Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace

This is the 2nd Battle Network/ Star force / Donkey Punch Mega man game that I've finished.. And this is probably more completed than MMBN2 which I reviewed earlier. It is the first of the Star Force games for the DS which I have played, and it is mostly the same as the Battle Network series. The main changes are that Mega man only moves left and right in the last row of the grid; as opposed to a full 9 squares in Battle Network. The battle system gains a lock on function, which allows you to use short range battle cards such as swords on enemies which do not come into the row in front of you. A Customizer also exists, similar to the one in MMBN3, except using the value of "Link Power" which can be gained from doing side quests, or linking with other people in real life.

The story, as always, is crap and shouldn't really be paid attention.

There really isn't that much new in this game, compared to battle network, except that elements have returned, a-la battle networks 2 and 3 in the form of "Noise forms". Noise is the biggest addition to this game from previous iterations. It is a value which appears in the top right corner of the screen once a certain ability is equipped. To increase this amount, the player must use "normal" (non elemental) battle cards on the enemy. In normal virus battles, the amount of damage overkill turns into the amount of noise gained. In boss battles, half of your normal battlecard damage turns into noise. Noise degenerates over time. Past 50%, your element will appear, and past 200% noise, you are able to "finalize" and turn into either Black Ace, or Red Joker, depending on whichever version of the game you have. Every 50% increment increase from 200% onwards will give you a better deck of battlecards, being capped off at lvl 11 deck at 999% noise.

Not much can be said about this game.. It's more of the same Battle Network that we all know and love, It's just a question of how much more battle network you can take..