Front Mission (video game)

Front Mission
Nintendo DS cover art
Developer(s)	Square, G-Craft
Publisher(s)	Square, Square Enix
Series	Front Mission series
Platform(s)	Super NES, PlayStation, WonderSwan Color, Nintendo DS
Release	JP: February 24, 1995 (SNES) JP: July 12, 2002 (WSC) JP: October 23 2003 (PS1) JP: March 22 2007 (DS) NA: October 23, 2007 (DS)
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing
Mode(s)	Single player

Front Mission (フロントミッション, Furonto Misshon) is a strategy video game developed and published by Square in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom in Japan). Front Mission is an ongoing saga intertwining the storylines of various heroes and their epic battles involving mechs. The games feature a very broad range of mech customization, where each individual part of the mech can be tweaked for the greatest possible performance.
An enhanced remake of the game was released for the Wonderswan Color in 2002, PlayStation in 2003, and Nintendo DS in 2007.

Front Mission 1st

In 2003, the game was remade as Front Mission 1st for the PlayStation. This remake included new material and the ability to play from the USN's point of view. An additional remake of the PlayStation game was in development for the Nintendo DS and released in Japan on March 22, 2007. The North American version, which is simply titled "Front Mission", was released on October 23, 2007. While this is the first time that Front Mission will see a Western release, an emulated English-language translation of the original SNES version is available online.

Front Mission 1st for the DS includes several characters from Front Mission 5: Scars of the War. Battle sequences are being tuned to use the DS's dual screen setup for an easy view of the action. The DS version has many more changes and additions that make it the definitive version of Front Mission. These include:

• The ability to access and utilize large mobile weapons previously seen as boss-type units in the Front Mission SNES and PSOne versions. Upon meeting specific requirements, the player can control mobile weapons such as the Seaking, Clinton Type, or a prototype version of the Bogomol I seen at the end of Front Mission 4.

• The ability to control Front Mission characters from other installments such as Darril Traubel and Glen Duval. This feature is only limited to a select number of missions however.

• New additions to parts and weapons, some from other Front Mission installments like the Numsekar from Front Mission 5. The infamous Dragon Hand part, which could only be obtained by cheat devices, can now be obtained normally in the game.

• New secret missions and areas that expand both sides further. Numerous bonuses await upon the completion of these secret missions, such as new mobile weapons or wanzers for usage.

• Additional modes such as a high-speed battle mode where battles are done quickly via skipping and other time-cutting means. Difficulty settings are available upon completion of either side a number of times. Even more secrets and bonuses can be accessed through repeated playthroughs of either side.

Story

Set in 2090, the story of Front Mission revolves an Oceania Community Union (OCU) officer by the name of Roid Clive. An OCU squadron lead by Roid and Ryuji Sakata entered a special United States of the New Continent (USN) ammunition dump at the Larcus District on Huffman Island (a fictional Pacific island roughly the size of Oahu, "formed in 1995 from volcanic activity, east of the Pacific Ocean, south of Mexico's west coast.[1] The landmass was large enough to classify as an island in 2002 and all authority and proprietary rights was granted to the United Nations."[2]). Roid's fiancee, Karen Meure, is already inside. However, the uneasy quiet is broken when a USN Wanzer squad led by an officer named Driscoll ambushes Meure on the premises. Driscoll himself kills her, setting the stage for the game's first mission, called "The Larcus Incident."

After the player defeats the rest of the USN force, Driscoll escapes, but not before he detonates bombs inside the complex.

The entire incident is pinned on Roid and Sakata, who are summarily dismissed from the OCU Ground Defense Force. The fiasco also broke a peace treaty between the OCU and USN, setting off the Second Huffman War. One year later, OCU Colonel Guri Olson seeks out Roid (who is a Wanzer fighter in the western town of Barinden) to work with the Canyon Crows mercenary unit. Roid joins after Olson dangles the prospect of killing the USN officer responsible for Karen's death.

In the PS1 remake of Front Mission, titled Front Mission 1st, the game has a second scenario, with the player assuming the role of USN Black Hounds officer Kevin Greenfield. A number of mysteries and plot elements shown in the OCU side story are examined further from the USN's perspective, as well as featuring tie-ins from Front Mission 4. However, numerous plot elements remain unresolved despite the additional gameplay. These elements are looked at in-depth and play a significant role in Front Mission 5, moreso than any other backstory elements from other Front Missions found in that game.

In the DS remake of 1st, the connections with Front Mission 5 are fleshed out further through expanded and new scenes and the inclusion of characters. These include Glen Duval, Walter Feng, Randy O'Neill, Hector Reynolds, etc. The tie-ins with Front Mission 4 are also expanded, with additional material and the inclusion of Darril Traubel and Billy Renges.

Gameplay

Flow

The gameplay of Front Mission is similar to strategy RPG games such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem. Although it has similarities to the aforementioned games, Front Mission is often classified more of a strategy game rather than strategy RPG due to its game mechanics. In terms of progression, players can progress through the game in the following manner: watch plot-related scenes, clear missions, upgrade and configure wanzers for the next mission. The player travels to locations on a point-and-click world map. As the player progresses through the plot, new locations are revealed on the world map. Towns and cities act as intermission points where the player can organize and setup their units for the upcoming mission. Battle zones are where the missions take place, though they become inaccessible upon the completion of a mission.

Wanzers and weapons

In terms of the gameplay mechanics, Front Mission units use wanzers, which is Front Mission-speak for mecha. Wanzers differ from the typical combat unit in that it has 4 separate parts: Body, Right Arm, Left Arm, and Legs. Each part has a specific function and its own Health Points(HP) bar. The Legs enable movement and evasion, the Arms are necessary to equip and use hand and shoulder weapons, and the Body maintains the wanzer's operability. Should the Body be destroyed, the wanzer is destroyed completely. There are a lot of benefits to disabling a wanzer's Arms or Legs beforehand, as it will prevent a wanzer from using weapons or evading attacks respectively. The only forms of damage reduction are a wanzer's Defense stat and Shields, which boosts the overall defense of the wanzer. While the player fights mostly wanzers in the entire game, the player also fights vehicles and mobile weapon platforms. These enemy units only have one part, the Body, but they have greater Defense and HP values to compensate for having just one part.

Weapons in Front Mission are classified under three categories: Melee(Fight in the Japanese version), Short, and Long. Melee weapons consist of Rods and a wanzer's free Arm (no weapon equipped) that strike only once but deal high damage. The advantages are that Melee weapons have a tendency to strike a wanzer's Body part and ignore the Defense stat of a wanzer. Short weapons are used in close-range and consist of Machine Guns, Shotguns, Flamethrowers, and Rifles. Machine Guns are multi-fire weapons and its rounds target a wanzer's parts at random. Shotguns, Flamethrowers, and Rifles are single-fire weapons similar to Melee weapons but they do not focus on a specific part of a wanzer. The advantages with these weapons are their high accuracy, they take priority over Melee weapons in battle sequences (Short weapons attack first), and they often destroy wanzer parts if the round connects.

Long weapons are used from a distance and consist of Missile Launchers and Rocket Launchers, which fire either multiple rounds or just a single round. The advantage with a Long weapon is simple: the attacked unit cannot counter-attack the attacker. Long weapons have ammunition limits, however, and must be reloaded when a weapon has used up all of its ammo. Hybrid weapons that specialize in both Short and Long are present in the form of Bazookas and Grenade Launchers. These weapons have a noticeable drawback in that they have low accuracy and thus, rounds are likely to miss instead of hit the target.

Wanzer customization

The main draw of any Front Mission is the massive amounts of customization involved in creating wanzers. Provided a wanzer's total Weight does not exceed its Power Output limit, a player can configure a wanzer out of almost any combination of parts. A wanzer can be equipped with up to 4 weapons (right/left hand, right/left shoulder) for offensive purposes, though it is very hard to outfit a wanzer with 4 weapons without exceeding its Power Output. Wanzers can also use Weapon Arms, which are Arms with built-in weapons that are considerably lighter than equipping an Arm with a weapon. A wanzer can also equip a backpack that grants additional power output, increased item storage capacity, and raises the effective range of support weapons such as acid bombs and flash grenades. In regards to movement, the player can equip a wanzer with a variety of leg types (tread, hover, etc.) that has specific uses in terms of moving through various terrain. Therefore, players ultimately decide the effectiveness and strength of their squads based on wanzer setup alone. One of the most well known wanzer models is the Zenith, which has become an iconic figure for Front Mission for its appearance in every game.

Other features

Front Mission has a few other features incorporated into the game. Players can purchase or sell wanzer parts and weapons at the Shop, which can be visited at any town. Front Mission also sports a Colosseum, which is a game-play feature where the player chooses one of their pilots to fight Colosseum combatants and win additional money. Furthermore, Front Mission sports a briefing feature that details the basic information about the enemy composition for the next mission. Missions in Front Mission are standard strategy RPG fare, however, since most can be finished by destroying all enemies or protecting a particular unit from the enemy forces.

Characters

Main article: List of Front Mission characters

External links

• Square Enix's official Front Mission website (English)
• Square Enix's official Front Mission website (Japanese)
• Ten-Mou / Worldwide Network System (Japanese)
• FrontMission.org
• The Front Mission series at MobyGames
• The Front Mission series index at Square Haven