RUIN FRONTIER

Introduction

Ruin Frontier is another entry in the McBacon Jam #1 contest and like several of the other entries it's built around a sci-fi theme. In fact, so many of the entries in this contest are sci-fi games it should be called Science Fiction Jam #1, but I digress. Ruin Frontier is a game about one of my great loves of the past. That of course being my love for the giant mechas found in shows like Gundam Wing.

Story

In Ruin Frontier you play as a team of mercenary who have taken on a job from a massive mega corporation to eliminate their competitor who has performed a very literal hostile take over. Of course, the real selling point of the story isn't the plot, but the characters. The team is comprised of the old, grizzled veteran who sticks to a strict rule book in order to remain professional at all times, a young pragmatist that recognizes how horrible her clients are in this case, but will stick to the contract due to professional standards, and a young idealist who believes that the system is in need of desperate fixing, but doesn't know when to but in and when to keep his mouth shut.

Gameplay

Ruin Frontier utilizes a rather standard turn-based combat system with non-random encounters with combat being initiated whenever the player comes into contact with an enemy on the world map. Though, the more intriguing part of the combat system is that the player doesn't actually become more powerful when they level up, but gains access to new weapons and armor that they can purchase and equip. This helps to add a strategic sense to combat since you have to consider the advantages or disadvantages of any given piece of equipment to your parties overall combat fitness.

There is one decision in this game that raises my eyebrow though. Some of the chests in the game can only be opened after you've defeated enough enemies on the world map. Normally this wouldn't be an issue for me, but in this game the level of equipment you can outfit your mechas with is tied into your level so there is no reason to avoid combat and every reason to attack everything you come across. Maybe I'd be a bit more accepting of the system if the chests contained rare or powerful weapons the player would normally be unable to get a hold of, but all of the chests contained rather standard weapons you could pickup by chance if my memory serves me correctly.

Graphics

I do actually enjoy the design of the various mecha and enemies, but the game does seem to contain a few graphical glitches. If you switch the order of your characters in the base the new party leader won't be the character your controlling. Instead you'll be in charge of his mecha. It also appears that switching the order of your characters can cause a slight graphical issue at the end of the game as well since two of my characters were in the same unit despite all of the mercenaries piloting a distinct mecha.

Sound

The background music was nice enough and worked with the game in my opinion. Though the game lacks any sort of standout song that I'd want to add to my musical library, but not every game can contain something as catchy as "My Glasses are Addicted" from Mana Khemia or "My Comrade" from Disgaea.

Conclusion

Ruin Frontier is a very solid game if the demo is anything to go by, but I don't feel as I should rate the game at this time seeing as how the development team still wishes to make a few tweaks to the game. So, I'll reserve final judgement for when an updated release of the game comes out that also marks the game as completed. As it stands I'd recommend the demo to anyone that loves RPGs and mecha.