FRONT MISSION 2: Remake Review – A Mission From the Past

Last fall’s remake of the first Front Mission was a welcome update to a classic strategy RPG, making it available on modern hardware for the first time in over a decade. It was also a confusing release, though, proudly declaring itself a remake to the point where they included the word in the title while pretty much just being a remaster.

It seemed like the team at Forever Entertainment saw the flaws with that release. When they delayed Front Mission 2: Remake earlier this year, they specifically cited that the game needed more time to meet the expectations of a modern-day remake. That makes the state the game has released in quite confusing. While it looks a bit better, this is no more of a remake than their prior release, and while its gameplay does offer a bit more complexity due to it being a later entry in the series, in many ways, this is a release with more issues.

Lost in Translation

Set 12 years after the ending of the first Front Mission, Front Mission 2 kicks off with a coup attempt that leaves your ragtag group of soldiers running for their lives and trying desperately to get out of the country before members of the coup find and kill them. It’s an interesting story dealing with themes of occupation and the true soul of a country.

That interesting story is poorly served by this release, though. Thanks to one of the worst translations I’ve seen in decades, it’s often hard to keep things straight. Laughable typos are all frequently an issue, and even when things aren’t grammatically wrong, they’re often awkward. It feels like a game translated by people without a strong grasp of English. The game’s cast is equally uninteresting, though it’s hard to know for sure if that’s because they’re poor characters or because the translation here is so stilted that it’s difficult to get a good sense of who they are.

Target Locked

When it comes to playing the game, Front Mission 2: Remake fares better, but it hasn’t progressed far beyond the first game. Maps are sometimes a bit bigger, and a new free camera is a welcome improvement over the first title. The core gameplay is the same, though. Slow-moving mechs advance through grid-based levels. You have to accomplish certain tasks, with the most frequent being just to kill all of your enemies, though things do get mixed up a bit in certain missions. Those are often not highlights, though, as escort missions where the units you’re escorting have awful AI and behave in unbelievably stupid ways are not my idea of a good time.

Some of the frustrations of the first game, such as the inability to target specific parts of an enemy Wanzer until you unlock it, are back, and they continue to make little sense. Most Wanzers again have four body parts: their legs, two arms, and the body. The only way to really defeat them is to take out the body, but damaging arms can lead to disabling attacks, and damaging the legs can limit mobility. Most of the time, though, there’s just little reason to go after these. By the time you could take out both arms and stop all attacks, you could have taken out the body instead. From a strategic standpoint, it feels like a waste of time.

Staying Alive

It also feels like Front Mission 2 ups the difficulty quickly, throwing you overboard as soon as the second mission and demanding that you either sink or swim. There are difficulty options, which will be welcome, but players looking to take on even the middle options will want to make sure they’re ready for a challenge.

Between battles, you’ll find a variety of options to keep yourself busy. You can compete in the arena to unlock new parts that are useful in the game’s incredibly deep customization. You can talk to your party members and shop for parts. Unless you really get into the arena, though, most of this won’t excite most players. If you’re someone who loves being able to really change every aspect of your mech, you’ll have a good time with the game’s customization, but if that’s not for you, then you’ll find little to keep you busy here. Most of the cast just aren’t interesting enough to want to spend a lot of time getting to know them.

Conclusion

In some ways Front Mission 2: Remake is an improvement on the first game’s remake. It looks better, and the gameplay has a bit more depth and complexity, even if it isn’t a significant upgrade. In the end, though, I actually had more fun with that original title, thanks to a more compelling story and far better localization. It’s nice that Front Mission 2 is finally officially available in English, but this is still much more a remaster than a remake.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: Switch (Reviewed); Publisher: Forever Entertainment; Developer: Storm Trident; Players: 1; Released: October 5th, 2023; ESRB: T for Teen; MSRP: $34.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of FRONT MISSION 2: Remake provided by the publisher.