Square Enix has been on a ‘remastering and remaking’ kick for a while now, and despite varying levels of quality, it’s still very nice to see the publisher give their older, less widely-played games the chance to find a modern audience. The company already announced it would be releasing remakes of its classic Front Mission trilogy on
Front Mission remains one of Square’s best turn-based tactics games. It hails from a time when the studio was one of the premier developers in the genre, creating classics like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. The series revolves around mature, near-future political thriller narratives, and conflicts fought by Wanzers – giant, human-piloted mechs.
Locational damage is the key mechanic in its hefty and hard-hitting turn-based battles, where strategic attacks on the limbs and vital components of enemy Wanzers and other heavy weaponry is key to coming out of the battle with minimal damage.
Front Mission 2‘s release is particularly exciting, because it’s the only game in the original trilogy to have never received a release in Western markets. As such, it’ll be interesting to see how the official localisation efforts fare.
The first Front Mission remake, Front Mission 1st Remake, was released to mild reviews that were positive about its modern makeover, but lamented the unforgiving, old-fashioned mechanics – understandable, considering it was the first game in the series, released in 1995.
Hopefully Front Mission 2‘s natural evolution of these mechanics will overcome these criticisms.
Both games are being handled by publisher Forever Entertainment, and developed by Storm Trident. The companies are also working on remaking Front Mission 3 – a game that was originally released in Western markets, was very positively received, and continues to have a cult following. It’s considered the series peak, as subsequent games never quite reached the same highs.
You can find official details for Front Mission 2: Remake on the Nintendo website.
