Front Mission 3

Front Mission 3 is a very interesting game in that it suceeds in making the dream game I wanted; a cross between Armored Core and Final Fantasy Tactics. It also fails in that respect because it tries to keep the details of its predecessors, not its perceived parent ideas.

Last I checked, the Front Mission games started back in 1995 on the Super Nintendo and continued on the Playstation with Front Mission Second(1997). The series continued a tradition of detail with the 1999 release of Front Mission 3. There are more games relating to the Front Mission world, including the upcoming Playstation2 releases of Front Mission 4 and Front Mission Online. The main thing to remember about this series is that it never skimps on the detail.

In the story of the game, you play some dude and you're supposed to go investigate something in your mechs. The decision to take your buddy Ken decides whether you are taking the normal difficulty game(where you fight on the side of Japan alongside your sister Alicia) and hard difficulty(where you & your buddy fight alongside Emma, an insurgen spy for Norway, bent on stopping the forces of evil who helps you save your sister). Knowing this BEFORE starting the game greatly reduces your future stress level in completing the game in detail. When I speak of the detail in Front Mission 3, I am speaking of textures(blocky as the Playstation makes them) and story, not to mention the semi-functioning Internet world. This 'Net world allows you to train on mech simulators, surf the web for classified info and--most importantly--it allows you to buy items for your Wanzer(s).

"Wanzers"(short for "walking Panzer", ref. German Panzer tank) are your battle-mechs used in Front Mission 3. They are mostly bipedal units designed for heaily armed combat. Their body parts can be broken into 3 categories: torsos(they come with a head and provide most of the energy output for the Wanzer), arms(they hold the weapons and shields) and legs(allows the Wanzer to move freely over terrain). Any of the parts can be put together in any combination, provided they are not underpowered or overweight, a common occcurence once weapons & accessories are taken into account.
Weapons for the Wanzer in Front Mission 3 are decent, but not the best that can be offered. You have shotguns, machine guns, sniper rifles, spiked knuckes, missile launchers and napalm launchers amongst the weapons and accessories that I was able to access. Accessories range from backpacks(that carry healing items and ammunition), shields, energy packs(to boost the energy output of the mech to power more weapons) and onboard computers to store the skills learned as you work with the weapons, a great feature in Front Mission 3.
The skill system in Front Mission 3 is such a godsend in many battles. Certain body parts allow you to learn certain skills that are triggered in certain circumstances. Many of these skills are limited to the type of weapon you have, but that doesn't really matter in the long run: your mech is usually capable of doing a lot of damage to other mechs. This is achieved via a status effect on the enemy pilot or damage to the enemy unit, or a boost on the part of your unit. A good example of such a skill is the "Eject Punch", learned through the arms of a Kasel M5 Wanzer. If activated, your Wanzer punches an enemy Wanzer so hard that the pilot flies out. This allows you to both (a)kill the enemy pilot, or (b)steal the enemy Wanzer. Stealing the enemy Wanzer is good, because it gives a technological edge against future opponents and saves you money. Oh, you also can paint your Wanzer a different color or pattern from the pre-selected color schemes and patterns in the game.

Above: The Zenislev, your starting Wanzer in FRONT MISSION 3. Note the arms prepared for "Double Assault".

The game itself is like FFT in the way it feels like a strategy RPG, but it really resembles Vandal Hearts in its split turn-based system. All the members of your team goes first, then the enemy goes next. You'll go back and forth between them and it tends to be a nuisance because of the problems encountered in predicting the moves and the destination of the enemy. The only saving grace is that the gameplay alerts you to the hit percentage of your weapon when confronted with single or multiple targets. The only thing missing from the game is an on-board overhead map.
While the missions that I took(the "Emma" missions) are ass-poundingly hard, they never slowed down to let you breathe. This is a problem and a pleasure because taking the time to breathe gets you shot to hell, just like a real mech battle if ever one was to pass.

Wanzers, whoop-ass and a whimsied web browser make up an alright game. Many will not like its anal-retentive approach to mech battles or its boring and fake Internet. Once they see the Zenislev arm skill "Double Assault", they might just change their mind. Front Mission 3 gets a rating of 7.

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