Every bit as awkward and clunky as the giant robots its based upon.

User Rating: 5 | Front Mission: The First DS
Giant Robots + Strategy RPG = Fun.

. . . right?

I was looking forward to playing FRONT MISSION on my new Nintendo DS. After all, that above equation seemed like an axiom of gaming if there ever was one. Though I was underwhelmed with FRONT MISSION 4, I thought the series would fare better in a simpler, portable format. FRONT MISSION started life as a SNES game, but since then it has been ported to the WonderSwan, PS1, and now the Nintendo DS. With all the enhancements the game received over the years I was expecting a sleek, fun, and polished mech-themed strat-RPG . . . but unfortunately, FRONT MISSION for the DS is every bit as awkward and clunky as the giant robots its based upon.

FRONT MISSION's gameplay is immediately familiar to us fans of strat-RPGs. You control a small platoon of giant robots ("Wanzers", as the game calls them) and fight other mechs in a series of turn-based battles. The hook of FRONT MISSION is that each unit has separate hit point values for its core, left arm, right arm, and legs. Destroying a Wanzer's core takes it out of the battle, but arm and leg hits merely wrecks its weaponry and movement capabilities, respectively. To destroy one another, Wanzers can equip a variety of rifles, shotguns, missile launchers, and melee weapons. It sounds good on paper, but unfortunately a number serious flaws wring out all of the fun from the experience.

I should point out that I only played this game for 5 or so hours. Even playing that much felt like I chore, but I pushed on hoping that it would improve. Unfortunately, it never did. It's certainly possible that the game does get better (or worse, for that matter) later on, but the several hours I gave FRONT MISSION was more then charitable.

What FRONT MISSION Does Well . . .

Potentially Interesting Story: FRONT MISSION's story revolves around a tense military conflict between the Oceanic Community Union and the United Continental States who are both occupying the isolated Huffman Island. Interestingly, the game offers two separate campaigns-one for each side of the conflict. The set-up is interesting, and I appreciated the semi-believable game world (Wanzers notwithstanding). The intriguing cutscenes and Gundam-esque energy made the story of FRONT MISSION the highlight of the game for me.

Good Use of the Dual Screens: Though the original game played on only one screen, FRONT MISSION benefits significantly from the DS's second screen. The main battle map is displayed on the lower screen, and battles and enemy stats are shown on the top one. Given that strat-RPGs often have lots of units and numbers to juggle, it's to FRONT MISSION's credit that it avoids this problem.

Lots of Content: FRONT MISSION's two campaigns, numerous secret missions, and tons of arena opponents give the game a lot of content to explore. If only it was fun.

What FRONT MISSION Doesn't Do So Well . . .

Archaic Presentation: Given Square-Enix's fondness of remaking the older FINAL FANTASY games, is surprising that FRONT MISSION's presentation is so incredibly dated. On the tactical map, Wanzers are painfully tiny and the terrain is dull and unanimated. The battle sequences sap most of the excitement out of the giant robot fights with pathetic sound effects, crude weapon effects, and choppy animations. All the game's towns are represented by the same static image, making them all seem lifeless and identical. The poor animation extends to the cutscenes, too, since characters have only two frames for talking. These ancient visuals are understandable for the Super Nintendo, but on the DS they're just insulting-especially given FRONT MISSION's $35 price tag. Is Square-Enix that desperate for money?

Punishing Mech Customization: Mech games are all about customizing your robots, and in that department FRONT MISSION at least gives you a lot of options. In games like ARMORED CORE, you gradually upgrade your mech one part of the time, slowly and satisfyingly getting a more powerful machine. FRONT MISSION, however, takes tinkering with your robots to ludicrous extremes. After every battle, shops have dramatically improved parts that make all your Wanzers instantly obsolete. You therefore have to suffer through the awkward shop screen and rebuild all your robots from scratch. Because your Wanzers are always changing, it's impossible to become attached to them. And since the part values seem to be determined randomly, it can take a while to simply determine just what role each part fills. I can boot up Microsoft Excel for this sort of gameplay.

Oppressive Difficulty: In case you were tempted to upgrade your Wanzers, say, only ever other mission, FRONT MISSION's alarmingly difficult gameplay will force you to do otherwise. You face off against vast legions of enemy Wanzers that are often as well-equipped as your own. While good strategy can get you so far, battles usually descend into mutual attrition as both sides take turns attacking and counterattacking. Hit locations are determined randomly, so its really dicey whether you can get those core shots needed to destroy enemy mechs. Most games give you a nice learning curve, but FRONT MISSION throws you straight in the deep end and expects you to swim

Plodding Pacing: FRONT MISSION's poor visuals might be acceptable if the game played really well-but it doesn't. The battles take far too long to resolve, especially because they don't end until you've destroyed ever last opponent. Often, the game forces you to grind through arena battles until you have enough money and XP to stand a chance on the following mission. And that two-second pause before every attack is completely maddening. Are low-res sprites that hard to load?

Poor Use of the Touch Screen: Least among FRONT MISSION's faults is its lousy use of the touch screen. While you can use the stylus to navigate menus and command your Wanzers, typically menu items or grid spaces are too small to do this with any degree of accuracy. Fortunately, the touch screen controls are completely optional-they seem like an afterthought in the first place.

The Battle Music: FRONT MISSION's blaring, unbearable battle music is the final nail in its already air-tight coffin. Every time you attack an enemy, the game blasts the same short loop of battle music, overriding whatever mission tune you were listening to before. The battle theme becomes grating almost immediately, and it's repeated dozens of times each and every mission. Again and again, I would irrationally search the options menus for some way to disable it.

And What's Just Strange . . .

That Weird Walking-in-Place Animation: I have no idea why it's a strategy RPG genre convention to have units jog in place on the tactical map. It looks bizarre when humans do it (see TACTICS OGRE and FINAL FANTASY TACTICS), but giant robots take this to a new level of silliness. Maybe your pilots are trying to stay awake in-between orders.

The Bottom Line

FRONT MISSION reeks of being a cheap cash-grab. With a current-gen makeover and streamlined game mechanics, this game would probably be a lot of fun. Instead, Square-Enix took the lazy route and released a dated port-of-a-port for full price to boot. Despite my love for strategy RPGs and mecha, I could not enjoy this game. In the end, FRONT MISSION is a relic of the past that only the most hardcore and forgiving gamer could tolerate.

5/10

[Originally posted on http://kcsgamedomain.blogspot.com/]