Front Mission Evolved is weird. Started well, but a bevy of issues kept the game’s momentum from realizing its full potential. Despite some good ideas here.
For starters. I like the Wanzer(mechs you pilot) combat. Kinda like Armored Core(AC). Except you’re mainly fighting on ground level compared to sometimes flighty combat in the AC series. Which surprised me quite a bit. But good lord there are so many things wrong here.
The characters... I wish I could say they're good... Nope. They're garbage and hold no likeability. And granted I didn't expect a great character out the gate, but I still would've liked a character who actually develops or at least in some form retain a bit of interesting personality. And I still didn't see it by the time endgame rolled around. Extremely predictable too as you progress through each Act. Of which there are five, but there are multiple missions within. Acts can take about an hour to complete more or less. Boss battles are pretty good here. Like a puzzled way to beat them and each one is different from the last. Sometimes those battles will be unfair, but re-customizing your Wanzer setup can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
The levels are alright. Early on you mainly fight on street levels. As you progress in each act they’ll take you to new mission levels where the setting changes depending on the biome. So you won’t be fighting Wanzers every day. Level designs are linear, with some leeway to collect collectibles. When you start on-foot sections those are small and have samey corridors too. There is a bit of an arcadey feeling here in that you can go replenish your Wanzer’s ammo and health. I kinda like this feature, since it allows the player to keep the momentum going. And I felt there were enough of them around to manage most levels.
I did not expect some new gameplay elements such as helicopter sections where you blast enemies to smithereens, which is also a nice way to earn income repeatedly if you’re short on cash.
And weirdly enough there are segments to fight on foot... Fighting outside your mech and having to duck behind boxes to eliminate enemies. Is… not good. Feels very janky for movement and combat making the experience not fun. On foot, enemies have basic a.i. Pop out of cover to shoot. Cover back to reload and repeat. You can use different weapons like a bazooka, SMG, shotgun, and more, but I didn’t feel the need since your setup is already powerful enough and enemies can be taken down in several shots. Honestly, the on-foot segments feel like the developers couldn’t realize the identity of the game and decided to mash different elements that feel half-baked. Can’t even try the multiplayer features since the online servers are down as far as I know. These half-measures make the single-player portion suffer and as a result, make the whole game have an identity crisis at times. I feel the developers should’ve stuck with Wanzer combat for every level and laid off on the on-foot combat and multiplayer to flesh out the single-player portion more since it does have some interesting boss fights and Wanzer customization where you can outfit your mech with different parts or weapons.
While not as intricate as Armored Core customization. I still like the developers' attempts for a lite outfit change here to equip different weapons and body parts. I just didn’t like some mission requirements where I had to equip different leg parts to start a mission. Feels forced and not very enjoyable since I wanted to outfit my Wanzer on a two-leg setup instead of a crab leg setup or the hover setup. In my opinion, removing the leg requirements would’ve allowed the player more freedom and thus made those particular missions more enjoyable than having to adjust how to use those leg setups.
The story is nothing to write home about except explosions with bigger explosions, however, I did appreciate how it held a narrative to follow from beginning to end... A narrative very thinly holding my interest. Despite the initial hook of the son trying to find his father. By endgame, all I cared about was whether the ending would redeem any of the critiques I have of the game. And sadly even that aspect failed.
There are so many things wrong here. But the Wanzer combat I feel the developers by Double Helix Games almost nails the feel of AC, but not quite there. Boss fights are interesting challenges. And Wanzer customization is the only nice things I could say about the game. And while I wish a lot of features in the game could’ve been cut and improved. The overall package feels like a janky-filled mess. I'd only recommend it for those who want to try more mecha games and for those who got the game on a solid deal.
6/10
For starters. I like the Wanzer(mechs you pilot) combat. Kinda like Armored Core(AC). Except you’re mainly fighting on ground level compared to sometimes flighty combat in the AC series. Which surprised me quite a bit. But good lord there are so many things wrong here.
The characters... I wish I could say they're good... Nope. They're garbage and hold no likeability. And granted I didn't expect a great character out the gate, but I still would've liked a character who actually develops or at least in some form retain a bit of interesting personality. And I still didn't see it by the time endgame rolled around. Extremely predictable too as you progress through each Act. Of which there are five, but there are multiple missions within. Acts can take about an hour to complete more or less. Boss battles are pretty good here. Like a puzzled way to beat them and each one is different from the last. Sometimes those battles will be unfair, but re-customizing your Wanzer setup can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
The levels are alright. Early on you mainly fight on street levels. As you progress in each act they’ll take you to new mission levels where the setting changes depending on the biome. So you won’t be fighting Wanzers every day. Level designs are linear, with some leeway to collect collectibles. When you start on-foot sections those are small and have samey corridors too. There is a bit of an arcadey feeling here in that you can go replenish your Wanzer’s ammo and health. I kinda like this feature, since it allows the player to keep the momentum going. And I felt there were enough of them around to manage most levels.
I did not expect some new gameplay elements such as helicopter sections where you blast enemies to smithereens, which is also a nice way to earn income repeatedly if you’re short on cash.
And weirdly enough there are segments to fight on foot... Fighting outside your mech and having to duck behind boxes to eliminate enemies. Is… not good. Feels very janky for movement and combat making the experience not fun. On foot, enemies have basic a.i. Pop out of cover to shoot. Cover back to reload and repeat. You can use different weapons like a bazooka, SMG, shotgun, and more, but I didn’t feel the need since your setup is already powerful enough and enemies can be taken down in several shots. Honestly, the on-foot segments feel like the developers couldn’t realize the identity of the game and decided to mash different elements that feel half-baked. Can’t even try the multiplayer features since the online servers are down as far as I know. These half-measures make the single-player portion suffer and as a result, make the whole game have an identity crisis at times. I feel the developers should’ve stuck with Wanzer combat for every level and laid off on the on-foot combat and multiplayer to flesh out the single-player portion more since it does have some interesting boss fights and Wanzer customization where you can outfit your mech with different parts or weapons.
While not as intricate as Armored Core customization. I still like the developers' attempts for a lite outfit change here to equip different weapons and body parts. I just didn’t like some mission requirements where I had to equip different leg parts to start a mission. Feels forced and not very enjoyable since I wanted to outfit my Wanzer on a two-leg setup instead of a crab leg setup or the hover setup. In my opinion, removing the leg requirements would’ve allowed the player more freedom and thus made those particular missions more enjoyable than having to adjust how to use those leg setups.
The story is nothing to write home about except explosions with bigger explosions, however, I did appreciate how it held a narrative to follow from beginning to end... A narrative very thinly holding my interest. Despite the initial hook of the son trying to find his father. By endgame, all I cared about was whether the ending would redeem any of the critiques I have of the game. And sadly even that aspect failed.
There are so many things wrong here. But the Wanzer combat I feel the developers by Double Helix Games almost nails the feel of AC, but not quite there. Boss fights are interesting challenges. And Wanzer customization is the only nice things I could say about the game. And while I wish a lot of features in the game could’ve been cut and improved. The overall package feels like a janky-filled mess. I'd only recommend it for those who want to try more mecha games and for those who got the game on a solid deal.
6/10