Ever since RoboTech I've had a thing for big robots. And apparently I was not alone as they were everywhere. I tried to pilot some by playing MechWarrior, but they were simply not agile enough, big lumbering Mechs do not provide the same adrenaline.

More like devolution.

Very responsive controls; an actual mech game with a story

Customization very watered down; lackluster multiplayer; boss battles have quite the difficulty curve; incompetent ally AI

Where the problem lies is that regardless of whether this genre shift alienates existing fans, it won't win favour with any new gamers simply because it isn't a good game. In fact, it's a very mediocre game and instantly forgettable.

Front Mission Evolved brings the classic Front Mission franchise into an action-packed third-person shooter that gives players full control of a massive humanoid war machine - the wanzer.

What is Front Mission? Well, basically it's a turn-based strategy RPG with giant robots called Wanzers, although forget what you may have learned over the years with previous games in the series, waiting for your turn here is just going to result in your fiery death.

It was a brave move to step away from Front Mission's core SRPG audience, and it's difficult to see why that hardcore bunch would purchase this game – from that viewpoint it's disappointing because there's little to join this title up to the long running series.

Plenty of mech customisation; The cutscenes are watchable; The game over situation isn't torture

The combat is much the same over and over; Boss battles are mostly just health based; On foot missions could use more polish

Front Mission Evolved does offer some doses of fun, but the campaign is far too short with a story that is patchy at best. More entertainment can be found online, but even at the relatively close proximity to launch, the community is worryingly small.

For all its shortcomings, we still quite like Front Mission Evolved, especially as it manages to imbue a feeling of power in the player with its well made shooting mechanics better than many other shooters.

Front Mission Evolved is competent but average. The good ideas were here but they couldn't translate into the execution.

Giant robot games seem to have a lot of trouble finding an audience. Either they are too complicated (like Steel Battalion) to have a mass appeal, or they are just average games, which leaves them passed over for better action games.