By Kevin "Berserker" Hall

Player(s): 1-7
Extra Support: Multi-card Play

Mega Man Star Force 2 once again follows the adventures of Geo Stelar and Omega-XIS and picks up two months after the battles in the previous Star Force. To set up the story of this new one for you, Geo and his friends go on a trip and run into a mysterious man that sends out several viruses among the population and only Geo with the help of his partner Omega-XIS can change to Mega Man and stop this new threat. In all honesty, I never did experience the first Mega Man: Star Force so the whole experience was new to me.

From the beginning of the game, you are given a choice between "Zerker" or "Ninja" and Mega Man will eventually have the option to transform into either of these warriors later in the game. The extra player "Saurian" is available in place of "Ninja" if you happen to have the other version of this game. The game is set up like a normal RPG giving you control of Geo as he is free to roam around his current neighborhood and surrounding areas at some point in the story. Each area is split into two worlds - the real world and the Wave World. Geo can place a visualizer over his head at any time in order to view the wave world, though he cannot interact with it with just the visualizer. Interacting with Waveholes after finding them via the visualizer allows Geo to change to Mega Man and explore the Wave World. The Wave World consists of EM Waves (friendly ghost-like individuals), Viruses (enemies), and many new areas that can only be explored in that world. The Wave World is also the only place where random battles may occur.

Each random battle takes place on a grid composed of three columns that stretch into the background. Mega Man is always placed in the foreground allowing the player to only see the back of his head and body and the enemies appear anywhere on the spaces of the three columns in front of Mega Man. The enemies can move from side and some of them can step closer. Mega Man may only move to one of each of the three columns while staying along the same horizontal space. Attacks can be performed through the usual Mega Buster (can be charged throughout a round then unleashed) or a variety of attack cards can be used.

Throughout each battle, the player can choose cards from a deck that randomly assorts two cards each into three sets of slots. The cards in each deck can be configured before each battle, though the cards will appear randomly during the actual battle. Cards range from melee attack and projectile attack to recover and enhancements. There are quite a variety cards that can be added to a deck as the game progresses and you can set them up in multiple decks to keep you from having to constantly rearrange one deck. Once cards are chosen, Mega Man can attack with the few cards that were selected or attack with his buster as well as block an attack. A meter on the right side of the screen will rise slowly during a battle sequence and allow Mega Man to choose another few cards after it charges.

The battles enforce timing skills in order to get the best out of each attack. Hit an enemy right as it is about to attack and you'll stun the enemy and get another random card in place of the one used. Learning an enemy's attack is by far the best way to excel in each battle since it will keep you from getting hit, stun the enemy allowing you to attack it with another attack and give you another card for that turn. Most normal enemies have an easily distinguishable pattern and attack, so if you familiarize yourself with them then the only main challenge that random battles will offer is the amount of enemies thrown your way and your random card setup for each particular turn.

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