Front Mission 1st (Nintendo DS) Preview

Front Mission is one of those games that many will look at and think is far too Japanese to appeal to a Western audience. However, in all honesty, anyone that has actually played the games will know that this assertion is complete nonsense. After all, the characters throughout the game are generally Westernised, the themes are very gritty and dark rather than twee, colourful and full of specific references that would go straight over our heads. And hey, if you want to look at it in a really basic way, then just think about how popular Transformers was over here. See? Is the idea of a game all about large mechanical robots in the strategic title full of role-playing elements such an alien idea? Do millions of gamers NOT go crazy for the latest MechAssault game? Exactly...

So with that, let me drag myself back from that tangent and onto the main topic at hand once more: the very first Front Mission, which appeared on the Super Famicom/NES only in Japan over twelve years ago in 1995, is back. The Squaresoft property is being resurrected by Square Enix in the form of 'Front Mission 1st' on the Nintendo DS in the hope of revitalising the franchise that has seemingly lost some of its appeal to consumers after FM5 and an online version, both on the PlayStation 2.

Now, unlike Final Fantasy III from the crusty 8-bit NES, Square Enix is not giving this the massive visual enhancement bestowed upon the DS FFIII that is nearing 800,000 units sold in Japan at the moment. Instead, other than maybe a little manipulation to get the aspect ratio right on the DS screen and perhaps touching things up slightly to make it look fresher than before, this looks for all intents and purposes exactly like its precursor. Whilst only unveiled a short time ago, the game already has a 'Winter 2006' release date for Japan and was even on show at the TGS event at the end of September. It may have only been a one-stage demonstration on offer, but considering most of the Japanese Press are already familiar with the original, all that was required to show was how the DS system's features are being used for the update.

The general consensus? Square Enix may not be delivering the most attractive DS game to date, but it is definitely on to another winner with Front Mission 1st. The game may have been ported to the PSone in 2003, but this really seems like the ideal version as the series is perfectly suited to the dual-screen set-up and touch capabilities. Using the stylus for precision manoeuvres and accessing the menu system all looks extremely smooth and hitch-free. The menus and various control options were all in English for this current build, so in between the dark, dull stylised (SNES-era) visuals and character portraits depicting the person speaking at any one time (Yoshitaka Amano's work), there is an easily navigable system for those considering an early import. Well, that is if you do not mind skipping the main storyline, which itself is indeed in full Japanese.

Talking of the storyline, the isometric turn-based strategy game had you controlling a group of wanzers (the mechs) as they take part in a war that is on-going between the Oceana Community Union (OCU) and the Unites States of New Continent (USN). The story is fleshed out by various long-winded conversations that take place even during the heat of battle; so a grasp of Japanese would be handy. However, this will likely make it to the West soon enough...Anyway, back to how the actual game controls and how well the stylus control proves to be. Gamers are able to quickly flick through a range of menus with complete ease, hastily amending any errors made or changing your opinion about what you want to do with your move without any trouble.

And you will have to be careful about what your final action is, because your wanzers may be strong, but when faced with opposition of at least an equal status, then the cracks do begin to show if you lack diligence in your planning. Wanzers' statistics are broken into three separate areas: body, arms and legs. The body is your main health, pure and simple, with your mech exploding if this drops to zero. The legs are your speed and movement, whilst the arms act as a primary source of defence. So each aspect is vitally important to your overall status, meaning a lot of thought needs to go into how vulnerable you leave the mechs after your team has completed its turn. And yes, 'team' as in the way Advance Wars or Fire Emblem works, with each mech in your squad being moved or completing its action before the opposing side gets their chance to attack.

Again, just like in both of the Intelligent Systems games mentioned above, when a skirmish actually occurs, the main action zooms in on the top screen so you can see exactly what is going on in that particular encounter. Whilst the choice of attacking option you make seems to only affect enemy stats in a random fashion, at least there are extra attack options made available depending on the distance from each foe, adding some variety to the proceedings. Other than that, not much else is know, and will not be until Square Enix decides to open the floodgates closer to the game's release before Winter is over. But so far it looks impressive enough indeed! Oh, and there is also the promise of a Wi-Fi feature, new wanzer types and extra scenarios to be included, as well as the reappearance of Glen Duval from Front Mission 5...