FRONT MISSION 2: Remake

[b]TL;DR:[/b] Good effort remake, even with some flaws, Some lessons learned from the 1st remake. But doesn't really serve as a game if you REALLY like the series (even if it serves a purpose still). It's a competent work (for the price), and should you not know the Front Mission series, it's a good introduction to it and its main thesis: how the innocent suffer during the conflicts between powers. The main problems it has are the lack of QoL and the bad art direction. I'm glad that some issues from the 1st got worked on, so this one evaded the negative. Barely. They finally fixed the music problem with the constant switching of battle themes mid battle, which is the main reason this is getting a positive review instead of a negative. The minimum learning should be appreciated. Also, even after having these up for some time, they did increase the number of save files at least, so the devs care a bit. Battle speed and transitions are better and faster than the 1st (I completely disabled them on the 1st, but on this one they go quite fast if you disable the old-school transition). The 5th game (IIRC) and other modern tactics games allow enemy turn to consolidate non-interfering moves as one action, so you don't need to see 10 enemies moving one at a time and instead just see all of them moving to their places. This game didn't bother with that. But at leas the battle animations got better, with Wanzers sliding into battle and other small touches like that. Modifying loadouts of wanzers still requires backing out of several layers of menus to change between two pilots, without option to quickly switch between them while staying on the same category (and no option to save a given loadout and apply to other pilots or something like that). Buying and equipping at the same time via Setup at the shop doesn't have an option to sell what you unequipped. At least now you can batch sell your whole inventory, so after using the shop setup, it's easier to clean your inventory. Unrelated to the review of this as a remake, it's kinda interesting to see how Front Mission 2 tried to be more complex than the first with the whole damage types triangle. But it ended up just making things a bit of a pain, specially with severely limited ammo on primary weapons (not only shoulder mounted ones). The original might have seem to have the same flat aesthetics you can see on this (if you see emulated or direct captured footage), but the originals were made with CRTs in mind, that changed the image completely (look up "CRT vs LCD/LED portraits" and digital output comparisons and you'll understand). It's not as bad as the first in terms of flat and muted colors, but it's still on the bad side of things (I'm still dreading playing the 3rd). Some bugs seem to have endured for nearly a year after launch (the Negus Wanzer trial still says you failed even if you didn't lost parts during the fight), and some people dropped the game because of a constant crash on a battle (didn't ran into that, so it seems it was fixed). One mission has a side objective to destroy an escaping target, that if destroyed, the characters still talk as if you failed to do it (the achievement for it still triggered). At the end of the day, buying these remakes ain't really about enjoying Front Mission if you already knew and love the series. It's about signaling to Square Enix to not kill the series, like they attempted it with Left Alive. It's about letting them know that they should be making better remakes (by leaving negative reviews), and maybe new installments (after the remakes dry out, there are only 2 in the tactics side and one other that isn't that old and still works fine?). Or about clearing your conscience as you download those ROMs and ISOs and emulate to have a better experience (at least with save states that work better than the limited saves and speeding it up faster than the remakes permit).

Poor balance, bad UI, unexplained mechanics, and terrible overall feel makes FM2R feel like 20 steps back from FM1R. Just grab the PS1 version over this.

2026/03/31 お便りには出ていませんがパッチ1.1.1は差し戻されました。 現在はゲームバージョンが1.1.0なので下記のバグは発生していません。 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- アップデートでゲームが壊れてしまい、手が空いたので筆を執っています。 発売当初から散々の評価だったみたいですが、パッチ1.1.0時点で全体の4割程度進行したところ致命的なバグは見当たりませんでした。 キャラの名前とポートレイトが切り替わらず台詞だけが進行してしまったところが1ヶ所 パーツ破損、撃墜の虚偽報告がチラホラ 総じて進行自体に影響はありませんでした。 しかしながら先日当たったパッチ1.1.1で戦闘中にアイテムが一切使えなくなり、その影響で敵のリペアが回復しようとすると確定フリーズするように。 現時点でも遠距離でリペアを瞬殺、メイン武器を2本持ち込んだり、弾数制限のない格闘をメインにすれば進行可能ですが流石にプレイフィールが悪すぎるので直るまで待つことを推奨します。 リメイクそのものの評価は個人的にはおススメです。 勿論令和の今プレイするには古臭すぎるゲームなので、原作が好きだったならばという注釈が付きます。 ロード時間がほぼ無いだけでもありがたいですし、原作にはなかった全体マップのままシームレスに戦闘を見せてくれる機能は気に入りました。 オプションで切り替え可能なので見たければ従来通りの戦闘画面も見れます、その際には原作程意味不明なダッシュ、旋回等の遅延行為は行いません。 近距離でバズーカやロケットを外した際に明後日の方向に飛んでいくのは健在ですがご愛敬です。 システム周りも多少遊びやすくなっていて ボディを破壊した際に残っていたパーツの経験値やオナーポイントは全て取得するようになったので経験値周りがグッと楽になりました。 難易度に関しては高めですが、元々スキルが発生するかどうかで互いに打点が1~5,6倍と振れ幅の大きいゲームですし戦略ゲームとしては最初から破綻しています。 真面目に取り組んでも下手にストレスが溜まるだけですからネットワークや闘技場の隠しヴァンツァー、武器の使用を推奨します。 重量の都合でセッティングの幅は狭まりますし、闘技場の連戦は面倒ですがロードが短いので左程苦ではなかったです。 最後に繰り返しますが現在最新のパッチ1.1.1は重大なバグを抱えています。 著しくプレイ感を損なう可能性が高いので注意してください。

FMは1,3,4プレイ済で長年のファンですが、本作はお勧めできません。リペア・弾薬・行動回数の制約が他シリーズよりやけに厳しい。それが戦術組み立ての面白みに繋がればいいのですが、「誘い出した1機を、皆で取り囲んでタコ殴り」を超える戦術が無いのが実情です。敵はこちらの2倍おり、その制約によって「補給線の断たれた消耗戦を延々」この繰り返しになってしまう。 また護衛任務では、護衛対象が先頭や爆撃予定地に自ら突入しては、壮絶な討ち死にを繰り返します。護衛NPCユニットも勝手に逃亡し、明示的でない条件を経ないと、彼らを戦場に留まらせて盾に…おっと、戦ってもらうことすらかないません。 補給のなさ、敵の多さ、味方NPCの奇行など、実際の戦場には近いのでしょうが、ゲームとしてはいかがなものかと。また戦略戦術でひっくり返すこともできない。たまたま連発で腕が飛ぼうが、それでも消耗戦を続けるしかない。まるでJTCです。私は諦めました。シナリオの評判や、キャラの魅力は感じるだけに残念。

So far, Front Mission 2 is the BEST of the remakes. Also probably the best at emulating the gritty and hard sci-fi tone of the manga (Front Mission : Dog Life & Dog Style). So if you came in from there, this is the one for you. Gameplaywise, FM2 has everything FM1st had to offer, but much better. For one, the team limits on map are not preventing you from playing the whole party that often, which makes for epic combat. The added realism of having to count your ammo and pack some more on the battlefield is a priceless experience. Also, weapons now have range and initiative value that pushes you to be able to make real tactic choice. Pilots can compile a list of abilities and you can change them as you need. Like the first one, every character is likable in its own way, and the writing surprisingly incisive in its delivery. Gladiatorial pits are still available in a kind of Rock, Paper, Scissor programming style which makes them feel much more like sporting events. Arena fights also now allow for team combat that uses real maps… So even if the grind is basically absent in this title (the arena lets you collect more weapon, parts, and story, not XP), you may soon find yourself wasting time in the pits just for the fun of it. (This is the only one of the three remakes that had me happily wasting time in the arena instead of feeling forced to complete a set number of run to level up. In fact, might have been the first game making me wish there was some grinding involved.) Also, this is the only Front Mission (of the remakes) where shields actually do their job without disarming you! So good game design here too. What else can I tell… These may well be the best wanzer model the series has to offer. It's certainly the best looking of the remakes. Bugs that were previously there are now more or less all out. There is still a few bits of clunkyness in the shops and the network, but it's gonna be fine even if you want to reach full completion. As for the network… Damn I love that it's just text based and relatively straight forward! Read the news, guess the hints, try a few words and fell like a real life hacker for a while! Much better that it's bloated version in FM3 that has endless corporate banter and superficial BBS leading to mostly nowhere; at least in that it doesn't ask you to play a second game while trying to follow the first one. (FM3's network is okay… but by the end of the second storyline, I could no longer be brought to care. Not here, FM2 has just the right amount of it.) It's sad that Storm Trident didn't get the contract for FM3, it would have ended a much better remake. With a bit of luck, they'll be able to come back for the 4th!

[あの戦闘シーンは無い。]これに尽きる。1stの移植と同じ会社が担当、そこまでは良いが1stの移植に使用した仕様でそのまま2ndを惰性で作った、そうとしか思えない2ndのストーリーが入ってる1stとしか言えない。例えが他社だが、結局スキップするとしてもスパロボの戦闘シーンが無くなっていたとしたら？それはもう語るに値しないだろう。

This game's demo is what got me into thinking of buying the series and as far as how much I hate Front Mission 1 Remake (FM1 R), I don't nearly have the same negative experience with Front Mission 2 Remake (FM2 R). Unlike FM1 R, FM2 R actually runs well, have decently snappy controls and serviceable but needs room for improvement UI. I'll preface this by stating: critiquing retro games is hard cause you got to think of it as building blocks for future games. That said, as a remake, not playing the OG myself I found fans' reception stating the remake is pretty faithful to the OG game mechanics with minimal to no deviation which means if there are some poor design decisions then it should be chalked up to signs of the times. This includes this game's complex yet poorly/not explained strategy tactics mechanics that the tutorial do barebones job of explaining. Big reason why this title was apparently the worst received in the FM 1-3 Trilogy. The lack of ability to grind = exp gating for the RPG system also adds to the difficulty on top of the already perceived difficulty of the game (of which this is considered the hardest of the 3) That doesn't mean I think the game is bad like the general concensus, far from it! The game is actually very cerebral once you actually piece together what the mechanics are about of which there also limited amount of guides for the game. And I'll help with that by stating a couple tips I found that would make playing this game easier at the end. Now for the verdict on the remake: In alot of ways the remake is lazy by not improving on or making the OG work more palatable for modern audiences but it's serviceable since it port retro titles to relatively modern standard in terms of graphics and presentation. Lack of voice acting, new compelling ost, and quality of life options also contribute to the lazy verdict. Price wise, it's overpriced like FM1 R for what you're getting but if you're a fan and or willing to immerse yourself into more hardcore old strategy mechanic, then it's worth picking up at slight or deep discount. Game Tips: 1/ AP management is key and couldn't be stressed enough from the tutorial. AP impact your actions AND YOUR SURVIVABILITY especially when all your mechs in this game have durability of a wet noodle. This also makes Melee very strong by costing, little to no AP to use vs other weapons. 2/ Items especially smoke, chaff, and repair/restore 1 is king. Proactive Preventing of DMG goes a longer way than constantly repairing dmg due to item weight and carry capacity of the game making judicious use of Smoke and Chaff to be a must. 3/ Shields are poorly explained but shields are a must and 2 shields are better than one. How shields work: Shields ADDS to the defense value of the arm it's equipped on and only works to stop dmg when defense value > dmg value as well as if it procs. Most shields only have an auto proc chance (not wasting AP to activate) of 25% activate separately which means two shields = 43% auto proc chance. Successful Shield proc = 0 dmg received. VERY IMPORTANT. 4/ Surrounding enemy is key. AP contribute to defense point and the enemy ability to attack back once you attack them. Surrounded enemies (at the start of the turn) have less AP and contribute to their ability/inability to attack and defend against you. Ofc there's more but to add all that would need a guide. Hope those tips help to ease your way into this challenging game.