Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel Critic Reviews

Improves on the features that were introduced in the previous game and implements some new features that longtime fans should appreciate. On the other hand, it also retains the same graphics, audio, and basic game design that have been with the series since its inception roughly four years ago.

If you enjoyed the previous iterations, Battle Network 5 is a worthy successor to the line, but if you were turned off by the kiddie-veneer, the deep strategic gameplay goes a long way towards making it tolerable.

If you're looking for a reinvention of the franchise, you'd best spend your money elsewhere.

The isometric level design is once again pretty dull.

The biggest problem with Battle Network 5 is the same thing that has plagued all the other sequels in the series: it's just too darn much like its predecessors.

To say Mega Man Battle Network 5 is good would be an accurate verdict, but to say it's worth your $30 is ludicrous.

Just as good as, if not a tad better than, their predecessors. They're just not any different.

It's all just an incremental advancement, more focusing on a new story than a new experience. And the story doesn't really go that far away from what's already been done in the past four games.

Even though fans of the series will have seen most of this before, Battle Network 5 is a very strong game in a technical sense.

It's the same as the previous games, but battling bosses now requires that you slog through a turn-based map before you can reach them. If this sounds appealing to you, then enjoy!

There's no reason to knock a formula that works, but keeping too close to the formula through five editions is only going to satisfy those who have a truly insatiable thirst for more of the same.