FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake Media
FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake || Nintendo Switch Trailer
FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake || Nintendo Switch Gameplay Trailer
FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake - Announcement Trailer - Nintendo Switch
Critic Reviews for FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake
For a 27-year-old game with only minor changes this is still an enjoyably taxing tactical role-player but it's new games this series needs, not more remakes.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
Unless you're a die-hard fan of the original or the TRPG genre in general, you're probably safe to give this one a miss or just lower the difficulty of the combat to enjoy the story. Despite the strengths of the setting and the characters, the gameplay becomes more frustrating than fun and won't keep most players engaged past the first few hours. It's a shame because there is a brilliance to telling the same story from two opposing points of view, but that gets buried beneath poorly implemented mechanics. Unfortunately, modern visuals and sound can't salvage gameplay here that feels too random to be satisfying.
Graphically Front Mission: 1st Remake looks phenomenal on the Series X, small touches like working windshield wipers on vehicles and things really help to immerse players in the game and its world. The remake presents the game in a different camera angle from the original but allows players to choose how they want to play. This is also true of the soundtrack in game as the original and a remastered and remixed version is available as well. While I enjoyed the story of Front Mission: 1st Remake, the combat made the game feel like a chore. In fact, it felt like for everyone good thing I found with the game, I would end up with two negatives. I had issues with the camera control in the heat of battle, the overall difficulty on default is a tad hard (but there is a difficulty selection if you want to play on easy), missing more attacks than I hit even in melee and all these things just led to a poor experience. I think Id love to play a new Front Mission game, one that isn’t a remake and is charting its own path forward; hopefully we can see that one day.
Forever Entertainment's modern crack at a classic strategy RPG has its highs and lows, but I walk away from it feeling stoked for the Wanzer warfare remakes to come.
A pioneering game of Square's vaunted library of strategy RPGs gets a worthy update that keeps Front Mission's anti-war spirit alive.
Is Front Mission 1st: Remake as good as Advance Wars? Well no, but it is still a lovingly crafted remake and a decent strategy game with a compelling narrative and fun mech customisation. I just wish Forever Entertainment had spent more time modernising and refining the gameplay experience, rather than just the presentation.
Front Mission 1st would have benefitted from a full remake to address a lot of quibbles that are holdovers from the era it is originally from; however, even as-is, warts and all, the premise and core loop remain fun enough that series and genre enthusiasts, at least, will get a fair bit out of it.
