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Engaging

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 19 / 19
Date: July 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As a major fan of Front Mission 3 for the PlayStation I was excited upon hearing the news that Square-Enix was making a sequel to my favorite single-player tactical-strategy game. The only thing missing from Front Mission 3's excellence was great graphics. With the arrival of Front Mission 4 on the PlayStation2 I thought the rough-graphics problem would be solved and I'd have the perfect game.

Unfortunately life has a way of playing dirty tricks. Oh sure, the graphics are much improved over FM3 with greater detail and far smoother animation. But the colors are downright bland! Also, many areas in the game appear overly dark, making it a challenge to view the screen easily unless the lights are off. I suspect the developers were going for realism here.

The length of the game disappointed me as well. For the amount of time spent working on your characters' skills and statistics the number of actual plot-developing missions is minuscule. There are only 29 stages in all! By comparison, FM3 contained a staggering 128 stages played out through two scenarios! Admittedly, FM4's stages are bigger and take longer to complete, and there are simulator battles to play. But FM3 had simulator battles, too!

Now that the bad is out of the way let me let you what was good about FM4:

Graphics - already touched on this. MUCH better than FM3 except for the colors & lack of lighting.

Sound - the most refined part of FM4. Heavy, realistic, perfect. Great use of bass!

Music - very appropriate for the events onscreen. High quality.

Speech - the main characters now speak in select cut scenes and the voice-overs are extremely well done. The accents and voice tones are very accurate to their respective nationalities. No bad acting here!

Battle System - more involved than in the last game. The Link system adds a fun new level of strategy to the gameplay. New specialized backpacks increase combat options.

Customization - a slight increase in variety of weapons and parts. Better colorization options but the blandness + darkness at times makes it almost moot.

Control - takes some getting used to, but adequate. In a tactical, non-twitch game like this it's not a detriment.

Battle Maps - daytime shifting and weather effects add new depth to missions. Battlefields are significantly larger than in FM3.

Character Skills - no more randomness in acquiring new battle skills to help towards victory! Instead characters buy skills they want as they become available! The challenge is getting the funds needed to afford them.

And finally, FM4's greatest improvement over FM3...the chaotic E-mail/virtual net system is gone!

I'd have to say FM4 doesn't match the gaming experience FM3 gave. Don't get me wrong...it's a fantastic game for as long as it lasts. The plot is solid. Just don't expect as huge a jump in quality as I did or you'll be disappointed.

Fun game for turn based strat fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: June 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

For those who've never played a Front Mission game before: Enormous mechs. Tons of weapons, armor and computer options. Turn based strategy. The Front Mission series alone incorporates all three, and thus has a collection of players devoted to it. If you don't like all three, however, the chances are slim that you will fully enjoy this game. The game has much more serious involvement than your average turn-based strat game: even by the end, you will continually be discovering new ways to customize and operate your wanzers. There's no way to jump into the game and immediately be good at it: "trial and error" is a phrase you will get used to, and very quickly at that.

For those who've played previous Front Mission games: The game, while remaining fundamentally the same, has changed in enough ways to mark it as an entirely different approach to the same ideas. The most obvious change is the Link system: it introduces a new variable when deciding where, when and how to use your wanzers and forces you to take the enemy's linking abilities into consideration when choosing your defensive tactics. With enough AP and the right positioning/turn order, a single wanzer can attack upwards of 6 times in a single turn (the highest I've seen is 9, with a shotgun). The other marked change is in the way characters progress: no more gaining proficiency with a weapon through repeated use. Instead, you purchase upgrades to your computer system through a pre-planned route, which may be expanded upon by purchasing computer upgrades in a store. If you stick to the pre-planned route, you will find your characters locked into a set path based on the skills they receive: lots of shotgun abilities and evasion skills obviously points toward a lightweight, evasive wanzer armed with shotguns. The benefits and detriments are obvious: the game starts you with a fairly balanced team that works well, but also makes it annoyingly tedious to change the fighting style of ANY of your wanzers. Expect to repeat simulations like crazy in order to fully customize your team.

OVERALL RATINGS:
Graphics: 6/10. The FMV is nice, but the in game graphics are reminiscent of very early PS2. Character portraits, while animated, are still portraits. Animation is, however, smooth, and almost all the cutscenes are accomplished with excellent use of the in-game engine.

Sound: 8/10. The voice-overs aren't spectacular, but are more than acceptable for a video game and help to fill out the characters' personalities. The music is very well done, although there wasn't nearly enough variation. The actual sound effects are fantastic: metal against metal, etc. is very accurate sounding.

Controls/Interface: 5/10. The controls are great and mostly intuitive, but the interface itself is a mixed bag. The combat interface is pretty intuitive, although at times your eyes will get confused as to which part of the display you should be looking at. Combat between similar looking wanzers gets confusing, especially when linked teammates are all fighting (whose bullets are those?). The non-combat menus are what get really annoying. My biggest problem is the seperation of the purchasing screens from the organization screens and the load times between: you can de-equip and purchase/replace equipment for all your wanzers at the same time, but you can't equip a weapon/part/item you already have from within the same screen. You can set skills, purchase new ones and upgrade computers from the same screen, but if you want to purchase a new skill set, you have to go to the computer store, and at the computer store, you can only see a bare-minimum of information about the pilot you're buying skills for. ANNOYING!

Gameplay: 9/10. Although a beginner could pick up the game and survive the battles, in order to truly progress and make the money necessary to customize your wanzers and pilots, you have to utilize an enormous level of strategy which makes playing the game fun. A dozen different elements make your choices in each phase of combat exciting. There's no way to effectively summarize the gameplay other than to play it, so rent it if you're unsure.

Storyline: 6/10. I've come to expect a level of quality from Square Enix that this game doesn't match up with. While better than the filler that generally occupies turn-based strat games, the story had so much more potential than was actually realized.

Replay value: 5/10. My save file said 36 hours when I beat the game, although at least 3 hours of that was the game sitting around while I ran errands or ate. I did, however, plow through the game with a minimum of grinding (so I didn't do a lot of customization, etc.), so those dedicated to creating the ultimate wanzer team will find they have plenty of time to do so. The catch, however, is that you can restart the game with your old team once you beat it: those who already took the time to maximize their teams will find little to do on a second playing, while people like me still have places to go, so the net gaming time is probably about the same. FM4 is the kind of game you won't want to replay for a month, but will seem fresh and exciting again after that month has passed.

Turn based -a la- F. F. Tactics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Front Mission 4 is a brave attempt to rescue Turn Based combat. I'm crazy about it since many games today are real time and my personal favorite is turn based.

Well, if you liked FF Tactics, you'll enjoy FM4. I'ts an RPG which follows two story lines and of course, all the battles are designed for you to equip and tune up your robots. They are not luxuries, they're a must if you want to survive.

PROS: if you like turn based ... HEY ! ... here's one at it's best!.
Long battles makes a lot of time to develop your strategy.
Immersive, wait until you learn how to use the link system ! you'll learn what "UNLEASHING POWER" means!
Sci-Fi, Mechs, Explosions, Story, what else do you want?

CONS: Mixed graphics, everything is amazing but when you try to read gray text over gray background... you have to squint... BR> Some battle situations may end up with a lot of time wasted on moving your units.
A single enemy unit needs several turns to be destroyed.

As in real life, some times you need things to go faster, but you can't do that.

Some times, one hour(+) each battle, is just what you need...

If you are an Action-oriented gamer, try this one, you might lear that strategy is FUN.

PS: If you think this game gets too difficult is probably because you are not going to train on the simulators and/or you are not equiping your units well... take your time ! ENJOY!

A great turn-based strategy game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I can't believe this game has an average review of only 3.5 stars, and even more surprised that only 8 people have reviewed it. On looking through these reviews, however, I noticed that the people who gave this game low ratings were either too young to understand the depth of the gameplay or just plain weren't strategy game fans (does it say anywhere on the package that this is an action game?).
I'm surprised that this great square-enix game has gotten so little respect.
Anyway, I purchased it used not knowing what to expect, and I have been hooked on it since I bought it...this is a great strategy game, and renews my hopes (which I unfortunately know will never be satisfied) that square will make a Final Fantasy Tactics for PS2.
The game play basics are simple, but to master them is fairly complicated. There is a lot of in-depth modification you can do to your characters and wanzers, plenty of missions, and what I consider to be two great and very interesting intertwining storylines.
Graphics are, as others have said, only sufficient. Not bad by any means, but not anything exceptional for the PS2. The music is good, slightly above average, and the sounds in battle (of clanging metal and what not) are very well done. Voice acting is fairly good (not as good as Final Fantasy, but way better than games like, say...Resident Evil and the like).
The gameplay is what really shines here, however. It's what makes the game so wonderful. As is typical of great strategy games, hours begin to slip by like minutes once you get into it, and it's always hard to not play just one more battle. It's also easy to get caught up in a lot of micro-management of your forces.
If you aren't into strategy games, don't play this, and please don't write bad reviews about it just because it's over your head!
If you do like turn-based strategy, this is an excellent game, especially for the low prices you can get it for.

Pretty good, but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you liked Front Mission 3, you'll love Front Mission 4. It has the same basic gameplay, military/espionage/mystery storyline, etc.
One thing you'll love is the link system. This allows you to link characters' attacks together. For example, if person A is linked to C and D, when A attacks C and D automatically attack to (assuming they're in range.) C and D use AP for their attacks, but then they still have their turns to use a recovery backpack or something.
The only thing I really didn't like about FM 4 is YOU CANNOT CUSTOMIZE YOUR CHARACTERS!!! Remember in FM 3 the more a character used a certain type of weapon, the better he got with it? Well, in FM 4 the skills, weapon levels, etc. are different for each character, which means a couple will be good with machine guns, one will be great with missiles, etc. Of course, this means you will have a balanced party, but in the previous game I had all my people equipped with shotguns and did very well, thank you.

Wonderful Sequel to Front Mission 3

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

For starters, those who loved Front Mission 3 will love this game. It has all the customization plus much better graphics. With this is added the link system and recovery backpacks.

For those who are new to this franchise, Front Mission entails turn based combat, centered around large man-operated mechs called Wanzers. The player and the computer alternate turns moving and attacking, all while trying to complete certain mission objectives. The combat is driven by the storylines, which lead your characters from stage to stage in pursuit of the truth of why they are fighting.

Though the strategic complexity of the combat is fun enough, the best part of these games is the customization of each of your Wanzers. Each piece, from arms and legs to armor type and paint scheme, is customizable, as is your pilot's abilities. This tends to absorb loads of time for those who want the perfect team, or who like to stick with a theme.

The only real sore points are the story line and pilot skills. The story is pretty much a straight line, and though it is somewhat engaging, you find yourself wishing to get to the next combat phase to test out your newly updated Wanzers.

The pilot skills, on the other hand, are very focused on specific weapon groups. Each pilot seemingly has a specialty, and their skills progress around them, no matter what weapons and roles in combat you use them for. This is very unlike FM3 which allowed progression based on how much you used a given weapon. The only saving grace to this is that FM4 allows you to purchase computer upgrades for each pilot to allow them to cross-train in other fields. Though this is nice, it takes a bit away from the RPG feel of the game.

All in all, FM4 is a wonderful addition to the Front Mission series, and I would highly recommend it to any fans of FM3. It is also worthwhile to try a rental of this out, just to see if its your style. Don't be surprised if you find yourself wasting hours finding that perfect combination of arms and armor for your next fight.

Mech Smashing Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is my first Front Mission Game, But I have found it just like all the Armored Core games, you need to upgrade your Mech and skills. Doing so will lead you down the road to sucess or at least a good time. Overall the game has good graphics and the combat system is solid turn based Final Fantasy Tactics/Advanced Wars style. The only draw back in my opinion is that customizing your wanzers (mechs) can be labor intensive since switching between the shoping screen and equip screen takes a little load time. And the shop/equip screens music get old fast. Other than that the over all game is pretty good. Its one that you'll get stuck on from time to time but with practice you'll get through it. Plus there is a simulator that acts like a free battle where you can earn money and experence so you never can really get super stuck for long.

You need to love Strategy Turn-based RPG's first...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you don't love these types of games you're going to hate FM4. Unlike several other people who played FM3 on the PS1, my opinion is unaffected by playing that particular installment so I can be fair and completely neutral in my assessment.

First off, I am a huge fan of turn-based strategy games especially those of the RPG genre. That is one reason why FM4 appeals so much to me. My pedantic, often times tedious and probably more closely obsessive/compulsive determination to try and perfect my groups wanzers was the thing that I enjoyed the most. You had a huge choice of weapons and load outs available and it was obvious that the makers actually did take the time to design this game. One feature that I liked was the Online Shop that allowed you go back and purchase items that were no longer in the standard Wanzer Shop. That was helpful although I wish they would have allowed all weapons to continue to be available and not just a subset of them.

I loved the ability to acquire new skills and buy skills using the Computer Shop. That allowed me to expand my pilots abilities even moving pilots in a different direction from what they were originally intended to be. The battles themselves did become a bit tedious at times but the Battle Linking system did allow for some nice combos moves that saved my butt more than once during some extremely close missions.

All in all, I think that FM4 is an excellent game. But, the caveat here is that you have to be a hardcore turn-based strategy fan to really appreciate the game. Because of the sometimes long and tedious cutscenes, I gave it only 4 stars for fun but overall its really a 5 star game. The graphics are not sub-par. It's a strategy game people, you have to expect a top down 3D view for that type of game.

fun for robot and mech fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

front mission 4 is game with mechinized robots and cool turn-based gameplay, you can buy and use many differant weapons and parts for your wanzer(the robot) you can customize almost every thing about it to. The beginning of the game is fun, the storyline is good, but then it gets hard fast. theres a lot replaying levels to level up so you can be strong enough for the next level, and knowing which one of your wanzers is best to do a certain thing is frustrating. theres so much to the game. the game is very fun once you understand how to play it, and is a good buy if you like mechs and turn-based tactics games.

Simply alright

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Because I bought the game, I REALLY want to like it. However, I can't go right out and say this is a great game because it truthfully isn't.

The game is much like Final Fantasy Tactics, only with mechs. To the uninitiated, this means a tactical turn based strategy game in which you maneuver mechs on a battlefield. The mechs can be given various abilities and equipped with a variety of weapons that range from bats to machine guns to bazookas.

The customization of these mechs and their pilots is probably the most interesting part of the game. You are given the options to buy different body parts for the mechs and pick weapons from all across the spectrum. Likewise, you can train your characters to have better speed, skills and various other attributes.

The major focus of the game is the battles. The battles can be lengthy, lasting upwards of an hour in some occasions. They can be exciting as you are forced to stress your brain on how to overcome situations. Where you place your mech, how you link them (make them act concurrently with one another) and the action you take can alter the course of the battle. However, I found I began growing tired of battles.

Unfortunately, the battles are all there really is to the game. Roughly 10 hours into the game, I realized there was no real story. While the game has a story, it isn't very intriguing and doesn't do a good job of drawing the player in. Likewise, the characters are relatively one-dimensional and don't really appeal to my emotions.

As I said, I wanted to love this game. It looks fun, it has a lot of customization and it offers a good amount of strategic depth. However, it just is not that much fun, nor that interesting. I'll recommend it, but only at the 20 dollar price. At 50 dollars, there are MANY better games to buy.

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