Turn-based strategy games rarely get
to hog the spotlight. Game developers don’t make many of ’em, and the ones that
are made are usually cheap, boring, or both. If that’s the case, you ask, why
hasn’t the genre been abandoned?
Because when it’s good, it’s really
really good.
Fans of the underrated Front Mission
series will attest to that. Only recently have I became a fan of the genre, but
since that time I too have fallen for the Front Mission games. They’re deep,
long-lasting titles with a lot of challenge.
Square-Enix continues the saga with
Front Mission 4 for PlayStation 2. It follows in the footsteps of the Final
Fantasy series by offering improved gameplay, improved sound, better graphics,
and a story that’s told through spoken dialogue. Text boxes still appear
on-screen, allowing the player to read along if he or she wishes to do so. At
this point it’s hard to comment on the dialogue. Some of the voice actors are
great. Their voices match the look of the characters, and the actors recite
their lines with more sincerity than we’re used to hearing in games. (Yes, I
know Metal Gear Solid is movie-quality, but how many games can you list that are
on that level?)
Other actors, however, are a lot
more annoying (likely on purpose), and don’t seem very talented at all
(hopefully not on purpose).
The demo was split up into four
parts, three of which included gameplay. The part that didn’t include gameplay
was story-only (real-time footage, mostly dialogue), and centered on three
characters who stumbled upon some treasure. The treasure is owned by a crooked
leader, so the three hopeful heroes decide to take the money and live the good
life. The catch is that they must win a few dozen battles first before moving to
the Caribbean.
Mobile suit battles are never easy,
but Front Mission 4 is downright brutal. You won’t need the mind of a chess
master to play the game, but you will need to think hard about all the variables
before making a move. Battles can be tackled in a number of ways, and each way
can have a positive or negative outcome, depending on how efficiently you manage
your units.
Battlefields are big and usually
contain more open space than necessary. From a gameplay standpoint this means
nothing. However, the extra space does add to the realism of the game. You
never feel as though the world and the battlefield are separate as you might
while playing a standard RPG. Technically Front Mission 4 is a strategy game,
but aren’t all turn-based strategy games RPGs? If it has EXP, a leveling system,
and a large cast of characters, what else could you possibly call it?
The basic controls and gameplay
elements mirror titles like Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Romance of
the Three Kingdoms. Player movement is not in real-time, it’s in squares. One
square equals one space. Several blue squares appear on the battlefield, and as
long as your legs aren’t destroyed (which can happen), you’ll have the ability
to move several spaces per turn.
After making your move another set
of squares will appear. This time the squares are red, and in war that color
symbolizes only one thing: death. As you can probably guess, each red square
indicates how far your attack range is. If a red square is not touching an
enemy, you are out of range and cannot attack.
Luckily, all actions can be reversed
prior to attacking or ending the unit’s turn, making it easy to go back and
adjust your position.
The demo was long, but the goodness
could not be savored forever. It’s only a taste of what the final game will
bring. Reports indicate that the game will be no less than 40 hours long. Surely
some gamers will play their hearts out in hopes of proving the estimate wrong.
But I will choose to savor the experience and enjoy however much gameplay the
final version brings. It’s one mission I definitely won’t miss.
