You have already clicked the download link. If you need to download again, please click here to reset the link.

Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace: Reviews

Select Author:

Game Score: 9/10

The next installment of the Star Force series is an improvement in many ways from the previous two games (if not a few facets of Battle Network as well).

Story: 9/10
With the defeat of Lady Vega and the fall of the Neo Mu Empire, protagonist Geo Stelar has returned to school with his friends. The next generation of EM Wave technology has given the common folk their own EM-being assistants called Wizards - and acting as Geo's is jerk alien extraordinaire, Omega-Xis.

But all is not well; a red star lurks in the sky, and Noise, a substance dangerous to EM beings as well as humans, has been increasing in the frequency of its appearance. Indeed, the casino-motif organization known as Dealer is on the scene, sowing dissent to increase Noise concentration and harvest its byproduct, the dangerous Crimson, to further its own goals.

Compared to the previous two games, Star Force 3 has grown up quite a bit. Geo's earlier whininess is nowhere to be found, and later portions deal with more mature themes such as death. While there are still a few head-scratchers to be found, the story as a whole is a vast improvement over its predecessor.

Gameplay: 8/10
The basics are the same as the previous two games, which themselves inherit from the Battle Network series before them. The player controls Geo Stelar, who can merge with the aforementioned Alien Omega-Xis to form the titular Mega Man. With the new personal device known as the Hunter-VG, one no longer has to look for a Wavehole in order to Pulse In to the wave world (though there are still set locations to jump onto the Wave Road). The gimmick stages before major bosses have a sort of Zen simplicity to them that I haven't seen since the *first* Battle Network.

Battles also harbor a few changes from the series norm. Each match still starts with six Battle Cards appearing two-high three-wide on the bottom screen, randomly selected from your deck of 30. Cards can be selected by one of three criteria: three on the same row, two on the same column, or however many of the same card wherever, with "white" cards not counting against these.

You then enter active combat, where you can use your cards (in the order they were selected) against your enemies, and using your default MegaBuster against survivors until you can get more cards. You are graded and rewarded after almost every battle, with better rewards for higher ranks that come from faster victories.

While this sounds the same as before (aside from row-selecting now being available full-time), things get a little wacky in this installment. Cards are not perfectly aligned to the Custom Screen's 3x2 grid, and when two or more cards overlap some will be designated as "Support Cards". The advantage to these is that they can be changed to give other effects according to their element (Neutral cards get AreaEater, a throwback to Battle Network's AreaGrab; Fire cards get Attack+10, etc.) - the disadvantage is that if you still wish to use the card's original effect, it's the *only* card that can be used that turn. This can be a real bummer when both cards for that killer combo are marked for Support, and the problem is magnified by the fact that the five-per-deck-max Mega Cards take up more space on the Custom Screen (and the super-powerful one-per-deck Giga Cards are larger still).

The other major change is the Noise system, which allows you to harness the power of the fractal-looking stuff for yourself. A ways through the game, Mega Man will acquire a powerup that displays a numbered percent in the corner during battles. This is the Noise Gauge, which increases as you overkill viruses or damage bosses with non-elemental, non-timestopping cards. As it increases, strange things can happen - maybe that Cannon will bring an enemy forward instead of knock it back, or you'll take a hit while under the influence of Invisibility. If you end a battle with at least 100% Noise, your reward will be a completely random Battle Card, and the next battle will start at 50%.

In addition, after certain battles, Mega Man may acquire new Noise Forms that add to his abilities, but these powers are limited in-battle by your current Noise. At below 50%, you get the basic card power bonuses; at 50%, passive abilities; 100% gives you active powers such as changes to your Buster. And entering the Custom Screen at 200% lets you draw on the power of that red shooting I was talking bout earlier, granting you access to an alternate (and stupidly powerful) deck and changing Mega Man into your version-specific form, the Black Ace or Red Joker.

In addition, outside of battle you can attach abilities, each of which has a cost against Geo's Link Power, which can be raised by forming BrotherBands with other people, both in-game and in Real Life(TM). These abilities range from passive HP boosts, to changing the area of a charged MegaBuster shot, to starting the battle with a Barrier, and more. Which is basically the same as in Star Force 2, but with a lot more in-game BrotherBands to be formed.

Graphics: 8/10
While the overworld doesn't look a whole lot different from the previous two games, there's hardly anything wrong with it. The stages before each boss are actually plainer than before, simply being differently-colored Wave Road on a spiffy background. The sprite animations, on the other hand, are vastly increased in number, with characters not simply blinking from kneeling to standing like they did before.

In-battle graphics are more of the same, though not in a bad way. Enemies are low-res, as is normal for 3D DS graphics, though they are still quite vibrant.

Overall: 9/10
In the end, this game is a serious improvement over the first two Star Force games. The battles are fun, the story is engaging, and I nearly BAWWW'd at the end.

Seriously, it's pretty awesome.