holoz0r's A-Z of Steam: Front Mission: Evolved - a sea of brown mechs

For those who've never played it, Front Mission was a strategy RPG released in the 90s by Square, of Final Fantasy fame. It combined mech-based combat (but we'll call them Wanzers, as Square does) - and is exactly what you would get if you took the combat of something like the early MechWarrior games, and combined it with a Japanese RPG story line.

Only, it ran on things like the SNES. And it was turn based. And it had pixel art. And there was basically limitless customisation options for your Wanzer units.

Also, the story was an amazing account of the experiences of the soldiers as they discovered more about the war that they were fighting. I'm really pleased that the first game in the series has been remastered thoroughly, and released on the Switch digitally, and will see a physical release here in Australia soon. Very excited about that.

But, for now, instead; there's Front Mission: Evolved; which attempts to play the Uno Reverse card on the above paragraphs. Instead of being a tactical, strategic RPG; instead, there's now a Mech-Warrior type gameplay, albeit experienced in the third person.

Whenever this game came out; it doesn't matter (but I'll tell you that it was October, 2010), but I will tell you that visually; this game has not aged well. After completing the tutorial mission and becoming familiar with the controls; you'll go out on your first mission, and explore a linear world with the appearance of verticality - but one that never truly gets you high, or low.

Front Mission: Evolved feels like a cash-in on a well loved franchise that almost nobody has heard of. But, when someone has heard of Front Mission; they've played it, and they're passionate about it; this is not the thing that they are passionate about.

Even if you were after a third person mech-shooter-game that was made last decade; I still wouldn't recommend this game. It is filled with cheap tricks and thrills designed to extend the gameplay time. Hiding enemies in positions that take the longest for you to identify them (even with a radar) - meaning that you'll die at least once in most circumstances before you realise there's an enemy nest poised to blast you to smithereens.

While this is an accurate take on the horrors of war, combat, and conflict - it is bad game design and certainly shouldn't be something that carries the prestigious Front Mission name.

I'm sure I'll be much happier once I spend a good chunk with the remake of Front Mission on Switch.

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Thanks as always for your time!