Front Mission goes mobile in Japan

TOKYO--Starting today, gamers in Japan will be able to enjoy Square Enix's Front Mission on their mobile phones. The company has launched Front Mission 2089, which can be played on the NTT DoCoMo 900i (excluding D, F) and 901i (excluding SH) series phones at the flat rate of 500 yen ($4.76) a month.

Like the home previous installments on home consoles, Front Mission 2089 plays as a strategy role-playing game that takes place in the near future on Huffman Island. As Front Mission 2089's name would suggest, the game is set in 2089, which is one year before the original Front Mission 1st and its story that surrounds the second Huffman conflict. Gamers can play Front Mission 2089 as either the O.C.U. or U.S.N. army side.

After selecting their characters, players start out their games by tuning up their wanzer mechs and then choosing the ones they want to send on their missions. The game plays similarly to the traditional installments, where you and the CPU take turns moving around a map that consists of square cells. Meanwhile, the screen changes to a battle view when gamers encounter enemy units.