Front Mission

Tactical role-playing games are a lot like poker. They're easily learnt but a subtle complexity lies beneath their surface. Winning requires more than just knowing the rules of the game – cleverness, foresight, and a penchant for luck reward a player with a win. Front Mission follows in suit, taking a gamble with tactical gameplay that has simplicity in spades, and only a lack of depth holds the game back from taking the hand.

Two campaigns provide the bulk of gameplay, each following two factions: the United Continental States (UCS) and Oceania Cooperative Union (OCU). Both sides have entered a war for possession of a massive continental shelf rising in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Dubbed the Second Huffman Conflict, the battle for occupation intensifies as mechanical suits called 'wanzers' clash in fierce skirmishes across the island. Playing as either side, it's your responsibility to maintain a stable of wanzers and deploy them in tactical combat.

Front Mission isn't exactly a new game. In fact, it's an enhanced remake of the original Nintendo Entertainment System title of the same name. Most of the enhancements to the game on DS are cosmetic, however, as much of the original's 8-bit simplicity remains intact. The game's relative lack of complexity doesn't prevent it from being enjoyable, yet it certainly fails to provide as rich a tactical experience as more recent releases. Combat is straightforward, which makes it an ideal introduction for tactical role-playing initiates.

Unit customisation enables the tailoring of weapons and armour, although a laughable ability system denies in-depth development. Instead of acquiring skills at a set level or learning them through the course of the game, wanzer pilots ascertain special abilities at random. It's like gambling in Vegas without the free booze to take off the edge of constant losses. Having absolutely no control over your pilots' development is immensely frustrating – all you can do is send them into combat and accumulate experience in the hope that they'll serendipitously gain an ability.

Since you don't have a say over your pilots' slate of abilities, battles break down into a contest of armament and wit, while figuring out how to best utilise short- and long-range weaponry transfers into simple tactical battle plans. Wanzers can be equipped with a slew of parts, including individual pieces for body, right and left arms, legs, and CPU. Additionally, weapons tagged to both arms and shoulders can be mounted. Weight, too, is a consideration when configuring wanzers, with a maximum tonnage of 100 allowed. In practice, much of the game's depth comes from wanzer customization, largely because battles fall short of providing a rich tactical experience.

Contriving tactics, while important, isn't particularly challenging in Front Mission. Enemies possess only a modicum of intelligence, which translates into predictable behaviours, while exploiting variations in terrain, such as bottlenecks and steppes, makes it even easier to route enemy forces. True, some foes you come across are more difficult to dispatch as a result of stronger armour or more powerful weapons, but it isn't because they're actually smarter.

Learn how to utilise your wanzers' different weapons and that's all you really need to know. Flanking and rear offensives hold no bonus for attackers, so you don't need to concern yourself with positioning your units beyond getting them in combat range. The most effective battlefield tactic usually involves keeping your distance from enemy units to pummel them with ranged attacks, moving in for melee blows only when your ammunition runs out. Commit this to memory and you'll have no problem getting through the game.

Between the campaigns, Front Mission offers well over 50 missions, clocking in around 20-30 hours, and a new Duel mode extends playtime with two-player bouts possible via a local wireless connection. A substantial package, then, but the only thing holding Front Mission back from encouraging long play sessions is monotony due to the game's relative lack of depth. While it provides great value, keeping an interest in its plain gameplay for more than an hour or two at a time is a challenge in and of itself.

As an introduction to tactical role-playing, then, this can't be beaten. The simplicity of its combat system and involved equipment customisation make it easy to enjoy, and only limits on its tactical depth prevent the game from hitting jackpot. Front Mission deals a decent hand; it's just not the best in the crowded tactical role-playing genre.