Front Mission Evolved

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

Front Mission Evolved combines a good story with solid action. Unfortunately, although there is much to see on the screen it doesn't look really good. It would be more fun to play, if the world in it was a little brighter.

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.

As it stands, Front Mission Evolved is a decent entry in the series.

Front Mission Evolved is a mad, mad game, but the madness bring more good experiences than bad. While the gameplay is entirely acceptable, it does get kinda monotonous, but the huge arsenal and customization options help make up for it.

If you're a fan of mech combat, and customization, Front Mission Evolved is definitely one you should look into.

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.

Front Mission Evolved is an enjoyable third person action title.

Front Mission Evolved doesn't deliver the innovation its name suggests, but it does offer the best classic mech action on 360, and fans of big-bot wars will enjoy it. [Nov 2010, p.82]

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.

Judged as a pure action game, Evolved isn't bad, with its strong customization element letting you blow things up any way you see fit and creating action that satisfies on a basic level. Unfortunately, Square Enix has squandered many of Front Mission's strengths, and the game falls well short of its potential.

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.

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 does offer some doses of fun, but the campaign is far too short with a story that is patchy at best. More entertainment can be found online, but even at the relatively close proximity to launch, the community is worryingly small. Perhaps a return to the familiar turn- based RPG roots would be for the best based on this fairly average offering.

Overall Front Mission Evolved is an enjoyable entry in to the series that takes on a new direction. Veteran action fans might want to skip this title if they are looking for a story to rope them in.

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

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.

At its core, Front mission Evolved is a run-of-the-mill action shooter that wastes the opportunities its got in giant robot combat. The game only occasionally frustrates, but never really wows the player, either.

This action packed spin off, may please to real fans looking for something different. All of the others will be soon turned off by its lack of diversity and clumsy mechanics.

Front Mission manages to step just above the average mark and if you like tinkering with your Mech designs and load-outs, even if they don't have a massive impact on play, there's a fair chance you'll enjoy the experience. If Wanzers don't appeal to you, then you might want to get your third person shooter fix elsewhere.

It is, at best, a sidestep, one that neither advances its series nor the genre into which it has lunged.

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.

Much of Front Mission Evolved is simply surviving until the next repair kit, and there's not enough customisation to make the online battles truly compelling. However, that saving grace - the intense, supersized combat - should be enough to see you through the short single-player campaign.

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.

Front Mission Evolved is a poor effort that shows a lack of creativity and inspiration.

Front Mission has evolved, but not into the spectacular mech shooter we wnat. [Issue#232, p.92]

Fun in the early stages but quickly becomes a grind as clumsy, derivative level design and a lack of creativity completely overshadow any enjoyment to be had from controlling a giant, badass robot.

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

Sadly, Square isn't going to gain any new fans or followers of the series with this iteration of a very mediocre third person shooter which is sad as I'm sure good intentions were behind making Evolved.

An uninspired slog with weak characters and messy action. But mech fans are masochists. [Issue#98, p.92]

The lack of a cover mechanic, limited controls, an awkward camera and some questionable AI result in a peculiar package. [Issue#102, p.110]

A too simple and short single player campaing and a flawed and highly unbalanced multiplayer experience make of this title a mediocre mech game.

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.

There are tons of guns, lots of explosions and decent visuals. [Issue#66, p.90]

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

The early stages is very promising, with rock solid Wanzer control, and fun customization, but the boring level design quickly puts a dampener on the fun.

If you've ever wanted to play as a war machine, in Front Mission Evolved you'll have your chance. It's very entertaining in the beginning to walk around and blow up enemies. But after a while the lousy programmed AI, bad level design and all the bugs comes to play. Only for robot lovers with a lot of patience.

In effect, Front Mission: Evolved is an arcade game on a console platform, through and through. Even its multiplayer component, with its limited loadout of deathmatch and capture the flag modes, feels very much like arcade co-op.

Evolved is a step up from Double Helix's previous efforts, but it's a disservice to the series it shares a name with.

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.

Front Mission Evolved it's that type of game where we ask ourselves why it was released, because it is destined to fail and fall into oblivion.

Quotation forthcoming.

Font Mission is like a 1995's Virtual On, but without Sega's talent, both in terms of game design and customization options for you Wanzer. Oh, and the production values are clearly not on par with what one can expect from an average current gen HD game. If it wasn't a quick buck drawn from a prestigious name, I don't understand what Square intended to do with this.

One look at the game in motion and it's painfully obvious that Front Mission Evolved couldn't be more outdated if it tried. The textures are atrocious and loading screens will test the patience of the most stalwart gamers.

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.