If you are familiar with SNES era strategy RPGs like Fire Emblem Genealogy or Thracia, Maijin Tensei I and 2 and other games that play similarly, you’ll probably like this too.

This game is a remake of Front Mission for the Super Famicom. I actually have the cart a few feet from me currently, but along with Front Mission 3 and 4, which I also own, I would rather hoard it than ever getting around to enjoying my hobby.

So, while I have never played the SFC version, I have extensively played games from the 16 bit era, and despite the graphics update, that’s what this game is. What does that mean? Well, read on my friend.

Clunky menus are the name of the game here. In similar style to other games from the era, you’ll be going back and forth between menus quite a bit. The most glaring example is setting up wanzers through the shop. The menu is intuitive as it lets you compare stats on equipment and weapons, but if you go overweight while customizing you need to back out of the shop into the main hub menu, go to setup from there, take off the weapons or parts to make weight, back out to the main hub, and go back to the shop. Something as simple as removing a rifle can turn into an event.

Even with clunky menus, anybody who’s played Dragon Warrior, or Civ on SNES or any number of other older games will know what to expect. There are no QoL improvements, this is the original with fancy paint on it and the menus remind you of this often.

Speaking of menus, customization options in this game are many. You can specialize pilots in certain weapons and you have a free hand in installing various parts and weapon systems onto wanzers. I found myself enjoying the between mission shop visits and spending a lot of time customizing. While customizing is awesome, on some of the higher difficulties, the shops devolve into classic JRPG fare, buy the most expensive of whatever you want and you’ll stomp.

When it comes to expensive, customization will make you go broke quickly. I found fighting in the arenas against an opponent 2:1 or greater made me so much cash that it became a non-issue.
The battles themselves are a great time, and the game shines here. While the battles can feel samey or not too challenging, if you get caught snoozing and move an unprepared wanzer into the enemies missile range or make other momentary mistakes, you will pay.

My one complaint about battles is the map. I’m old and wear glasses, so maybe it’s me, but some of the stages with different heights and heavy vegetation only have a couple of paths to get from one side of the map to the other. It took me longer than I care to admit to stop sending my units into dead ends.
While the gameplay is awesome, the story is serviceable but not mind blowing. Certain things feel awfully abrupt considering a lack of character interactions leading up to big moments. It isn’t bad or anything, just light. Although, for such a light story the larger scale of later battles made the game overstay its welcome just ever so slightly. I still enjoyed it enough to finish, however.

As for the art and soundtrack, they are both absolutely wonderful. My only gripe with the sound was that I had to mute ambient noises. Whether it was an extremely annoying crow that cawed non-stop, the level with never ending car alarms, or the level with the never ending fork truck noises. It drove me nuts.

All in all I really enjoy this game and if others know what they are getting into in advance, they will too. It looks newish, plays oldish, and has fun battles, nice art, and chill music. It’s fun!