Front Mission Evolved

It's a solid shooter, but its story is served too blatantly and boldly. Fans of robots will have a good time with the game for the next weeks, but the average shooter guy should test it before buying it.

Helix accomplishes a lot in appealing to Western gamers while still sticking to the themes Front Mission has established through its 15-year history.

Long time fans might not enjoy the changes and will probably want a return to their roots but every other mech-combat fan should find some enjoyment in it.

Evolved's fun but you'll feel little attachment to it and once the campaign's over you won't ache to go back through. [November 2010 p78]

These problems aside, there is a genuinely good time to be had with portions of Front Mission Evolved, provided you bring with you a certain love for mechs. It's probably not the high point of the series, but fans of the Front Mission universe and/or giant robots might find something to like here.

For all its shortcomings, we still quite like Front Mission Evolved, especially as it manages to imbue a feeling of power in the player with its well made shooting mechanics better than many other shooters. While it is unlikely to be remembered for having any particularly remarkable features, it does what it does mostly very well.

It's only the poor provision for mech-fans in recent years that hold this game's score up to a respectable level so if you don't count yourself in their number, you're probably best advised to avoid this one.

Front Mission: Evolved uses the undeniable charm of giant robots, and offers an interesting action experience. But as an action title fails in some important aspects, and its multiplayer doesn't have enough modes.

This game is in a lot of ways very simple. The graphics aren't really special and the gameplay is relative easy and simple. The audio is nice, but has a few problems while playing, so that means Front Mission Evolved is a nice game for fans, but for the most of us it isn't interesting.

I really do understand the intention behind the franchise's overhaul but sadly, it just doesn't work as well as it could've. I'm just not sure who they're going to satisfy. The strategy/RPG fans won't touch it with a ten-foot cattle prod and the action fans don't usually flock to mech titles, which dominate the Japanese culture but aren't as big here.

While Evolved may not be a game of the year contender and definitely has some faults, it is also probably the most fun I have had in a mech game since the original MechAssault on Xbox.

Square Enix has taken a step back from the usual RPG-themed games and manages to deliver an above average third-person shooter. Especially the graphics and the sound aren't up to today's standards.

Front Mission Evolved is competent but average. The good ideas were here but they couldn't translate into the execution.

Front Mission Evolved is not what we all expected, but it has its strong points. Despite it's flaws, it has some fun to deliver and an interesting multiplayer. Unfortunately, it's not a game fit for fans of the Front Mission series, and it doesn't appeal to the huge new audiece Square Enix had in mind.

Front Mission Evolved has potential and fans of big-bot wars will enjoy it, but it feels like a flat experience.

Front Mission Evolved is a standard product, without any particular ideas worthy of note. You can't find nor a very negative aspect of the game, neither any feature that differentiate it.

In the end, Front Mission Evolved is not the disaster that many fans feared it to be, delivering an overall decent campaign and customizations for robot junkies to mull over. However, it is also an unnecessary diversion for the series, attempting to increase its mainstream appeal but ultimately having the opposite effect.

"Quotation Forthcoming"

With the strategising gone, all that's left is a poor narrative and mediocre shooting.

Front Mission Evolved can sit well with mech game fans especially with its multiplayer. However as a third-person action shooter not very much stands out unless you quite enjoy boss battles with lots and lots of strafing, reloading, repairing and firing volley after volley of missiles, rockets and bullets.

There are emblems to collect in the story and ranks to crawl through in multiplayer, but Front Mission Evolved just feels like a flat experience.

Fold in an uncomplicated multiplayer mode and lots of silly cutscenes awkwardly trying to tell a sentimental war story, and Evolved is pleasant, accessible junk food for mecha fans. [Nov 2010, p.81]

Front Mission Evolved has some interesting ideas, but none of them are polished.

Front Mission Evolved is an interesting experiment from Square Enix. It is far from a success and at times feels far too removed from the key components that made the series popular. Double Helix Games have attempted something new, which is commendable, albeit considerably flawed.

Front Mission Evolved is a bold risk, a gamble, and a new direction for the series. Unfortunately the negatives outweigh the positives making a purchase a tough decision when games are expensive.

Blowing stuff up is the only enjoyable part of Front Mission Evolved, a mediocre third-person shooter featuring giant mechs.

Hamstrung by a long list of issues, Front Mission Evolved is just not a very good game. [Issue#198, p.93]

Front Mission Evolved offers one of the worst single player experience of the entire series, but multiplayer saves the day. Bring some friends, take the fight online or leave it on the shelf.

Ultimately, Front Mission Evolved isn't a particularly satisfying title for those who are fans of the series, mech games or even third-person shooters in general. It might be worth a rental if you're a fan of pyrotechnics, but other than that, expect an utterly mediocre title.

With sluggish controls and tedious gameplay it's hard to recommend Front Mission Evolved to anyone.

A lackluster third person action game that doesn't respect the name of this cult franchise.

In the end, Front Mission Evolved feels like more of a lateral step. As a mech shooter, it's functional, but unremarkable.

In the end, Front Mission Evolved took the concept of third-person mech combat and took all the fun out of it. It is hard to not compare it to other games like it because the other ones got the core of it right. If Square Enix decides to take the series back to being a tactical RPG, I wouldn't blame them.

One of the worst games to come out of Sqaure Enix. An all-round blotchy job.

Double Helix obviously had good intentions, but, as a whole, Front Mission Evolved is completely unnecessary.

The odd firefight generates some excitement, but this is all too rare considering that you're piloting a 30ft tall walking tank of death. [Issue#51, p.111]

Quotation forthcoming.

You don't need to be a Front Mission fan to get upset about the wasted potential in this lifeless, one-dimensional shooter.

I like giant robots, I even like shooting giant robots, but Front Mission doesn't do much other than deliver that concept. The single player is uninspired, does nothing to build upon the franchise it's based off of, and the multiplayer isn't particularly fun unless you're willing to devote an inordinate amount of time to getting equipment that will make you a viable threat.

The only fun you will find in Front Mission Evolved is using your fully equipped Wanzer to control a ridiculous spread of weaponry.