Front Mission Evolved

As a third-person shooter, the gameplay of Front Mission Evolved differs from the tactical role-playing game entries of the numbered Front Mission titles. Rather than being played out on a grid-based map and using a turn-based structure, battles takes place in real-time on full 3D maps akin to Front Mission: Online. The player (and many allies and adversaries) control mechs known as Wanderung Panzer ("walking tank"), abbreviated into wanzer. Evolved has two modes of play: an offline single player mode which features a story campaign, and an online multiplayer mode where players can play alone or in groups of up to eight players in a variety of game modes.

Game progression in the single player mode of Evolved works similarly to other Front Mission entries, and is done in a linear manner: watch cut-scene events, complete missions, set up wanzers during intermissions, and sortie for the next mission. Unlike other Front Mission titles, the player can redo missions at any given time using the Act Select feature. Players can earn Trophies or Achievements if they own the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version of the game. In the multiplayer mode of Evolved, players can compete against each other in PvP matches through one of four game modes, or in PvE matches via a DLC game mode called "Last Stand".

Front Mission Evolved is a story reboot of the Front Mission series, taking place after the storyline of the older titles. Therefore, new players to the series do not need to play the previous entries.

Set in 2171, the game takes place around the world and in outer space. During the 22nd century, the world's superpowers look towards space for expansion and began constructing large orbiting structures connected to the surface by orbital elevators. With an increasing number of surveillance satellites and space-based technologies being developed, a Cold War-style atmosphere sets in as the supranational unions used these technologies to watch over their adversaries on Earth. Tensions rise in 2171 when one of the elevators in the United States of the New Continent (USN) is attacked and destroyed by unknown assailants.

The game was announced before E3 in May 2009, and demonstrated at E3 in Los Angeles in June 2010. At Comicon 2009, Square Enix showed off figurines based on the game. Players who pre-ordered the game received the Calm and Rexon wanzer mechs, which had been featured in previous Front Mission games.

The games music was composed by Garry Schyman, the first non-Japanese composer for the series or any other major Square Enix series. He was brought onto the project by Double Helix Games, who developed the game for Square Enix. Garry Schyman describes the music as "orchestral and mostly tonal" with a heavy militaristic theme; almost all of the music is combat or action-themed. The music is more traditionally orchestral than previous Front Mission soundtracks, and was recorded with a live orchestra. As Square Enix intended the game and its music to be a departure from previous games in the series, Schyman purposely did not listen to any of the music from prior games.

Front Mission Evolved received mixed reviews from critics, and holds an aggregate score of 58 out of 100 on Metacritic.

Greg Miller of IGN scored the game 6.0/10, calling it "uninspired" and that it would only appeal to "hardcore mech-heads". He commented that the missions were mainly "frustrating filler", and while the customization of the wanzer was enjoyable, it was often negated by missions "shoehorning you into annoying loadouts". Calling its story "less than stellar", he stated that "it doesn't feel like a full fledged game".