Front Mission 3

Front Mission 3 is a tactical role-playing game developed by Square for the PlayStation, released in the late 1990s.

In Front Mission 3, you take command of a squad of Wanzers, heavily armed mechs, and their pilots. The game unfolds through a series of missions where you deploy your units onto grid-based battlefields. Your primary task is to achieve mission objectives, which might involve destroying enemy forces, protecting allies, or securing locations. Combat is turn-based, requiring careful positioning and strategic use of your mech's weapons. A key element is the detailed damage system: instead of just depleting HP, you can target specific parts of enemy Wanzers. Destroying an arm might disarm a mech, while targeting the legs can immobilize it, providing tactical advantages. Between battles, you spend time in the hangar managing your Wanzers. This involves equipping different weapons, upgrading chassis parts like legs, torso, and head, and ensuring your pilots are equipped for the tasks ahead. Pilot skills also play a role in combat effectiveness.

What sets Front Mission 3 apart early on is the choice it presents to the player. After an initial mission, you select one of two protagonists, Kazuki Takemura or Emma Klitch, which leads you down entirely different story campaigns. Each path offers unique missions, characters, and plot developments, effectively doubling the game's narrative content and replayability. This dual-story structure means your experience of the world and the conflicts within it will vary significantly depending on your initial decision.