Front Mission Evolved Preview

Despite not having quite the level of popularity as Final Fantasy, Square Enix's Front Mission still has a dedicated fan base, especially in Japan where the first Front Mission was released nearly 15 years ago. Unlike that original game--a strategy game featuring giant mechs (otherwise known as wanzers in the Front Mission universe)--Front Mission Evolved is a third-person shooter, but it still draws from the same rich universe that was created by the first game and expanded on by several other entries in the Front Mission series. "There have been a couple of different progressions of Front Mission in the past, but what we're trying to do with Front Mission Evolved is take a lot of the strategic elements, the universe, and the storyline that Front Mission has presented in the past," says Jeremy Lee, development director at Double Helix Games, the development house working on Front Mission Evolved. "[We want to present it] in a way that has more action--something that's more fun to pick up and play. Previous games have always hinted at it, but now we're really going to show what your wanzer can do."

"Part of the inspiration for Front Mission Evolved came from the opening to Front Mission 4," says Michael Persson, vice president at Double Helix. "The drop-in with wanzers skating into melee moves and shooting--these are big, fast, and agile war machines that can cause an immense amount of destruction. That's how Square Enix wanted the experience to be, and we concurred."

Indeed, though the focus seems to be on action (both in the wanzers and on foot, where players will get a real sense of the scale in the game), Double Helix already has plans for giving Evolved's action a little bit of strategic focus. "It's been a really tricky part about making this game, but it's also been one of the fun parts about it," Lee explains. "We have such a rich history of strategic inspiration with Front Mission. We approached this title as an action game, but you're presented with opportunities to use strategy. You can blow off arms, legs, and damage wanzers in different ways. Also, your teammates--you have a story-driven squad with you--they're not drones that follow you around. They're characters that progress in the storyline with you, and they add an element of strategy where they will use their techniques to assist you on the battlefield--you don't issue any squad commands, though."

In terms of where Front Mission Evolved falls in the Front Mission timeline, Lee says that the game takes place during an era in which all of the factions (a big part of the Front Mission universe) are still involved, but there are new locations, characters, and enemies. "There's a lot of story about political intrigue and how these factions are represented and why they're battling it out," he says. "You don't start the game in the war. The reasons behind and the way that you move through the game really does tell the story of these characters in a political situation."

Even though the Front Mission Evolved project involves teams in three separate countries, both Double Helix and Square Enix seem to enjoy this collaborative process. "When we get to see each other once a month on this project, there's so much excitement--getting into a room together and looking at what's been done in the past and what we're going to do in the future," says Lee. "There's a great understanding that we're not trying to make an Eastern game and we're not trying to make a Western game. What we're making is something new and that it's really a collaboration between multiple cultures."

"For Square Enix, some of our strengths are CG, character design, and creating scenarios, but to give an example [of the benefits of this collaboration], we tend to make games with a story that's about 50 hours long, says Shinji Hashimoto, producer of the original Front Mission and project leader for Front Mission Evolved. "That's too long for a third-person shooter, and so we listened to some opinions, got some input, and shaved it down to about 10 hours. Even though the creation of stories is one of Square Enix's greatest strengths, bringing in Double Helix's perspective helped with this title."

Unfortunately, no official release date has been confirmed for Front Mission Evolved, but we expect to hear more about it in the near future.