Reviewed by TL on 2/15/2006
Gameplay:
I came up to Front Mission expecting something really great and special; Like Front Mission 3, only with better graphics, better sound, more mech pieces, better looking machines, more skills, strategies, a better representation of mech combat; Well, the graphics and sound are better. Unfortunately, the game is short. Very very short compared to FM3, and the story isn't nearly as involving, complicated, or touching. But at least there are more polygons on screen. Or did I mention that already? The title still suffers from trying to juxtapose human scaled weaponry up to mech scale machines. The light machine gun that a mech carries should be inflicting damage similar to tank cannons for every shot, but this sort of thing just doesn't happen in these games. Alas.
Audio:
The rifles are great. I love the noise they make and the fat, gaping holes they leave in enemy HPs.
The music wasn't memorable.
The whirring of servos in mech legs were, however. It got old pretty quickly, cool as it may have been the first time a mech walked past the camera. Same goes for the stamping of giant metal feet on concrete. Or dirt. Or glass. Or small babies. It all sounded the same, this kind of dull "thump".
Presentation:
The cutscenes are awesome! Awesome awesome awesome. Too bad the mechs, once under player control, don't behave that way at all. I don't understand why they keep trying to make these machines seem agile, fast, and nimble, when they would be so much more in character (in the game, anyways) as lumbering behemoths toting giant guns and meter thick armor plating. Maybe they'll get it right one of these days.
Replayability:
Er; no, not really. There's no New Game + feature (figure it out already, you stupid game developers!), so there's really very little reason to play the game over from the start. Unless you want to revisit a particular fight. But each of those fights should have been included in the training simulator (what's the point of the simulator if it can't simulate battle data collected throughout the game? Besides the eight or so that the player can find).
Overall:
For a tactical-based title, it's good for a single run through, just to see what happens next and which villain one gets to ice. As an experience, it's just not enough to constitute a "must play" game, even if it *is* Front Mission 4. After all, FM 5 is coming out, and that's probably going to be better in all respects to FM4. Like better graphics, better sound, more mech pieces, better looking machines, more skills, strategies, a better representation of mech combat, and so on and so forth.
