Revisiting a Classic
Should you like a turn-based RPG styled game, then you’ll probably like the Front Mission series of games. That in turn means you’ll probably be interested in FRONT MISSION 3: Remake.
The original game was released by Square for the Sony PlayStation way back in 1999 (and don’t get me started on how that is over a quarter of a century ago), and interestingly was the first to be released to a western audience in the year 2000. This new remake has been put together by those at MegaPixel Studio and Forever Entertainment, as they promise to deliver a pretty faithful recreation of the original title.
Given that the original game was a bit of a deviation from the first two – FRONT MISSION: 1st Remake and FRONT MISSION 2: Remake, will the end result be a great game that has stood the test of time, or a game that should have stayed lost in the mists of time?
Modern Touches Meet Older Roots
Kicking off with the presentation of FRONT MISSION 3: Remake and I have to say it is pretty close to the original, with all the good and bad points that entails. The developers appear to have been caught in a conundrum when designing this game: should they keep the PS1 era graphics, or redo them with modern textures and lighting? Well, they kind of flipped a coin and it came down on its edge, as the graphics are simple, but have modern touches to them. The backdrops to the areas we fight in look dull and uninspired, the FMV sequences, especially showing the mechs in motion, look grainy and jerky, and all in it isn’t a looker, let’s put it that way.
The sound is okay too, with the mechs making the massive stomping noises you’d expect, and the various weapons nailed to our Wanzers sound pretty good. The music has apparently also been remixed, and it sounds very much alright. It didn’t intrude on my consciousness enough to make much of an impression though.
Stripped-Back Strategy and Pilot Progression
How about the way FRONT MISSION 3: Remake plays though, is that still good? Well, yes and no again I’m afraid. I’m doing so much fence sitting here that there is a real danger of splinters!
Having reviewed the remakes of the first two Front Mission games, I was impressed with how deep the strategy required in the franchise was, yet here it has been simplified and stripped back to a series of almost continuous battles, with limited scope for strategy to play a part. Indeed, this is more of what I would call an RPG than a strategy game, especially compared to the first two titles.
One of the biggest changes is the way that the pilots learn new skills. Instead of the pilots gaining experience by battling, the system in this game awards new skills for equipping new parts to your mech. Weird, I know, but that is the system!
Squishy Humans vs Giant Wanzers
Other differences to the gameplay include the ability to fight on foot, having either ejected from your Wanzer, or, as I found out, being hit so much that you are thrown out of it!A pparently you can fight on foot, or even hijack other machines, but to be honest, being a squishy human on a field full of giant stompy mechs does not seem like a good long term survival option.
Other than that, the missions in FRONT MISSION 3: Remake seem to be much shorter and more intense than in the other games in the series. Whether you think that is a good or bad thing is a personal choice.
Double the Narrative
But what about the story of the game, why are we wandering around in giant metal walking tanks? Well, the story bifurcates quite early on, and there are essentially two narratives to follow, something that is split after a choice that we have to make early in the game, and the two strands cross over as the story unfolds. This does add quite a lot of replayability, as we see the story from the other side. I’m not going to go into too much detail about the story here: if you want to know, you’ll have to play the game. Or have played it 26 years ago…
A Mixed Bag of Mechs and Memories
All in all though, FRONT MISSION 3: Remake is a bit of a mixed bag. There are good bits, like the story and gameplay which are lifted straight from the original. But then there are those elements that don’t work anywhere near as well – like the weird halfway house graphical update, dodgy FMV and weird upscaled portraits of the characters. As a package, it isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as the previous two games.
If you want your Wanzer fix, maybe play those two instead?
Important Links
FRONT MISSION 3: Remake Marches Onto PC & Consoles With Tactical Firepower – https://www.thexboxhub.com/front-mission-3-remake-marches-onto-pc-consoles-with-tactical-firepower/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/front-mission-3-remake/9N8D4KR7PH40/0010
Grab the Trilogy – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/front-mission-remake-trilogy/9NG2TQ7G8PK5/0010
