FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake Reviews
Front Mission 1st: Remake is a faithful and pretty recreation of a game that hasn't aged very gracefully. It's worth playing all the same.
Front Mission 1st: Remake often feels old but that’s no huge surprise. It is after all an old game. It released nearly 28 years ago. That it still mostly holds up as an excellent strategy RPG with an excellent story, interesting customization, and strategic combat, is impressive. While it may fall a bit short of what we’d hope for in a true remake, it remains a strong game worth the time of fans of the genre.
While the first entry in this long-running series is showing its age, Front Mission 1st: Remake is a gritty, unflinching story of war and the scars it leaves both on and off the battlefield.
Front Mission 1st Remake is a bizarre title. It is a true remake rather than a remaster, but all the effort has still gone into the visual side of things rather than tweaking the gameplay to make it more in line with the modern era of gaming. It’s a slow-paced title with painful RNG that really isn’t too interested in providing more than a basic SRPG experience with customizable mechs. It’s great to see the series back once again. With a remake of further titles planned, I can only hope this serves as a stepping stone to provide players with a much more fun and engaging title in the future. Unfortunately, as it stands, Front Mission 1st Remake is a pretty title that while offers some fun, really doesn’t stand out in any real meaningful way compared to its many, many peers.
This feels like a game that really speaks to people who were in the sweet spot for certain points of the release window. If you played this on the DS as a younger person, it’s great to revisit it. If you really enjoy Front Mission titles and want to appreciate the first game, it’s perfect. If you’re an absolute turn-based, grid based, isometric combat beast and can’t wait for the Final Fantasy Tactics remake, this scratches some itches, though in a lesser way. It’s fun, it’s comprehensive, but it’s just not…great.
Front Mission remains a good game, but it has limitations especially in level design and narrative that put it below some of the tactical RPGs that came after it. That said, despite Forever Entertainment bringing little new content and a modest technical revision, Front Mission 1st: Remake is the best version of this game, with remastered music and significant improvements in graphics and quality of life. Considering it's a classic and also a really interesting TRPG in combat systems and some aspects of its plot and music, it's a title highly indicated to tactical RPG fans. For new players, however, there are more accessible and immersive options to recommend.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The release of FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake finally does justice to Square Enix's war franchise. All SRPG lovers have the opportunity to finally enjoy the start of the Front Mission franchise with technical, graphic and playable improvements, and also in Spanish.
Review in Spanish | Read full review