Most are good but a few take forever or are really repetitive and you really start to notice how much they recycle tile-sets in these missions. Most of the levels are short or offer something unique but there are several dungeon-type levels that vary in quality. Thankfully, this does smooth over in the second half as you get more options and healing items but the mechanic is largely useless in the first half. This is an objective flaw in my book, as it can feel like you're in a catch-22 between keeping them alive and leveling them up. The bigger issue is that even though you can have them retreat before they die, they won't gain experience if you do so. It can feel like a useless mechanic as you should obviously spend your money on upgrading your main guy's gear instead. Unlike the protagonist, if your support character dies, you have to buy them an entire new mech, which is very expensive in the first half of the game. The RPG mechanics are all really solid but the support-character mechanics never clicked with me. There's a bit of a learning curve as well, with shops, a leveling system, support characters, upgradeable gear, and more, even if you're familiar with the Cybernator mechanics, which also have a learning curve. You'll quickly get a dash, jet pack, and loads of great weapons and you'll feel like a badass before you know it. Give it a few hours though, and especially once you get the 2nd mech, you'll be hooked. Your mobility and weapons are awful and the game just doesn't feel great. It just isn't very fun at the start with the base gear. The first few hours are likely to turn many players away. I do have a few minor gripes but they never tarnished the experience for long. It feels like an epic odyssey across the globe. The game has a level-select map like Mario World, which I'm always a sucker for, and you can skip many levels or play areas out of order. There's also a massive roster of enemies and bosses to fight as well that keep things interesting. Your skill is every bit as important as leveling your character. Squaresoft isn't usually one for fantastic action but this is every bit as good as Cybernator from an action standpoint. The game carefully spreads out upgrades, story beats, and unique levels so that you're always seeing something new and the game never gets old. It's not as immediately fun or replayable as Cybernator but the fact that it's such a massive, deep game more than makes up for it. This is one of the best Mecha games of all time and probably the best side-scrolling mech game ever made. Instead of a 3 hour arcade-style experience, Gun Hazard is a 20 hour long action-RPG with tons of depth and around 100 levels! It also boasts amazing pixel art, an awesome art style reminiscent of Metal Gear's Yoji Shinkawa, a long and epic story, and a fantastic soundtrack by some of Square's best. However, they've been blessed by 90's Squaresoft with deep RPG mechanics, a massive game-structure, and clearly, a much larger budget. Apparently some of the Cybernator staff worked on this and it would be hard to believe that wasn't the case as it looks and plays so similarly. This is where the Front Mission spinoff, Gun Hazard, comes in. Unfortunately, all of them are only a couple hours long and structured like Arcade games. I've always loved this series, it's oozing with style and plays unlike anything else. Mega Man X, this is not! You can arc your gun 360 degrees, strafe, dodge, punch, dash, and equip many different weapons. You need to slow down, play strategically, and use all the tools at your disposal. The controls are slow and clunky but it's on purpose.

Stylistically, it's Gundam, but a little more grounded and militaristic.

This very much is 'Cybernator the RPG.' If you haven't played Cybernator or the Assault Suits games (Target Earth, Assault Suits Leynos, etc.), they're 2D Mecha Action games, kind of like Contra meets Armored Core. Unfortunately, this game never came to the West but there is a great English patch and it's even pretty playable in Japanese, I got through most of it on an actual Super Famicom cart before my save crashed years ago. It's not going to appeal to most people but if you love both Cybernator and action-RPGs then it's basically a 10/10. 20h PlayedThis is a very weird but awesome game.

Front mission gun hazard controls