The Front Mission series commands a strong following despite its relative obscurity among Square Enix's other properties. American players finally got a taste of this turn-based giant robot strategy sim in 2000, when Front Mission 3 was released on PSone to a receptive critical and commercial audience. Now, Square Enix is gearing up to release Front Mission 4 in June 2004.

FM4 builds on the foundation that made its immediate predecessor a success. The graphics have been enhanced considerably, but the basic interface is unchanged. Naturally, the Wanzer models look much better in closeup than they did on the PSone, and load times are even shorter. Most of the Wanzer designs are from previous editions of the series, and they all look fantastic. Granted, they're not top-of-the-line PS2 visuals, but they look nice and keep loading times short.

Gameplay has been tweaked considerably as well. Battle skills are back, but now you can trigger combo skills with multiple units. If your allied units have enough AP (action points) and are within weapon range, you can trigger a succession of attacks. The same works with counterattacks as well. The end result is that careful AP management is much more important in FM4 than in previous installments. Too many battles in FM3 boiled down to gang-banging each enemy one by one. In FM4, battles devolve into this tactic as well, but at least the combo attacks give you an incentive to plan your strategy differently.

This version also adds new tools, weapons, and features that change the way the game is played. Your Wanzers now have access to special EMP attacks that can disable the movement and weapon systems of your opponents. The assortment of weapons is mostly unchanged from the previous game: shotguns, machine guns, rifles, missile launchers, and various melee weapons. Also, each unit comes equipped with a Wanzer that can repair damaged parts or even restore destroyed parts. This makes Front Mission 4 considerably more forgiving and, in certain levels, much easier than FM3. In the demo, the repair function was essentially unrestricted. It remains to be seen whether this will be the case in the final product. Finally (and inexplicably), the Eject option has been removed. This means you can no longer hop out of a damaged unit and grab an open tank or surrendered Wanzer. However, because of the extensive repair function, this is probably no longer necessary: Why hop out of your Wanzer if you can easily repair and restore all its parts?

Weather and environmental conditions are another new addition to the series. Take too many turns to finish a level and you'll find yourself fighting in darkness, which greatly impairs the effectiveness of melee and aimed weapon attacks (missile attacks remain unaffected). Blizzards limit movement in addition to impairing accuracy.

The game has changed little in terms of AI skill and breadth of objectives. Enemies are still quite passive, usually waiting for you to approach before attacking. When they do engage, they are quite conservative. In the later levels of the demo they make effective use of the combo attacks, however. The demo missions are mostly of the "destroy all enemies" variety, although there is one mission in which you have to defend a damaged transport. It definitely would be nice to see a greater variety in the finished product.

Based on my time with the demo, I'd say FM4 will probably satisfy fans of the series and possibly even attract those who were frustrated with Front Mission 3.

· · · Eric Manch