Starforce is, and yet is not, Battle Network.
Starforce is reminiscent of BN 4, 5, and 6. The story, once again, is some invading force, usually preying on darkness itself or the darkness in peoples' hearts, and it's up to you to stop it. At the same time, the gameplay tried to throw in far too many "new" concepts that clashed with the tactical nature of the original idea. Starforce limits you to one row. Now, you can't have nearly as many strategies, and the only way you can use anything close-range is to use a really screwy "lock-on" system that, more often than not, will result in collision damage, IF your attack succeeds. Now I will say that the Starforce series DID take away Chip Codes, made shields and the like a one-button event, and SF3 did reintroduce P.A.s and eliminated the "dead-end" encounters, but these changes were made far too late to save a dying series which borrowed heavily from the worst half (except BN6, which is fun) of an already niche predecessor.
Sure, BN and SF have their share of characters you can empathize with, but BN1-3 fleshed out the Internet concept AND the stories were schemed around the retaliation and plans (that you lay waste to) that resulted from either Dr. Wily's Machiavellian twistings or some other social problem.
As far as babes are concerned, hey, anymore, you can't have a game like these that doesn't have at least one or maybe even two fan-favorites (unless it's Pokemon, then there's one everywhere you turn).