Net with a cel-shaded rendition of the little boy in blue.
Capcom's lineup of video games for the GameCube over the next 12 months is pretty impressive. At the recent E3 event in Los Angeles the gaming giant showed off over 20 new titles for all the four console platforms. Keeping some faith in Nintendo's GameCube,
Capcom is set to keep future titles in its popular
Resident Evil series GameCube-firsts, and with other great games like
Viewtiful Joe,
Chaos Legion and
P.N.03 there's no sign of Capcom's commitment to the Cube slowing.
With that in mind, let's turn our attention to the brand new GameCube offering that is
Mega Man Network Transmission . It heralds Mega Man's first incarnation on the GameCube and promises to offer some good old classic
Mega Man action/platforming fun. Developed by Arika -- responsible for the 3D
Street Fighter EX series --
Mega Man Network Transmission combines traditional gameplay with cool cel-shaded graphics and borrows from the game mechanics of the popular
Mega Man Battle Network games on Game Boy Advance.
It's only been one month since Mega Man defeated the evil WWW cohorts who were tearing up Cyberspace something shocking. Thanks to the blue digital hero and his real-world pal, Lan, peace was seemingly restored to Cyberspace. As is always the way, things don't stay calm for long. A brand new ultra-powerful virus known only as Zero has been spotted in Cyberspace. Zero is a piece of code that could well wreak global havoc so it's up to Lan and Mega Man to bust out the virtual weaponry and take Zero down.
The game begins with a swift recap of events and a movie that details Mega Man's final battle against the WWW boss. Spin forward one month and we find Lan geeking around in his bedroom, chatting with Mega Man via his PET -- a PDA-type piece of kit. Using the PET, Lan can receive and read e-mail from other users, organize BattleChips and SubChips, talk to Mega Man and move around his neighborhood map. The most vital function of the PET however is the ability to jack in to Cyberspace and control Mega Man -- this is where the gameplay begins for real.
At first, the news of Zero seems innocent enough, but after Mega Man does some initial recon, it appears as though Zero could potentially infect and corrupt PETs and Navis -- the name given to Mega Man and his digital kind.
The mighty Blue Bomber faces off in a duel.
The meat of the game is pure
Mega Man action of old. And it's not easy, either. In Cyberspace, Mega Man can run left and right, jump and slide. His famous Mega Buster arm cannon is the standard default weapon, but it needs some serious upgrades if it's going to stand a chance of getting to Zero. This is where the
Mega Man Battle Network mechanics come into play. Lan is able to upload a set of six different BattleChips to Mega Man each time he jacks in. There a more than 100 different styles of weaponry available throughout the game, and finding the strengths and weaknesses of each will be key in defeating the numerous boss encounters.
The action looks pretty sweet too. A combination of 2D level design with a pseudo 3D-
Klonoa backgrounds, coupled with some groovy cel-shading makes
Mega Man Network Transmission one purdy game. Mega Man can switch between his six power-ups at any time during the action, and if needs be, he can pause gameplay to make the correct selection.
The new Mega Man bosses resemble old ones.
There's a plethora of weird and wired critters standing between Mega Man and Zero, and the gameplay really keeps you on your toes. I was pretty surprised at how difficult
Mega Man Network Transmission was at first. I've never really been a diehard
MM fan but I'm reliably informed that the original titles were hard, but fun.
Mega Man Network Transmission promises to mix up the series and offer a unique challenge when it hits stores later this month. I know Ben is really looking forward to getting stuck in so I'm curious to see if he thinks it's as hard as I do -- although Ben is much better at these kinds of games than me. I'll be polishing up my skills in the meantime.