Front Mission – Square Enix (2007)
April 20, 2009
Oh Front Mission. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with your series. How can one franchise give so much joy, while sapping someones will to live so readily at the same time? I played my first Front Mission game back on the original PlayStation. It was actually the third in the series, but that mattered little to me. Within that game was a breadth of customization and unit control that up to that point I couldn’t have dared dream of.
Don’t even get me started on the side-quest goldmine that it was. It had it’s own “Internet” that came with spam, conspiracy theories, and hackable government systems. It had a solid story line, an excellent battle system, and some decent (for the time) graphics.
Front Mission DS (which apparently is a re-release of the original) has none of these things. Well okay, not none per say, but far less than my first experience. It did manage to be just as frustrating though, so that’s something.
So when I found out that Front Mission was coming out for the DS, I nearly wet myself in anticipation. As previously stated, I had good experiences with the series, so I was all hot and bothered over the idea of a portable version that could provide me hours of entertainment on my – until recently – dormant DS. After finally playing through it, I think I can actually give an unbiased review of the game.
Well, probably can in any case.
Synopsis
Piloting Mechs – Wanzers in the Front Mission universe – the goal of the game is to work your way through increasingly difficult battles by strategically killing everything without dying. It sounds far more simple than it is.
Like every Front Mission I’ve played (3, 4, and now this version) there are two story lines in Front Mission DS. The first is for “new” players, and you are in control of one Royd Clive. Long story short, he becomes the leader of a band of mercs who work for one of two waring factions (the O.C.U.). As the game progresses, Royd realizes that past events are not all they’ve added up to be, and eventually goes on a vendetta to get his answers.
He’s a little bit of a whiner, and I had serious troubles connecting to him. The whole time it feels like he needs a good slap and to grow a pair. Yes, I’m aware that he’s part of an elite killing squad of mercs, working for the army. You can still be a sissy when you have a gun.
Anyways, his claims are verified, and you then have the uphill battle of getting to the finale in order to fight the hidden evil forces. Not that you really have to guess to hard at who’s pulling strings; the game practically forces it into your brain.
Now the second story arc, that’s a different story (see what I did there?). In this instance you play the roll of Black Ops. Seargent Kevin Greenfield. After an unfortunate pang of puppy-dog love, he’s discharged from his position, and is sent into the field as part of the U.C.S. Scout Team. As the story works its way forward, you are given additional characters – cannon fodder, as I called them – to bolster your ranks. Unlike the first story, where everyone is trying to win the spotlight, the second scenario focuses directly on Kevin, and everyone else just plays a part to support him. He ends up trying to bring down a corrupt government, only to fail and be tried for treason. That’s not the end of the story, but I’ll leave it there for now.
Now this is a man I can pretend to be! He’s got character, he’s got soul, he gets some good, solid revenge in his story arc. He even loses the woman he loves (more than once). This story grabbed my by the neck and forced me to play through it, which hurt because the second story is for “advanced” players.
Basically, “advanced” players is a fancy way of saying “insane odds” and “completely irrationally difficult.” You get half as many units, and you fight twice as many. All. The. Time. One map I played had 4 of my men against no less that 16 or 17 enemy units. That requires some top-notch organization let me tell you.
Mechanics
This section could get terribly long, should I let myself ramble. I’ll try and keep my rantings to a minimum here, okay?
The stylus is useless. You can use it, but much like one can stick ones hand into an operating blender it brings forth the old adage: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
So there’s no Internet in this version. Not something I’m terribly sad about, but the whole Net thing really added another layer to the overall story. It allowed the user to go out and find so many more tidbits of information that you could live without, but made sweeter by knowing.
The battle mechanics are far simpler than those of later versions. You don’t need to worry about the direction you’re facing, and hiding behind buildings does not provide additional cover. All cover is calculated on your dodging ability, and the tile your unit is on. Part of me loved this, and a part of me really missed it. They’ve also dropped many of the skills that you can acquire throughout the game, as well as who can learn what skill. Not everyone can actually be an effective killing machine (they make for good repair drones though).
The battles take just as long as they always did – minimum of 15 minutes, maximum of 1.5 hours – and are just as infuriating as they always were. It’s not uncommon to lose a battle without knowing why or how, but I’ve managed to distill it down to three possible reasons:
- Your main character(s) died. Everyone else can eject just fine, but God help you should your main character have to try and eject.
- You ran out of time. A few of the missions require you to do something along the lines of “Kill X by Y.” very straightforward.
- Someone got away/got to a point they shouldn’t have. A few of the missions require you to stop people from getting to certain points on the map. These are the hardest in my opinion.
The weapons system has been toned down as well as altered for this instance of the series. Rifles don’t shoot over long distances, making them effectively pointless. Shotguns only fire one shot (instead of, you know, a spread) making them almost useless. Their saving grace is that the have a 98% hit rating. Rockets can win an entire scenario if you upgrade them enough. Machine guns can win an entire scenario of you upgrade them enough. Melee weapons are in shockingly short supply.
On top of that, you don’t upgrade a proficiency in “shotgun” or “machine gun” anymore. Now you just get points in “melee” or “short.” This made the diversifying player in me weep. You no longer need specialist units; set everyone up with the exact same rig and go to town. It’s really a bit of a let down.
The virtual reality simulator doesn’t exist in the DS version, which makes upgrading your guys outside of battle an extreme chore. You’re stuck fighting in the arena, which doesn’t net you nearly enough experience to warrant it’s existence. The only reason the arena can possibly exist is because you can bet money on your pilot and win some cash. This is, sadly, a requirement for the first story. Upgrading 14 Wanzers gets bloody expensive, and you really do need to keep your parts up to snuff.
They game is not without some hope though; there are hidden missions (three to each scenario) that are actually somewhat difficult to find. They are usually the most challenging levels in the entire scenario, and usually the ones with the best payout. If you can find and complete them, you are rewarded with special Wanzer bodies that tend to be well worth the effort. If nothing else you get cash and experience for doing them.
Oh, and last but probably not least, after you defeat a scenario you can play through it again on a harder difficulty. Why would you do this? Other than bragging rights – if anybody listened – you get to start off with all of your characters having the same abilities as before. This means you can basically walk through three quarters of the game becoming even more powerful. There is also a secret mission (per scenario, I think) that you cannot access until your second play through. You can play through again and again, until you hit x10 difficulty, but why anyone would do that to themselves I have no idea. The option is there though.
Word from the Wise
I’m adding a special section here to give a couple tips to people who have decided to try their hand at Front Mission.
Choose a fighting style, and stick to it. I cannot stress this enough. You like rockets? Use them all the time and get your Long range leveled up. Eventually most of your units will learn Duel, which allows you to target body parts. Aim for the body for quick kills. Going short? give everyone machine guns and learn Speed and Duel. Those together can take down almost anything in one go.
Don’t use rifles, they’re not worth the money. It uses the “short” skill tree, but only fires one shot. I found things worked much better with a machine gun. More chances to hit, and they add up. If you simply must use a one shot weapon, wait for the shotgun; with a 98% hit ratio, it’s in your best interests to look them up.
Keep repair stuff on you. The computer has a knack for ganging up on your people, most of the time when they should be attacking others. Use this to your advantage, and keep repairing your cannon fodder for as long as you can. The longer they last, the longer your other units can go unimpeded.
Gang up on targets. Until your units learn how to kill something in one go, try and gang up effectively on units. If you can, pin them in so they’re sitting ducks. I tried to send my weaker units in packs so they could grind some experience while my one-shotters made quick work of everyone else.
Use the special Wanzers. Pick one of your pilots, and dump them into the special Wanzer models. You get most of them for completing secret missions (go look them up), and when used properly, they become killing machines. Enemies will speak shell-shocked stories to their pillows about the giant Wanzer that ripped them appart without showing a dent. They usually get picked on, so when you can make sure you have a repair buddy with them. Legends don’t make themselves you know.
Overall
It took me 20 hours to beat the first story. This was because of the upgrade/money requirements, and really took a chunk out of the whole “fun” aspect to it. It turned into grinding way too quickly. The second story was far more enjoyable and I worked through it in around 9 hours. I’m even tempted to play through the second story again.
It’s not as complex, diverse, or rewarding as other items in the series, but it did its job without too much complaint.
7/10
Categories: Game Reviews Nintendo DS
Tagged under: 7/10, Front Mission, Game Reviews, Nintendo DS, Square Enix