Front Mission Evolved is set in a near future in which people have apparently evolved enough to develop space elevators, but not enough to stop shooting at each other for pointless reasons. Players take on the role of Dylan Ramsay, a faux-hawked hot-headed engineer whose character development seems non-existent. Dylan is putting the finishing touches on his prototype Wanzer (think BattleTech’s BattleMechs, only with vastly fewer chassis options, equipment types, etc.) when some mysterious force destroys a space elevator, apparently killing his father in the process, and it’s off to the never-ending, repetitive, mind-numbing, thumb-killing races.

In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t complete the game. I think I made it through all of Act 2 (out of approximately five acts), but by the time I finally threw the controller down in disgust after another 20-minute long boss fight (and that is not an exaggeration) in a small arena which consisted solely of moving in circles, jumping and strafing, and picking up armor and ammunition packs which seem to respawn infinitely, I’d had enough. And if you think reading that sentence was exhausting, just imagine what trying to summarize that fight – and actually enduring that experience – was like.

The gameplay is miserable and makes Alpha Protocol seem like a revolutionary wholesale reinvention of the third-person shooter. It’s linear and filled with the annoying snipe hunts that every game seems to feel is essential – find five of these random widgets on this level and seven of these other geegaws and 20 of this other utterly meaningless thing. And once players have the option of equipping the sniper rifle on their Wanzer, the game is effectively over. It’s a guaranteed one-hit kill on any enemy except for bosses. At that point, the rest of the game is a matter of zooming around on rocket rollerskates, shooting enemies once and watching them explode, and circle-strafing for 20 minutes to temporarily defeat bosses who you will see again.

And if that sounds utterly uninteresting and unenthralling, then I’ve accurately communicated my experience with the game. The boss fight that finally ended my time with Front Mission Evolved was my second or third experience with the same enemy; after each fight, the boss always seems to get away and Dylan throws a frustrated temper tantrum because he has to go do something else. And when that happens, we know we’ll see that boss again, and the next fight will somehow manage to be less enjoyable than the wretched battle we just finished.

And with all that in mind, and knowing that Best Buy will give me $14 in credit for it, I decided not to waste any more of my life on this game and would advise gamers to avoid it completely unless you have a GameFly account you aren’t doing anything with, and are both masochistic and morbidly curious. If you want mecha combat, check out the Armored Core series or track down one of the old BattleTech or MechWarrior games for the PC.


Accessibility Issues / Concerns

The accessibility review will be necessarily short and only covers those parts of the game that I played before giving up on it.

Players with precision concerns or use of only one hand need to know that this game requires some precision, but also seems to have some form of intermittent target lock. It wasn’t available as an option and did not occur consistently, but I noticed that my targeting reticle stuck to a few enemies. Front Mission Evolved includes both Wanzer and non-Wanzer combat, meaning that players will fight giant robots and will also leave their Wanzer to fight enemies on foot. At times, players will also need to fight Wanzers while they’re on foot, but two rounds from a rocket launcher seems to take care of those problems.

The controls are not remappable, nor does Front Mission Evolved offer alternate controller layouts. Players can decide which stick to use for movement, but that is the extent of controller configuration. Due to a relatively limited number of controls, once gamers with use of only one hand get the sniper rifle, the game should be relatively playable due to one-hit kills. Furthermore, the game does include toggle aim, making it easier for players with use of only one hand to progress through levels.

However, the boss fights are another matter and will often last for extended periods – as much as 15 or 20 minutes. Players will need to circle around bosses and strafe them or fire single rounds from the sniper rifle until the boss’ health bar is depleted. These fights aren’t really complicated – they’re difficult only because of the length of time involved and the physical demands it puts on players. Unfortunately, boss fights may single-handedly make Front Mission Evolved inaccessible for gamers with some disability types because they are effectively an endurance contest.

Front Mission Evolved allows players to enable subtitles, and no audio cues which would require closed captioning seem to be present. Deaf gamers shouldn’t run into much trouble – if any – with this game.

Players with a form of color blindness should be aware that Front Mission Evolved uses red and green for meaning to identify hostiles and friendlies, and may use red and green for meaning in other contexts later in the game. Once a game has shown that it will create obstacles for players with color blindness, it is more likely that other such problems will exist.

Finally, Front Mission Evolved seems to use a checkpoint system for saving, but checkpoints don’t seem to be frequent and may only come at the end of a mission.

My original purchase price: $19.99
Recommended purchase price: none

Mobility: 1
Visual: 3
Hearing: 7

At A Glance

Precision: The game requires precision, but also includes a weapon which is a guaranteed one-hit kill on most enemies. Players will fight in vehicles, on foot, and will fight vehicle while on foot. Furthermore, the boss fights can last 15 to 20 minutes, and frequently require players to move in circles while attacking moving targets. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Deaf Gamers: Players can turn on subtitles. While the subtitles are not especially large, they’re serviceable. The game does not seem to have any audio cues which require closed captioning. Recommend rating of 7 out of 10.

One-handed: The game only provides one controller scheme, but allows players to select which stick controls movement. Players will fight in vehicles, on foot, and will fight vehicle while on foot. Furthermore, the boss fights can last 15 to 20 minutes, and frequently require players to move in circles while attacking moving targets. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Subtitled: Players can turn on subtitles. While the subtitles are not especially large, they’re serviceable. The game does not seem to have any audio cues which require closed captioning. Recommend rating of 7 out of 10.

Color Blind: The game uses red and green to identify hostiles and friendlies. Additional problems may exist. See the full review for additional information. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.

Checkpoint / Save System: The game uses a checkpoint system to save. Checkpoints appear to be infrequent. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.