Front Mission 3

First of all, I think the other reviewers have exceedingly over estimated this games length. With both scenarios, there are only about 80 battles total (I guess there are also a couple training missions, but it is nowhere near the 150 to 200 numbers other reviewers are throwing out), and from my experience, beating them both only took me about 80 hours, but I could see less experienced gamers taking 20 or 30 more.

The major focus of Front Mission 3 is the combat. There is some story, but it is completely overshadowed by the fighting. Like I said, Front Mission is a turn-based strategy game. The combat takes place on grid systems, and the fighting is done in giant robots known as Wanzers. These Wanzers can be equipped with a large variety of different weapons, such as machine guns, rifles, shotguns, missile launchers, and grenades launchers, as well as short ranged but deadly melee weapons. Each Wanzer has 5 different hit locations (head, body, each arm, and legs), and destroying different parts has different effects. Each weapon is actually different in not only pure damage, the special moves that can be used with them, and range, but also in which spots they hit (melee weapons, missiles, rifles hit one spot, grenades can hit multiple Wanzers, and machine guns and shotguns hit multiple locations). Anyway, Front Mission has a solid, in depth combat system that shouldn't take too long to learn, and though there are some easy missions, many of the battles are very difficult. I don't think the complexity is one scale with Final Fantasy Tactics, which I have never played, but it will still take some time to master.

The storyline is okay. Actually, for this sort of tactical combat game, it is actually pretty in depth. The game did actually tell you why you were fighting everybody, which some games neglect to do. The plot is almost completely linear, besides the two different scenarios, and some minor decisions you are allowed to make. Instead of getting to run around and talk to everybody, Front Mission just gives you a list of people to talk to and places to go, and these interactions were linear themselves. Some people will miss that, but I let it go easily enough, because it sped up the pace of the game, and it really is all about the fighting anyway.

The graphics are good. They aren't terrible, but they aren't wonderful, either, but that comes mostly from it being for the Playstation. There are some nice 3D models of the Wanzers, but the texturing is very blocky during close ups. I also noticed that the people walk using the same animation as the Wanzers, which is sort of silly, but forgivable.

Everything considered, Front Mission 3 is one of my favorite games, and I really want to see a sequel for a better system. If you are looking for pure eye candy, look elsewhere, and if you are a pure old school RPG fan this might not delight you. FM3 is great fun, and I suggest it to almost everybody else, even those who have never really enjoyed the RPG genre before, as the combat system will probably be much preferable to straight RPG hack an' slash. Check it out.