Game Reviews

I honestly and truly pried my brain open to accept that one of the best strategy/RPG franchises in history had gone full-on action. I accepted that Square-Enix clearly wanted to overhaul their series so as to cater to the Western crowd, which apparently isn’t interested in strategy, intelligence, or taking one’s time and planning and executing a specific plan. I pushed my many hours of involving time with Front Mission 3 behind me. I turned on Front Mission Evolved with a hopeful expression, expecting to have some fun with giant, relatively fast-moving wanzers and with the intention of becoming a mech master. And yes, I had fun. But this dumbing down of a particular formula is continually obvious throughout the experience and while the mechanics are decent and the game can be intense, it doesn’t reach third-person action nirvana. Not really close, in fact.

As usual, Square-Enix can produce some finely polished, technically proficient, and even memorable cut-scenes. But unfortunately, the gameplay visuals don’t pass muster, as the characters are mostly bland and uninteresting, and the levels are filled with forgettable city buildings and structures. Most of the time, you don’t even notice your surroundings because there’s a lot going on – and that’s almost a good thing – but when you really pause to look around, the drab, unappealing backgrounds prove to be a detriment. The special effects are pretty cool, though, because high-impact shocks and explosions are really brought to the forefront, and that helps. It just needed another level of flash and panache that would’ve allowed the action to leap off the screen; instead, it looks a lot like most other mech games- dark and kinda boring. It can also be difficult to spot your enemies amidst the backdrops; the foes can blend into cityscapes.