. . .Square wasn't for total anime faghags that couldn't bite the bullet and admit that their bishie hormonal teen crap and admit that their "deeper" shit really wasn't in actuality any better than, say, your average Dragonball Z episode. Dubbed in english. Unfortunately, this golden age of Square occurred in like the mid-80s and it lasted for the duration of the mid-season break of the Miami Vice season that had that episode where Tubbs infiltrated a prison because his girlfriend got shot and killed.
Anyway, I'd imagine that it was during this brief period that Front Mission was conceived, because it is fucking awesome like balls in your mouth. Square didn't get to making the games until they were totally back in another pretty princess animu phase, but hey, there's enough hardcore Tubbs action in the series to keep me going.
I've been playing the DS game, the remake of the first one. I can't say how accurate it is of a remake, or even how much has been remade, but I'll be damned if it isn't a great little game, and an SRPG that may just steal some time away from the impending Disgaea release. Not everyone will agree with me on that front. FM as an SRPG is fairly simple, and while it has series trademarks like constant awesome dismemberment and an Animu Trademark WAR plot (hey, this and Ace Combat in the same week. I had better slow down before I start talking like these people. I had better stay away from Dynasty Warriors Gundam this week). The fancier bits of the experience system, like the star things and the random skills and I think some robot parts aren't in this iteration, but hey, it's a DS game and it would probably freeze if it had to juggle more than about 12 numbers at once.
Before anyone brings it up, this gets a pass, and the not-as-dated FFT remake doesn't because Front Mission does not have a UI from deepest darkest Africa/Hell. Believe it or not, the basically all stylus (you can use buttons to cancel out of shit, or for menus, if you really want) interface works like buttsex here; roughly approximating how the game would play on the superior PC platform. I like to shit on gimmicky controls a lot here, especiailly when they are used for something that is bog standard on another platform (like mouse emulation), but if doing so will give me sexy mech action, count me in.
Also, the game has probably the worst Amano art I have ever seen. Actually, it may just be the fact that they put his art straight in a game, rather than de-gaying it like they did in FF games. Maybe it isn't worse than his usual stuff.
Let's see, in conclusion, the Front Mission series is like Square's underdog, at least amongst us dirty westerners. No idea how it is liked in Japan, though I believe each game has 2 campaigns, so you are guaranteed a solid dose of just Amerikkka hating in each game. We didn't even get the most recent Front Mission game here in the US, which is a shame because I totally, totally dig Front Mission 3 and 4, and I blame Kingdom Hearts fegs for fucking up my racket.
Brief word on gameplay, these are generally less arcane and more playable than most SRPGs, although I'd say that they tend to have slightly tougher scenarios. Simple rules and all that. Lots of action. The most complicated part is probably customizing and building your mech, and even that isn't that difficult.
