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I am personally an avid FM fan and had this pre-oredered for the Xbox 360 for quite a while, and as of this review I have completed the game on Normal and Hard, and I am a Staff Sergeant 2 in Multiplayer.
Story/Characters/Cutscenes 2/5
The story (about 10 hours in length), though cliched, is truly weakened by how forced it feels--a little more exposition and well-placed dialogue explaining some of the under-lying themes/plot holes would have improved the otherwise average story I felt like I was watching a new addition to the Gundam series with no fight choreography. However, since Motomu Toriyama, the lead writer for Final Fantasy XIII wrote the story, it should come to no surprise that it has all the same issues as FFXIII's story; that being a lack of exposition manifested in unspoken themes and massive plot-holes. Additionally, The Character development was predictable, but the voice-acting, produced by Hydrogen Whiskey Studios, wasn't too bad. However, the dialogue provided to record was terrible--thank you Toriyama. The Cutscenes, also outsourced to Hydrogen Whiskey Studios, were quite good and went a long way to enjoying the otherwise below-average story.
Gameplay 4/5
Gameplay mechanics are tight, (Double-Helix did a great job) and the additional modes: On foot infiltration and Gunship Defense are well thought out and fairly fun (except on hard in which case they're a nuisance). I was very pleased to find no bugs in either of my two playthroughs, and quite frankly, a little shocked. It was quite refreshing as it has been too long since I have been able to say that. The gameplay, though not anything revolutionary, is the highlight of the game and makes the game worth buying for Hardcore FM fans and Hardcore Mech fans alike.
Customization 3/5
Customization mirrors that of FM, FM2, and FM4, so fans of the more open upgrade driven advancement in FM3 and FM5 will be disappointed. At different campaign levels and cash milestones more parts are available, and these new parts will yield the old parts obsolete (in most cases these new parts are upgrades to the previously purchased Wanzers). This doesn't bother me much, but I know this will be a concern to some FM fans and AC fans. An issue I have with the customization is the lack of strategy involved in the campaign and multiplayer as a result of customization restraints. For instance in FM4 and Evolved a Ballistics Wanzer could use a Recon Wanzers sensor backpack to extend the Ballistic Wanzers Range, and though the repair backpack makes a come-back, it comes at the cost of mobility as the roller-skating ability, though still accessible, is less maneuverable without the A.G.I.L.I.T.Y backpack. It feels like the strategic component is overall lacking in a series that has ever emphasized strategy.
Overall 3.5/5
For all its faults it was better than I expected. The story was written by Square-Enix, The voice acting and Cutscenes by Hydrogen Whiskey Studios, and the gameplay by Double-Helix, and despite this, the overall cohesion of the product is exceptional and exceeded my expectations. I truly enjoyed the full experience of it all despite it's shortcomings, so I recommend this for the true die-hard fan of the FM series and die-hard Mech Fans starved for more robotic slaughter, but everyone else should consider renting first.
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Glitchy, after one patch the level "Percival" is unplayable. I loved Front Mission 3 and 4. This is more like Armored Core or even Robotech. I am all for evolution, but this game has lost it's identity by giving up it's strategy for pure action. Call me old school but a game shouldn't use every button unless it can be intuitive. Did I mention glitches? I rounded a corner in the level "Percival" and the ground and buildings disappear. Enemy silhouettes floating around. I hope the game gets fixed. If you like Armored Core you may like this game, but it wasn't the game I have been waiting for. Back to Fallout 3.
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I pre-ordered this game and finished the single-player campaign in about 12 hours, including some frustrating boss battles that took significant time to get past.
I've had no prior experience with the Front Mission strategy games; however, I played MechWarrior 2 and 3, MechCommander, Shogo, and Heavy Gear II on PC, and Armored Core on PS1. These games were all complex, varied, and fun. I rate Front Mission Evolved far below them. It is an arcade-version of a mech sim. In fact, I'd rather play Shogo: Mobile Armor Division from 1998 (which similarly has on-foot missions), because the story and voice-acting are much better, and it's actually fun. FME can't do better than a 12-yr old PC game? Skip it.
1. Complexity
While FME gives the illusion of complexity in the number of optional parts and weapons to customize your wanzer, there are really only a few you end up using. I found a few favorites and stayed with them, unless I was forced to customize by the story, or just to get through one of the boss fights. You won't find the need or inclination to use 75% of the options since their negatives outweigh the positives (if they have any). I used a rifle once, only when forced by the story, and tried grenade launchers but quickly abandoned them. Specific equipment changes were important and critical for me to make it through the boss fights (a shield became highly useful from mid-game on).
2. Varied
I liked the various visuals you see during the SP campaign, but besides texture and lighting changes, there wasn't much to make them play differently. The wanzer models and graphics are detailed an look good, but the rest of the graphics are a bit dated.
The on-foot missions are terrible and form an after-thought dung heap. It's sort of cool to destroy two wanzers and a few helicopters with the shoulder-launched missile, but if it only takes 2 or 3 shots, why does it take many salvos of wanzer-mounted missiles to achieve the same destruction?
3. Fun
The boss fights got increasingly annoying. Figure out the boss's move and time your dodge, then wail on him/her. Certain part or weapon changes can be crucial to get past these battles.
Multiplayer:
I have been playing multiplayer, and it is a little better than SP, mainly because your opponents have intelligence and there is a small amount of stategy in Domination and Supremacy game modes.
There are plenty of bad things that stand out, though. The game lobby is a ridiculously bare bones mess that lets you communicate to the other players only through a microphone, but most players don't have them. You can't pick your team (and auto-balance always does strange things), you must leave the MP lobby in order to quickly see the equipment on a wanzer; otherwise, you must access the slow wanzer customization menu. You can't see what wanzers the other players have chosen (including your teammates) and you can't change wanzers after you die before re-spawn.
It's not fun at all to work up from a low rank just to progress high enough to get decent weapons, because you will spend many hours and die hundreds of times to get there. It wouldn't be as bad if you could limit ranks when setting up a MP match. There is no reason to match rank with part/weapon access; skill should be the determining factor, and there is too little of that required. The biggest gun always wins, and that means the high-ranked officers usually clean up. The weapons have ended up being unbalanced. The heaviest hitting missiles and bazookas rule over all. The firing delays should be much longer on powerful weapons.
Launching a ranked match from the lobby is irritating. It's an automated affair, with a 60-second countdown starting after an even number (at least 4) of players is present.
If someone leaves or enters to make it an odd number (4 on 3, or 3 on 2), the timer pauses, which is good since this difference will determine the outcome of a match 99% of the time. This is easily discovered when a player leaves a match due to frustration or lag when:
1. the countdown freezes after reaching zero and stays in the lobby stating "waiting for players". If you wait long enough (minutes), the match MIGHT start.
2. the map is loading but it's taking longer than usual (just wait twice as long as you think it should take, and the match will start)
3. your teammate is getting repeatedly killed due to rank/weapon imbalance and leaves, so then YOU are even worse off
I wish this game was a turn-based tactical game with action elements (AND a better story AND acting AND replay) like Valkyria Chronicles, but then it wouldn't be multiplayer. In it's current form, it's an arcade shooter with little thought required.
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I liked it for a bit. The game voicing is not that good, and the multiplayer is online only, and the servers for the online mode are no longer up.
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I'm new to the mech genre of video games. I have played zone of the enders before as a playable demo, I thought I'd start with this game as my first mech game instead. From what I've seen from the previous game in the series those game were heavily strategic/rpg mech type. This game on the other hand goes for the straight shoot em' up route its non stop action there's little thinking involved. I think this is square enix's way of making their game series "harder edged". Well they kind of failed the gameplay is to basic it plays like a mech game from the ps2/xbox era.
The graphics are ok but its nothing special. The wanzers all animate nicely and you can customize them to your hearts content, this is the only part of the game where strategy is needed (and of course in the harder difficulty) choosing the right type of weapons and gear for your wanzer is very important. So i give the game credit for that and because i like the developers Double helix games, they do good work and can make great games if given the right license this game was great I personally enjoyed it because I never really played theses type of games before. But i'm going to have to play the earlier titles in the FM series to know what the series is really about.
I picked it up for 5 bucks from the gamefly store maybe thats why... but I still think it was well worth it and its definitely not a bad game. Give this game a shot at the very least its a rental
