Front Mission 4

"Front Fun 4!"

This is my first Front Mission game, and it really blew me into it. Read on to know why.

Graphics: 8/10
I am likewise, very fussy when it comes to graphics. I would not really say that the graphics are very good, but since it is a strategic genre, I would give it a 8 out of 10. The battle sequences are also quite beautiful and nice. There are some nice FMVs too.

Story: 10/10
The story is very well developed and very realistic. There are machines called wanzers. The story starts in 2096, and involves many countries. There are 2 characters who you will be controlling, Darril and Elsa.

Gameplay: 9/10
The most prominent part of a game. The gameplay is a turn-based strategic battle with robots. These robots are called "wanzers". Each wanzer has 4 parts. The left and right hand, the legs and the body. When a certain part is destroyed, a negative effect will take place. For example, if either hands is destroyed, the weapons equipped on it will also be disabled. If the legs are destroyed, the wanzer cannot evade attacks and can only move 1 square per turn. If the body is destroyed, it is game over for that wanzer.
While battling, you will be able to move your wanzers, use them to attack etc. There are different types of wanzers. There are snipers, gunners, shotgunners etc. You can buy those wanzer suits with the funds you have at the wanzer shop. You can also buy arm parts, legs or body parts if you do not want to change everything. Your wanzers will be equipped with backpacks. Some backpacks can store items which you will buy from the shop, while some can disable an enemy's attack system or movement system. Different backpacks have different abilities.
You can also buy abilities from the wanzer setup option using Enhancement Points which are gained after a battle. To gain more abilities, you must upgrade your wanzer computer. Buying different abilities gives you different ability. Now comes the difficultly level. The game is indeed very very very hard to play. There are some abilities that are not really useful and if you learn the wrong ones, your next mission gets very tedious and complicated. There will be at many times where you will want to give it all up after failing the mission which you have played for hours. Each mission can also get very long, in terms of hours. This gives the gameplay a 9.

Audio: 7/10
There isn't much of music like most strategic based games. The music is almost throughout the same. There might be a difference but I have not noticed it yet.

Replay Value: 8/10
There is not much replay value. After completing the game, majority would not want to play it over again. However, after completing the game, you get to use the already completed data to play a new game. That is a feature that not many games have.

Overall: 8/10
If you are a tactical and strategic genre game fans, this is another must buy. However if you are just starting on it and you do not have a lot of patience, you might not want to get it or maybe you could rent and give it a shot.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/04