Front Mission 1st: Remake

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local, Local Hotseat)

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Review:

Note: This review has been directly sponsored by a kind donation from Jamie and His Cats. Thanks again for your generous contribution!

(Note: Included in Front Mission Remake Trilogy along with Front Mission 2: Remake and Front Mission 3: Remake.)

The Front Mission series of mech-centric Tactics-style Turn-Based Strategy-RPGs dates back to the series’ first game on the Super Famicom in 1995, later ported to the Wonder Swan Color in 2002. The game received a remake on the original PlayStation in 2003, adding “1st” to the title, and not only redoing the graphics and adding a few other changes, but also adding a completely new campaign where players could take the role of one of the members of the main campaign’s opposing forces during the events of the primary campaign. This remake of the game was then ported to Nintendo DS in 2007, and this is the very first time this game would finally see release in the US, over a decade after the original version of the game released.

It is that remake of the original game that Front Mission 1st: Remake is a remake of, essentially making this a remake of a remake, with this version releasing in 2022 on Nintendo Switch and ported to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2023. And like the original version of Front Mission 1st, this remake not only improves the game’s presentation, but adds in all-new content and features, with arguably the most major of these new features coming in a post-release update (and as such, not covered by many other reviews of the game).

This includes a new Mission mode with new challenges for players to tackle, as well as a new 2-Player local competitive mode, where players take turns drafting their picks of pre-made character/mech builds to add to their team, then facing off in either standard turn-based local play or a hotseat mode that only requires one controller handed back and forth between players each turn. It’s a really cool addition, a first for the series, and a rarity for the genre, which is almost always a solitary experience.

Beyond this, the other major change here is the presentation, which is absolutely gorgeous, with tons of detail for both the mechs and environments, with superb-looking foliage, decent-looking water, and nice lighting. This release also features a remade soundtrack as well, though purists can always opt to swap to the original. Sadly, there’s no voice acting for this story-heavy game’s huge amount of dialogue.

When it comes to the gameplay, this release retains the PlayStation and Nintendo DS versions’ two campaigns, giving players different perspectives on the same conflict, with two different but occasionally intersecting story paths – the Asia-centric O.C.U., and the America-centric U.C.S. (the game recommends that players play these campaigns in that order). Players will take on missions given to them, and then between these return to town where they can buy parts to upgrade their units, gather information, and optionally take on more simple Arena battles to earn some extra cash.

The customization is pretty good here for a game with roots in the mid-’90s, with players able to swap out the left and right limbs, legs, body, CPU, backpack, left-handed and right-handed weapon, and left- and right- shoulder-mounted weapons or shields. Each piece of equipment you add to your mech will change its stats, but they also come with their own addition to your mech’s weight, which has a limit, so you can’t just pile on the best of everything on each of your units, even if you do have the cash for it. In addition to mech upgrades, your pilots will earn experience in battle, upgrading their abilities as well.

In battle, players will move all of their mechs within their turn, with the enemy moving all of their units once you’re done. If you attack with a melee or short-range projectile weapon, the enemy will be able to retaliate with their own attack, but there are also long-range attacks such as shoulder-mounted missiles that won’t prompt a counterattack, so one solid strategy is to pile on ranged missile weapons so you can take out enemies from afar without getting retaliatory fire in return.

Another gameplay element here is that mechs all have multiple life bars – one for each arm, one for the legs, and one for the body. Taking out an arm disables that arm’s weapon for the rest of the current battle, taking out the legs severely limits that unit’s movement for the rest of the battle, and taking out the body puts down the mech for the rest of the battle, with players usually winning by taking out the body parts of all opposing mech units.

This is actually the source of Front Mission’s biggest problem. By default, mechs have no way to aim their attacks, making the part targeted completely random. You may get lucky and take down the enemy body early into a confrontation, or you may waste time picking away at each limb without even disabling it, it all comes down to pure dumb luck. Later on, you do get access to the ability to target individual parts, but this ability doesn’t become accessible for a while.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, this game has attacks missing frequently, especially early on. This once again makes it so your fate often seems to be in the hands of the almighty random number generator working behind the scenes, and you can have an encounter where two evenly-matched mechs end up having a one-sided battle simply because one of them got luckier with the number randomizer.

These random elements not only take a lot of the strategy out of what is otherwise a strategic game, they also make battles last significantly longer as you and the enemy trade shots, maybe occasionally hitting, but always just waiting for the game to decide that this time, with this shot, you’ll connect to the opponent’s body.

It’s a shame that this one major gameplay flaw detracts so harshly from a superb remake of an otherwise solid Turn-Based Strategy-RPG. Strategy-minded mech enthusiasts who have the patience to deal with all this randomness will find Front Mission 1st: Remake to be worth checking out with the great customization options, beautiful presentation, and delightful new 2-player mode. But fans of Strategy-RPGs have countless other better options on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Front Mission 1st: Remake is a remake of a remake of a classic mech-focused Turn-Based Strategy-RPG with loads of customization, a gorgeous presentation, and even a delightful new 2-player competitive mode. Unfortunately, the game’s random elements really detract from the strategy of the game and kill the pacing. If you have the patience to muddle through those frustrating elements, there’s a lot to love here… but that’s a big “if”.

Grade: C+

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