"The war of Wanzer continues..."

Ok, after long wait in my country at last front mission 4(FM4) English version is released, Since I'm one of the Tactical RPG lovers I just state out honestly what I'm think about front mission 4, there's a pros and cons in this FM4 I was expecting that FM4 will be able to do better than FM3, but sadly Square or Square-Enix failed to do that... to make it clear here is the review below.

GRAPHICS-9.5/10
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The good Thing about FM4 is the graphics are very very superior compare to FM3...of course it's using PS2 emotion engine, btw I don't have any concern about the wanzer design, it looks cool and Detail same also with the environments is a real 3D environment and animated also like water flowing, clouds moving and etc, perhaps this is one of the games that is using full potential of PS2 the opening movie also looks very great nothing to concern about the graphics, it won't dissapointed you... however talking about the animation and smoothness, FM4 is lack a little bit in there, I notice a small frame drop when viewing the mech in intemission menu, well I guess that's because the PS2 hardware limitation, luckily in battle and map no frame drop at all, and one thing also the font size is very small like using a 1024X740 in 15"PC monitor, is sooo small although your TV is about 30" or above and I don't know why they make it so small, sometimes it's very hard to see the words, so minus mark and the reason why I don't give 10/10 for graphics.

GAMEPLAY-6.5/10
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Now this is something to talk about... gameplay is alittle bit different from FM3, for those who are familiar with FM3, no need to worry much about the battle system, also for those people who never ever touch FM series, Don't worry! a complete tutorial is provided here, the tutorial is very helpful because it also talks about the status not only the battle, the level up system is... how should I say, is Different and some people feel it's better some people say it is worse than before, when winning the battle, it will give you something called "EP", with this EP you can purchase pilot abilities, including battle skill and command skill, there's also permanent skill there, and that's the good thing about this EP, unlike FM3 which you have to wear parts of other mech and go to simulator a lot in order to obtain the battle skill. the worse part is most of the pilot have a small little amount of AP(action point) and to raise the AP you have to use EP point, thus each pilot is having different abilities (unlike FM3 which even sniper can learn rate of fire III) to gain another abilities option you have to level up your pilot rank and that's also cost EP.
for battle system, the pilot damage have been tone down from FM3, in Fm3 the main character can deal about 16-20 per hit in begiining of the game, thus the hit is very accurate somewhat although using the shotgun. however in FM4 you can't expect your wanzer can kill a enemy wanzer with a single attack(if you play FM3, you notice a pilot name Ryogo can do that many times) I play second stage of the game and took me about 18 turns to finish 4 enemies, 4 enemies in FM3 is nothing only need 3 turns... plus the battle is a little bit boring, since you can't kill enemy fast and keep taking damage, what you do all day is attack enemy, taking damage and use heal unit to heal your unit, this process keep looping. I hope that not until the end of stage...but Still overall is good The battle skill is also like before, it perform randomly. I also notice they put new battle system called linked system and remove the "Internet" Features in FM3, so... that's mean you can't check mail and web site anymore...

SOUND & MUSIC-7/10
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Nothing much to say the sound they also add some voice acting which is not in FM3, it's very clear and high quality, the machine guns sounds a little bit ugly though but no problem, music is simple and suitable for the situation...although it's not as good as SRW(Super Robot Wars/Taisen) series but I think it's OK.

OVERALL-8/10
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To say at last is a good game although it has a pros and cos, also even though it is not as good as FM3 (except the graphics) if you are fans of FM3 it's good to buy this game to entertain you for certain period of time, the graphics is one thing that is very superior than other Tactical games, to be honest I feel this FM4 graphics is prettier than FFX , the gameplay is somewhat interesting although battle is a little bit boring but Overall it is still a good game, It's hard to find good games nowadays especially for PS2, luckily we still have FM4 and Square-Enix kindness to translate such good japanese game into English.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04