Front Mission 2 is a Humongous Mecha Strategy RPG video game published and developed by Square Enix (back when Squaresoft was around) for PlayStation console. It was only released in Japan on September 25, 1997 with another release on December 24, 2008 on the PSN and a remake on the Nintendo Switch on October 5, 2023. The game is a sequel to Front Mission.
It takes place in 2102, 10 years after the end of Front Mission. Things in the Oceania Cooperative Union (OCU) are unstable due to a coup that's taking place in Alordesh, which was formerly known as Bangladesh. The game centers on three persons from the OCU security forces. They consist of Corporal Ash Faruk, Captain Thomas Norland, and intelligence officer Lisa Stanley. While pro-coup Alordeshi security forces take on pro-government forces and OCU troops stationed in the country, Corporal Faruk and some surviving members of the Muddy Otters unit attempt to leave Alordesh. They encounter survivors of Dull Stags unit, led by Captain Norland. He offers to help them before they're captured by pro-coup forces by getting the help of Saribash Labra, the CEO of the transport business Burg Transportation. While Labra gives them his support to help them escape, Stanley is tasked to infiltrate Alordesh and investigate why the coup started. Later on, it's revealed that a mysterious third party has offered pro-coup forces assistance and have an unknown device with the codename FENRIR.
Front Mission 2 provides examples of:
- Badass Crew: The unified Burg Transportation force consists of the Muddy Otters, Dull Stags, and OCU GDFIA 2nd Division. Yeah, this group fights mobile fortresses twice and saves Alordesh from being blown up by nuclear missiles.
- Bittersweet Ending: The People's Republic of Alordesh has earned the independence its people hunger for, but thousands of Alordeshi civilians and soldiers had to pay for it with their lives. As in the case of the crows, the OCU is now hunting down Ash and his buddies, for having played a vital part in foiling the plan to test the FENRIR.
- Corrupt Politician: Unnamed political leaders use a civil war as the cover for testing a Weapon of Mass Destruction on a poor fellow nation, when the said fellow nation stops being economically exploitable, of course.
- Defeat Means Friendship: In 2, you can recruit up to three teams of mercenaries as hired help for a certain mission if you can beat them in a team match at the Bornea arena. This, too, is entirely optional.
- Kill Sat: We have a satellite equipped with the FENRIR.
- Lethal Joke Character: The Iyana Wanzer. Sure, it looks goofy and carries a parrot-shaped missile launcher, but judging from its in-game stats, it is on par with the RAVEN.
- Post-Final Boss: Ash Faruk and company face off against Domingo Kyatt and his Dark Geese aboard the LSHD-4 Monto. This battle is much easier than the actual final battle, which involves taking down the Bismillah and its lackeys and then deactivating the FENRIR back at the secret Intergehen factory.
- Putting on the Reich: The Alordesh Army Officer Uniforms appear to have been inspired by the Principality of Zeon Uniforms which were based on historical designs from Imperial Germany and Nazi Germany.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Burg Transportation stops the FENRIR and secures enough evidence of the OCU's political machinations, with some indirect help from the Grimnir, to guarantee Alordesh's freedom. However, Alordesh being independent from the OCU isn't exactly a win. As shown in 3 and 5, all those economic and social problems actually worsen since the country achieves its independence years later, not to mention there are also cases of terrorism and violent infighting going on in the country. Alordesh isn't that much better off with the OCU, but at least the union kept a lid on the violence.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Dulls Stags (2) are apparently involved in lots of black market activities and have a habit of backstabbing, as Lisa Stanley and her buddies find out the hard way.
- Squad Nickname: Front Mission 2 has the Muddy Otters, Dull Stags, and the Dark Geese
