Front Mission 3 (1999)
Square's Geopolitical Mecha Tactical RPG Featuring Two Full Campaigns and a Simulated Internet
Front Mission 3 is a 1999 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation—and the first mainline entry in Toshiro Tsuchida's mecha war series localized outside Japan. Set across a powder-keg 2112 Asia-Pacific sphere, it splits on an innocuous opening choice into two completely separate fifty-hour campaigns backed by modular Wanzer part destruction and a simulated in-game internet.
One Casual Delivery Choice Splitting Into Two Geopolitical Epics
Minutes into Front Mission 3, young Japanese Wanzer test pilot Kazuki Takemura is asked by best friend Ryogo Kusama whether to accompany him on a routine delivery to Yokosuka military base. Answering yes or no quietly bifurcates the entire disc into two full-length, mutually exclusive campaigns exceeding a hundred combined hours. One route aligns Kazuki with American scientist Emma Klamsky and the Oceania Cooperative Union to hunt down the stolen MIDAS clean-fusion weapon of mass destruction across Southeast Asia; the alternate route pairs him with adoptive sister Alisa and People's Republic of Da Han Zhong intelligence operative Liu Hei Fong, turning former allies into bitter battlefield foes.
Modular Wanzer Dismemberment and the Simulated Network Browser
Across 3D isometric urban grids, four-unit squads pilot customizable walking tanks called Wanzers ('wanderpanzers') assembled from independent torso, left-arm, right-arm, and leg modules. Rather than chipping away a single health bar, tactical positioning targets enemy legs to cripple mobility, severs weapon arms to neutralize missile launchers, or stuns/ejects rival pilots from their cockpits so players can hijack intact enemy Wanzers as war spoils. Between missions, Front Mission 3 astonished 1999 players with an obsessive simulated desktop internet—complete with fictional government portals, Wanzer manufacturer storefronts, encrypted forums, email replies, and password-cracking tools that deepened its Tom Clancy-esque world-building.