Front Mission 3

About Front Mission 3

Front Mission 3 (1999) is Square's tactical RPG of mechs called wanzers, the first in the series released in the West, with two separate story scenarios and pilots who can be shot out of their machines.

Front Mission 3 in Depth

Like the rest of the series, it is part of a serialised storyline about characters and their struggles involving the mechs known as wanzers. It is a radical departure from the first two games, putting more weight on role-playing than strategy. Play is linear: watch story scenes, complete a mission, set up wanzers in towns and cities between missions, and sortie again, travelling on a world map that reveals new locations as the plot advances. New to the series is the Double Feature Scenario, two largely separate stories that share some events and places but are essentially full games in their own right.

Missions range from destroying every enemy to protecting a particular ally. The big change is that pilots themselves can be attacked: any hit may injure a pilot or force them to eject, and players can eject deliberately to fight on foot or hijack another machine on the battlefield. Skills are no longer learned through experience; instead, using wanzer parts in battle gives a random chance of learning a new skill from them, which can then be programmed into the wanzer's battle computer. Many of Front Mission 2's features are removed and missions are smaller, limiting strategic options, but Action Points, which govern how much each unit can do and grow with the pilot's combat rank, return along with Links, letting units with Link skills and suitable weapons support each other's attacks.

Making Front Mission 3

Square's Development Division 6, led by Toshirou Tsuchida, spent two years on it, using their experience from Front Mission 2 to polish the play; Ko Sato designed the battle system, Akihiro Yamada worked on the art, and several characters went through multiple drafts or were dropped. As in other entries, the team deliberately drew inspiration from sources beyond traditional mecha anime and manga. Released in Japan in 1999 and in North America by Square Electronic Arts in 2000, it received favourable reviews and 32 out of 40 from Famitsu. IGN praised battle mechanics rarely seen in Square games since Final Fantasy Tactics, AllGame said its "deep, strategic gameplay makes up for most any of the flaws", and GameSpot and Edge criticised its graphics and limited tactics.