Front Mission 4

"A solid well built game with a few nagging flaws"

Front Mission, a long running tactical RPG hand-me-down franchise from the old days of Squaresoft, has always been a niche market game. In North America and Europe, the series (oddly enough) began with Front Mission 3 that saw limited success. The original series started back in Japn during the mid 90s, and although there, it is heralded as one of Square's finest series, it certainly doesn't have the popularity of games like Final Fantasy.

Coming from a background where I loved Front Mission 2nd, and hated Front Mission 3, I really didn't know what to expect from the 4th installment of the series. Early previews looked impressive, but distinctly "Front Mission 3-ish." Luckily, I decided to put those initial reservations aside and get a hold of the game, and it turns out my pre-judgments where wholly incorrect. The game is excellent.

For those unfamiliar with the Front Mission series, Front Mission 4 (like all the numbered incarnations of the game that have come before it) is a Turn Based Tactical Role Playing Game, in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics or Ogre Battle. Play takes place on a fairly large environment divided into a grid. The field is inhabited by giant walking "tanks" known as Wanzers, and the objective of the game is to wipe out enemy units, upgrade your Wanzers, and make your characters stronger.

For all intents and purposes, Front Mission is a glorified giant mecha version of chess.

The reason I despised Front Mission 3 so much is that it dumbed down this entire process until there was very little actual strategy required to win. There were also a number of other flaws which prevented it from being a game of the same quality as its predecessors. Thankfully, many of these issues are addressed in Front Mission 4.

Graphics: 8

The first thing that grabs you about Front Mission 4 is the unbeleivably high quality introduction sequence. Literally, you will need to try to avoid drooling as a group of Wanzers desperately tries (and fails) to fight off a group of superior Wanzers. The action in the opening sequence is dynamic and beautifully rendered with realistic looking Mechas and a sprawling city.

However, once the game starts, all that gloss gets toned down significantly as Front Mission 4 doesn't see a huge improvement over its predecessors. Technically, the environments include some very detailed cityscapes, docks and islands, which certainly are much larger than Front Mission 3 (though far from reaching the staggering map size of Front Mission 2nd). They also have a wonderfully gritty look to them, which perfectly fits the serious, war-theme of the game. Unfortunately these environments don't really animate at all, and while I'm hard pressed for a reason they should, it is somewhat strange to see a massive city with no traffic or people walking the streets.

Like the environments, the Wanzer designs themselves are "adequete" in terms of detail. You aren't going to see anything minute like exhaust ports or other stringent details, but they're generally built very well and animate fluidly. Technology-wise, the biggest standout about this game is that there is literally no break between the "map" and a "battle." Whereas other tactical RPGs with environments as large as the ones found in this game need to "cheat," and switch to a different screen when displaying attacks, Front Mission 4 enjoys a system that simply zooms into the action without so much as a load from the DVD.

Artistically the game scores a few points higher. Although this game features the least number of Wanzer parts in a Front Mission game to date, there's something about putting together your own war machine and equipping it with a 40 ton bazooka that just has no equal. The part designs are a wonderful balance between intimidation and practicality, and when you build a Wanzer you really can start to believe these things are real. For Front Mission buffs, there's also plenty of throwback equipment that you'll recognize.

The RPG aspects of the game continue the FM tradition of still backgrounds with talking heads mimicking speech. Although these scenes often seem dry in comparison to the strategy sequences, they make up only a small fraction of the game. Personally, I enjoyed the art as the style was quite unique.

Unfortunately, the "consistent" look of this game can also be its downfall. Overall, the graphic style is just... well, bland. While the gritty colours go well with the war theme, there's no disputing that they are washed out and far from vivid. There just isn't anything that really jumps out about the way the game looks. The animations are also pretty dull. Battles aren't really exciting, they basically amount to units standing across from eachother shooting or fighting. Adding some dynamic run animations, hit animations, ducking, dodging (the units do actually dodge, but it constitutes little more than a hop sidewards) wouldn't have hurt (especially after we see all these things in the introduction sequence). Also, what ever happened to the Wanzers ability to "skate/glide" on land? It's featured in the opening, and various sequences of the game... yet never during actualy gameplay...

Sound: 8

The sound in Front Mission 4 is, for the most part, standard fare as well. The music, while not bad, isn't all that memorable either. However they are sampled quite well and, like the rest of the game, have a very military-inspired feel to them. For the most part the tracks accomplish what they need to during specific parts of the game (though I wish there was more of them. You'll begin "predicting" which song will be playing next).

Sound effects are also fairly standard machine gun, bazooka, missile fare. Luckily, Square-Enix has had enough foresight to make the sound effects rich and full of bass, so they really sound like they belong to a giant mechanical Wanzer. Everything from the walking, to the shotgun fire, to the bazookas all sound very deep. Strangely though, the missiles have very UNsatisfying, tinny sound effects. I'm not sure how this happened, but it is very strange.

Lastly, the highest point to speak of are the English voices, which are actually quite good! The main heroine Elsa speaks with a well acted French accent, and most of the characters in her party speak with various other accents. This could have very easily turned corny, but Square-Enix managed to avoid disaster. Unfortunately, things do not fare quite as well on Darril's side of the game, as the acting in his campaign are noticeably more forced.

Story: 7

The plot in Front Mission 4 is certainly in the spirit of past Front Missions, but isn't as complex or well though out as previous games in the series. That being said, the manner in which the story is told is very well done. The game is essentially split into two parts, the Durandal (Elsa's crew) and the UCS (Darril's crew), who each have their own seperate stories. Naturally, the two eventually meet up (like you weren't expecting that), and all the characters on each side of the story have their own charm. The plot is generally very grave and serious, but has plenty of light-hearted moments to break up the tension.

The switches from one story to another are never intrusive nor out of place, and each side slowly reveals pieces of an overall plot at just the right pace. In all, while the story itself isn't as good as previous Front Mission games, the manner in which it is told is probably the best so far.

Gameplay: 8.5

A strategy RPG cannot survive without deep, involving gameplay, and luckily Front Mission 4 succeeds here.

While the essentials of a tactical RPG are present (grid environments, area-affect bombs, movement, etc), Front Mission 4 uses the "Action Point" system which has been in use since Front Mission 2nd. Action Points (AP) are the lifeblood of everything you do in Front Mission, and every action you take consumes them. Moving a square consumes 1 point, firing your weapon consumes X points (depending on the weapon), even healing or using an item consumes points. The key to playing Front Mission successfully has always been how a player manages these points to get the most out of them.

That being said, a few major changes have occured in the AP system. First off, short range weapons such as machine guns and shotguns can be fired twice in a single turn if a character has enough AP. This already has major implications on the gameplay, since it makes players rethink how much damage they want to inflict versus how much ammo/AP they want to expend. Also, AP no longer refills back to full after a player's turn. AP regeneration is handled by a new AP charge stat, yet another infuriating statistic players will need to upgrade. Then there are links.

Links are all the rage in Front Mission 4, and as soon as you get them, they will become your main focus. Essentially, a link allows two characters to attack in a single turn, so long as both of them have enough AP, both are in range, and the units are linked using special "link points." At first, a player will only have a few link points, enough to link one other character. However, eventually, entire parties can be linked together. Naturally, the damage potential here is staggering, but links offer other advantages. Linked characters cannot be counterattacked (only the initiating character can be counterattacked), faster characters will go first in a link (thereby weakening enemy units for the initiator), and skills (which I will elaborate on in a bit) will accumulate multiplier damage per attack (so getting 4 skills in a row can yield a 2.0x damage multiplier for the fourth attacker in a link). Of course, players need to be smart about links, since they can be detrimental as well. Linking a melee wanzer to a sniper, who is located behind a tree, pretty much garuntees the sniper will miss, which will yield nothing more than wasted ammo and AP.

Front Mission 4 is a game all about placement.

Skills are another staple in Front Mission games, that seem to have gotten some major enhancements in this game. In previous games they were awarded somewhat randomly, and activated fairly randomly per attack. In Front Mission 4, skills can be purchased from computers using 'Battle Points' earned in fights. These skills have various classes, including some that activate randomly, some that activate manually, and some that support other skills. Managing a character's skills is handled easily through menus before/after battle, and effectively outfitting your troops really is one of the deciding factors of victory.

Customization is not just limited to characters either. After all, what Front Mission game would be complete without Wanzer customization? Throughout the game, players can choose from dozens of different Wanzer parts and build their own war machine. Of course you need to be economical since your party only has limited war funds, and cautious that your Wanzer doesn't become too heavy. It's your decision whether you want a Wanzer with tons of HP and no evasion, or one with low HP but high evasion. It's your decision if your Wanzer will be a sniper, or a fighter, a missiler or a machinegunner. You can even customize the paint job to give each character a unique look and feel. Literally, it can take you hours to decide whether to equip a machine gun with more bullets and less power, versus a machine gun with more power and less bullets.

There are some downfalls to the gameplay however. First of all, Wanzer customization is a love-it or hate-it relationship. Either you'll absolutely love putting together your own Wanzers, or you'll find it tedious and boring. Some pre-set Wanzer designs are offered to remedy this, but few of them are adequete without some hefty levelling in the simulator. This process is made all the more dull by the aggravating way the menus are set up. Buying new Wanzer gear, equipping old Wanzer gear, and managing pilot skills are all handled through different screens, which means a lot of unnecessary loading in between. Also, the amount of Wanzer gear is far less than previous games, giving you less ways to customize your mechs.

Between computers and Wanzer gear, you'll find yourself running out of money very quickly, especially if you want to change characters into classes they were never meant to be. This means you'll be getting very well acquainted with the simulator, a device that allows you to fight new enemy forces on old maps you've already played. Unfortunately this is the only way to make money in the game, and is often far from a short and sweet process.

In battle, the player is often limited to a party of 6 characters. There are certain missions where some controllable extra characters are available, but these missionsa are few and far between. With less characters to manage, some of the strategy becomes dumbed down to "squad" based combat rather than "army" based combat.

The biggest problem is the enemy AI, which has seen very few improvements since past Front Mission games. They can be lured and baited into obvious traps, and often set their sights on a single unit in your team, regardless as to whether or not it's in their best interest to do so. If you ever get beaten, chances are you weren't out-thought, only out-gunned or under-leveled. Square-Enix tried to hide some of these shortcomings through the level design which forces you to fight many Wanzers at once, but the effort is easy to see through.

Finally, the most sever flaw of FM4 is that it's just too easy. In fact, next to Front Mission 3 this is the easiest Front Mission game to date. Combine this with low replayability (there are few bonuses to shoot for, and the levels can only be played in so many ways thanks to the low party count) and you have a fairly serious problem.

Conclusion

Despite the gripes, Front Mission 4 is an excellent, addicting game. While it doesn't really standout on any level, it succeeds on every level. The gameplay is intuitive, character and Wanzer customization is deep, and the game as a whole is just fun. Despite its flaws, I would say give Front Mission 4 a chance if turn based mech combat sounds intriguing to you. The entire game feels like a very polished, albeit short, package. However if you're looking for a tactical game that will last you a long time, you may want to pick up Disgaea before this.

+ Deep involving gameplay with a focus on unit placement and AP management
+ Fully customizable Wanzers
+ Well told story
+ Consistent theme that touches all aspects of the game

- Most battles are very small
- Some badly designed menu navigation problems
- Bad AI
- Too easy

Overall 8/10 (Not an Average)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/04