I'm a big fan of turn-based strategy games. From where I stand, there just aren't enough of them. That's why it seems such a shame that Front Mission, an aging but popular franchise in this sparsely populated genre, has been remade into a common third-person shooter in Front Mission Evolved. The makeover has been executed with some skill, but I miss carefully analyzing the battlefield, checking out unit stats, and maybe taking a few casual swigs of soda while coming up with carefully deliberated tactics.
But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.
For those not in the know, the Front Mission games are set on Earth in the future during an era in which giant walking tanks known as "wanzers" have become the most versatile and powerful weapons at a government's disposal.
Evolved takes place in the late 22nd century, a time when countries are rushing into the firmament via valuable orbital elevators. Its complicated story begins with an attack on one such elevator located in New York by forces unknown, leading to international tensions as various factions begin blaming each other. Events are seen from the perspective of a military contractor employee who believes his father is killed in the New York skirmish. He takes the wanzer his company was developing and joins the army with the aim of avenging his dad.
The narrative is speckled with lush, thrilling cut scenes of the sort publisher/developer Square Enix is renowned. Meanwhile, the voiced dialogue is a cut above that of most Japanese imports; a bit awkward and over-stimulated, but more natural in structure and convincing in emotion than one might expect. There's no subtle meaning or social commentary waiting to be discovered, extracted, and mulled over by deep-thinking players, but it ought to keep folks entertained in a mindless-action-movie-matinee sort of way.
Looking after our wanzers is another of Evolved's highlights. Our options for mech customization are deep but pleasantly accessible. Switching out arm and should weapons between missions takes only a minute or two-just be sure your mech's weight doesn't exceed the power output of its torso, lest you prefer to control a metal statue rather than a spry fighting machine. The addition of randomly activated abilities that can be assigned to each weapon, such as shrapnel, ricochets, and EMP blasts, can lead to some agreeable surprises on the field of battle.
So far it sounds more or less like previous Front Mission games. Thing is, in older front mission games the field of battle was a map viewed from a bird's-eye perspective with a grid overlay showing players each mech's range of movement. Now players step into their mech's virtual cockpit to enter a wild and chaotic real-time free-for-all of rockets, machine guns, and metal-on-metal melee action viewed from a third-person perspective.
This felt both wrong and familiar to me. Wrong because this is Front Mission and it feels like it's missing an important tactical element, and familiar because I've played and enjoyed other giant robot action games like MechWarrior and Armored Core.
Of course, the reality is that, with five years having passed since the last North American entry in the series, most of the people who play this game will likely be completely new to Front Mission and without my preconceptions or expectations. And, judged on its own and away from the franchise that birthed it, Front Mission Evolved is actually a fair bit of fun.
The mech controls are tight and intuitive. Standard dual-joystick navigation is complemented by a common sense button layout, with left and right triggers controlling weapons mounted on the left and right arms while left and right shoulder buttons manage the weapons on your wanzer's shoulders. The immense power at your fingertips is both satisfying and surprisingly easy to wield. I was lumbering around ruined city streets and picking off helicopters, tanks, and enemy mechs like a pro by the end of the first mission.
And there's nice diversity to the action. The bulk of the missions have us freely exploring or defending given areas, but we're also treated to levels that require us to haul butt to escape a zone of impending devastation (as when New York's destroyed space elevator begins its long tumble back to Earth) or man the rocket and machine gun turrets of an airship to lay waste to ground forces as they drift by below.
Still, there's lots of room for improvement.
Urban environments are devoid of everyday objects such as benches, civilian vehicles, and basic landscaping, giving them an unnatural, un-lived-in vibe. And what little is there is often illogically indestructible; despite being equipped with 22nd century rockets, missiles, and guns, I was unable to pound through the billboards my enemies sometimes enjoyed hiding behind.
Plus, many bonus objectives-such as finding specific objects that are aggravatingly tiny and difficult to see-negatively impact the story's pacing. Nothing kills narrative like running around looking for power nodes that need destroying while your allies are standing by repeatedly telling you that time is of the essence. My advice is to simply skip these side goals.
But, all in all, it's a decent little action game. Fair enough. Still, I can't help but think Square Enix is walking a fine line here, risking alienating longtime fans of the franchise's unique strategy play on one side while courting action gamers with no shortage of alternatives to sate their hobby on the other. Consequently, I wouldn't be surprised if Front Mission Evolved goes by the wayside this fall.
Front Mission Evolved
Platforms: PlayStation 3 (reviewed), Xbox 360, Windows PC
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
ESRB: Teen
Score: 7/10