Front Mission

"Fanboys, rejoice! Everybody else, take heed!"

When I picked this game up at my local video game establishment, the clerk who sold me the game was very excited that I was purchasing this game. I received a sermon on how the only good part of Front Mission 4 was the opening FMV ( which I must humbly disagree with, although I do concede that Front Mission 3 is the better title ) and how great it was that a new Front Mission game had come to the U.S. He was really quite enthusiastic. This goes to prove just one thing: no matter how relatively mediocre a title might be, nerds love strategy RPGs with giant robots. And that's what you've got here friends… a strategy RPG with giant robots. If that didn't sell you, there's no point in reading further.

Story

The story is one of the things working in Front Mission's favor. Not only does the game have one decent story: it actually has two. Directly after the tutorial ( or immediately should you choose to skip that ) you are given the choice of playing from the point of view of the O.C.U. or the U.C.S. If you are new to Front Mission games: the O.C.U. is a mega nation made up of Japan, Australia and some other nations in the Pacific. The U.C.S. is another mega nation that is basically a united North and South Americas. Both storylines deal with a war – called the Second Huffman Conflict – but deal with it from the point of view of the two superpowers who are waging the war. More personally, the O.C.U. story centers around Royd Clive and the U.C.S. story centers around a guy named Kevin Greenfield.

Both of our heroes are down on their luck when we first start up the game. Both work out their problems while getting increasingly wrapped up in the war on Huffman Island. And more importantly: both of the stories are at least moderately interesting. Moderately interesting does not mean you are going to want to take your grandchildren on your knee many years from now and tell them these epic stories. It means that it is not a waste of your time and should keep you interested in what is going on. It may help to have played previous Front Mission games and be familiar with the way the story goes – or it may not. Without going into spoilers, fans of previous Front Mission games may see a familiar face or two.

Gameplay

I am taking for granted that you are familiar with the basic strategy RPG concept of moving units from one tile to another and attacking each other. The title in the genre everybody knows seems to be Final Fantasy Tactics. Is it like that? Sort of. There are plenty of differences but it is that basic premise.

Basically: your characters are Wanzer pilots. Wanzers are giant robots ( Mech Warrior fans, rejoice… ) with weapons on their arms that go around fighting each other. The basic types of weapons in this game are 1) melee weapons, which basically consists of the Wanzers punching each other 2) short range weapons, like rifles and machine guns and 3) long range weapons, which are like missiles and grenade launchers that cause damage from far away. You get to move all of your units and attack your enemies and then the bad guys get to move and attack your guys. This repeats until there is one side left standing. However, do not think you will not be doing plenty of attacking during the computer's turn. Quite often your Wanzers will be launching counterattacks just as you should expect the enemy to counterattack you when you attack. Long-range attacks are immune from this. As your pilots attack with one of these three attack methods, they will gain experience with this attack method and eventually have the opportunity to learn skills.

When you cause damage to a Wanzer ( or when your Wanzers get damaged, Heaven forbid ) you will generally damage either the entire Wanzer a little bit or one part of the Wanzer a higher amount. That's right: Wanzers have parts! They are made up of the Body, the Right Arm, the Left Arm, and the Legs. Destroying different parts of the Wanzers do different things for you. Without the legs, Wanzers are not nearly as mobile. If a machine gun is equipped on the right arm and the right arm is destroyed, forget about using that machine gun. And if the Body is destroyed, that entire Wanzer is destroyed and unusable for the duration of the battle ( and will cost you money to fix after the battle is over ). You can set up the different pieces of the Wanzers in-between battles: but more on that later.

Unfortunately, those of who have played the other Front Mission titles released in the U.S. will miss some improvements made in Front Mission 3 and Front Mission 4 that this game is lacking. For instance, you must be adjacent to an enemy Wanzer to attack with a Rifle or a Shotgun (which are both short-range weapons in this game). For this reason, there is very little difference between using rifles and melee weapons – you will learn some slightly different skills but at the end of the day both damage one Wanzer part when you are adjacent to them. The skill system is also not as refined as it is in titles that technically come later but many of us have already played. While it is nice to have some selection in what skills your pilots learn ( and some are clearly more useful than others ) the overall selection of skills is very limited. Skills also trigger randomly and level up randomly, which is true to the games sequels.

Two more positive aspects of the game play I'd like to mention before moving on. Between battles, you can visit different towns through the use of menus. Sometimes it is not exactly clear how to advance the storyline and you will have to check out all of your options. But the two options that are always fun, no matter what, are the Arena and Wanzer Customization. The Arena is a place where you can make money ( for Wanzer customization, obviously ) by dueling other Wanzer pilots. They will list odds for enemy pilots and you can make different sized wagers. While you will not usually gain vast amounts of experience for this, you will gain a token amount that will help. And if you are a little short on money, this is your outlet. Unlike some other Front Mission games there is no simulator for trying out your Wanzer set-ups and gaining experience for your less experienced pilots. And of course, there is setting up your Wanzers. Your Wanzer consists of backpacks, CPUs, leg parts, arm parts and body parts and there are tons and tons of possible combinations here. Do you want your Wanzer to have legs that will move you around quickly or can take a hit? Do you want a missile launcher on your shoulder just in case or would you rather use that weight for something else? Without going into too many details: there are tons of options and you may find yourself adding quite a bit to the time it takes to finish the game by messing around in the parts shop for all your different Wanzers. Enjoy!

Not all is fun and games in Front Mission, however. Some of the controls are downright clunky. The game basically forces you to use the stylus in moving your units around because attempting to do so with the d-pad is an exercise in frustration. I gave up on this very early on. It can also be very tough to see what your up against on a given map. Trying to scroll around the map with the stylus attempting to see what enemies have been deployed against you is not fun. You'll end up finding out more about the terrain that you ever wanted to know. Not to mention: the maps are not always clear and your view of both your Wanzers and the enemy may be obstructed. It stinks to get hit by missiles from Wanzers you did not even know were there because the map is hard to make good sense of.

Finally, the game is menu driven and especially in town. There aren't quite as many menus as in other Front Mission titles ( mostly because the game is simply not as complex ) but this one has its fair share. If this does not bother you: great. If you want beautiful scenery and complex towns to explore: this just is not your game.

One more note: this game has multiplayer features over a wireless network. I am currently without wireless and unable to play around with this feature. I have no reason to believe this would be anything but fun times. These features do not factor into my review one way or the other, however.

Graphics

While this game is not a straight-up port of the SNES version of this game, many elements were in fact ported. And it looks like an SNES game. If you were anything like me, you played video games on a smaller screen in the 16-bit era than you do now. Maybe tiny SNES graphics on your DS will give you nostalgia – for me, I found myself squinting more than I would hope. I am not a stickler for amazing graphics but I do like to be able to see the game I am playing clearly.

The artwork in this game is a little different than a lot of other titles – even other Front Mission games. While “cartoony” anime portraits for the characters would not fit the feel of this title very well, I prefer the more realistic looking portraits of other Front Mission titles. I will give the game credit on this regard for trying something slightly different without going the “cartoonish” route.

Sound

The sound fits the game pretty well and is definitely in the same canon as other games in this series. Some of the tracks are even mildly stirring. The music score is actually pretty good – I'm not running out to buy the soundtrack or anything but it might actually be worth keeping the sound on. Some of the sound effects, like a Wanzer's fist crunching into something or the sweet, sweet sound of an enemy Wanzer blowing up are a little grainy.

Overall

Aside from the WiFi battling, this is essentially still an SNES game. And the old SNES controller would better handle some of the controls. But take heart: it is actually a pretty good SNES game. Some aspects of the game feel dated. Others feel classic. You end up taking the good with the bad.

This game is not for everyone. If navigating tons of menus is not your thing, beware. If you hear “giant robots fighting each other” and do not immediately think to yourself, “Awesome!!” then this game might not be for you. If you were a fan of previous Front Mission games – be aware that this game is not quite as in-depth or complex but still very faithful to what you are familiar with. Be aware also that the controls are not quite as well-oiled as you would hope.

But be aware that Front Mission is back… and it is time to kick some Wanzer.

7/10 - Good - a few problems, but worth the time to play

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/07

Game Release: Front Mission (US, 10/23/07)