Developers from the East and the West sides of the planet tend to be two negative sides to a magnet. Neither can really get a hold in the other’s market place, with few exceptions.

So how about this for a universe-breaker: Square-Enix is taking a traditionally Japanese franchise, completely changing the genre  to appeal to western audience, and going as far as working with a western developer to make sure the job is done right.

Short of a teaser trailer, and some basic details people have gotten from previous games in the Front Mission franchise, there wasn’t much going around. All we knew for sure was that this was supposed to be a much different game from previous entries, and western developers Double Helix would be working with Square-Enix on its creation.

We sent our man, Alex Donaldson, to get more information from E3, and he delivered in style. Below is his report on a small conference between himself and representatives from Square Enix and Double Helix.

Representing Square Enix is producer Shinji Hashimoto, and representing Double Helix is development director Jeremy Lee.

Alex: So, Can you tell us about the game?

Double Helix: OK so it is a new direction, its Front Mission Evolved, and its for 360, PS3 and PC release. It has a focus on a very cinematic single player experience and an involved multi-player component.

The game follows the main character, Dylan, through his experience in the near future with world war three essentially. You are a Wanzer pilot, you start as an engineer and you follow Dylan on his journey. It’s a cinematic experience, Square has crafted the story, as well as the character design, over a long period of time, so they wanted to see it come to fruition.

This is a great collaborative project between Square-Enix and Double Helix. We each bring very different experiences to the table and rely on each others different strengths to make sure that we are making a better product.

For some people it would be very shocking for Front Mission to be an action game, previous front mission games have fun in different areas before, but now there are Front Mission alternatives in RTS, which is its traditional haunt. The front mission universe is big enough to hold different genres, so we think that when people get the chance to feel what its like to be in a Wanzer yourself in an action setting, we think they’ll really like it – it feels really good.

The game is set out not so much to be a western interpretation of the Front Mission universe, what we are trying to do is make something that’s a collaboration – not eastern not western. Something from both of our cultures that the world wide audience will love.

Alex: So how did your two companies come to such an agreement?

Square-Enix: Through the history of front mission it has spread across a variety of genres – for example it has been an action trigger, and an RTS before, so for one of the games to send it out to the global market, a Third Person Shooter seemed to be a good option for us. And so we spoke to probably about ten [developers] and press some offers to see who will be the best, and they supplied games they had already created and also the prototype that Double Helix had built for us, so we thought they would be the best.

DH: From our perspective, Silent Hill [Homecoming] was a really successful project for us. The projects are very different, but we created a lot of storyline to try and expand on the events of Silent Hill, and now we are doing it with Front Mission – with our collaboration, its not really an expansion of Front Mission, it is really a new chapter to the story.

Alex: How would you describe the presentation of the game, how it looks and its story?

DH: I think that presentation is something that is really important to not just an action game but also the narration proper game – the games where the story line is a big part of that single player experience, so not only are you getting the action element but you’re seeing the story unfold because of the character. Really good character design, dialogue… its that high level of presentation in the story line really helps drive the player forward.

The environments you visit in Front Mission Evolved are quite expansive and detailed, so there is always something new to see. In every level we have quite a variety in the world for players to look at. When you have such a cinematic experience it keeps you going through the world, and the Space Elevator level serves that function to be sure. It’s an exciting experience.

Alex: So as we know, Front Mission already has a large universe. How much is being transferred to Evolved from the original games?

DH: Pretty much every single weapon, everything in the Front Mission universe is present. We add a lot to the universe on top of what is already there while still fitting in with the Front Mission idea, and include a massive amount of customisation which, with the new gameplay, should keep the experience quite fresh.

The customisation is an important part of Front Mission, and an important part of Front Mission Evolved. Players can customise their Wanzer and identify with their Wanzer in ways that we never used to be able to do.

Now with the technology we have you can change your paint job, change how it looks, really customise your Wanzer so you can identify with it, and it actually grows with you.

Alex: Will this level of customisation carry over to multiplayer as well?

DH: The multiplayer experience is definitely a separate experience. What we are meaning to do with that is to make it team-based – very very team friendly. So you can form up with friends, create a team and customise your team in a way you really want to. I won’t go into the online experience very much but, ok I’m going to be the sniper, you’re going to be the heavy hitter, you’re going to be the support… it allows you to develop strategy.

Alex: Is the multiplayer going to be cross platform?

DH: As in so you can play eachother? No, afraid not.

Alex: What kind of gameplay would we be expecting in multiplayer? Duels, deathmatch?

DH: The gameplay is kind of like the Call of Duty experience, where you have two teams one goal to work for. Like that.

Alex: Europe has been nearly entirely devoid of Front Mission over the years. While obviously in Japan and in America there is a big history to draw on, but there is this a negative to the way you approached it for Europe, considering its largely unknown?

DH: It’s probably less known in the US than you are expecting. We’re approaching the US and European market in a way that will bring us new players, but not enough to really expand on the universe so to speak.

So the way we are approaching it is that  fans of the previous Front Mission series will get a lot out the story in terms of familiar factions, alliances, let alone the powers that are there. By focusing on the character, Dylan,and his journey, its sort of a new key to the Wanzer, and the Front Mission world so to speak. That journey that you take with him literally tells you what’s going on – you don’t need any previous knowledge, we couldn’t rely on that. The best situation is to bring people into the Front Mission universe while keeping previous players excited that we are expanding it.

You don’t have to bring anything into the experience to have an enjoyable one. The material that has already gone into the universe is a really rich background to tell a story and it makes things much easier for us to tell it and just enjoy it. The story has been proven to work and that framework has really helped us define what we can make.

Alex: So what made you decide to make a leap into the action genre over the previous offerings in the series?

SE: We have been playing a lot of action games over the last year or so – Call of Duty and Rainbow Six: Vegas mainly. We as a team have always wanted to do something like this and this particular franchise we decided would fit in and be a great opportunity.

Alex: Does the company as a whole ever worry about going forward with more western style games, mainly about alienating the Japanese audience and also the western audience that has been very loyal to Square-Enix over the years?

SE: Its not that you don’t want to, or that we’re not making Japanese games any more. In Japanese games story is very important but when in terms of the west, hard core games are more action oriented and we feel like we can keep both of those elements in something and keep it good.

DH: I think also that they kept close to the franchise – they [Square-Enix] didn’t just give Front Mission to us and just say “go make a game” and hope people will like it, its a collaboration. They do what they do best – the CG work and the story. It was part of the bargain – they would do the story side of it and we would make an action game that fits the universe.

Alex: In the trailer there is a brief section showing a soldier. Will you be able to control a single soldier, outside of a Wanzer, maybe even other vehicles?

DH: The things we are really excited about Front Mission are piloting the Wanzer but also the on foot missions. Connecting with your pilot, Dylan, is important so you’ll have the experience of getting out and doing missions you can’t do in a giant Wanzer, only as a person. There is a really cool sense of scale in the game when you see a bullet the size of this room flying at you when you’re healing gives you an idea of what it’s like piloting a Wanzer, and there is some really cool gameplay effects we can do with that.

You’ll also learn appreciate your Wanzer. The [mech] games that have done particularly well in the US and Europe just show them as giant super-high-tech walking metal. You have no sense of critical loss or you don’t connect with them in any way. By showing Dylan and his progression of how he gets his Wanzer operational, how you can get in and out your Wanzer, customise it you become more attached.

Alex: You described it a bit like Call of Duty. Now some people have said that because its mechs, chances are there are very few large battlefields. Where are you standing now, small skirmishes or large scale wars with a lot of mechs? How many players are you talking about, online?

DH: We can’t say how many players yet but it is going to be a war instrument experience because we do want it to have strategic elements, such as how you communicate with your team, how your team is transported. It’ll be two teams verses each other.

Alex: What games did you get your inspiration from other than what you have mentioned?

DH: Well when we started, Call of Duty 4 and Lost Planet were two games that were really inspirational, not because they are the same type of game but because they are games that tell cinematic stories in a way that fits the genre. We played all the other Front Missions, we played Armored Core, we try to see the bad side to all of them and all the games have interesting features.

But for this game in the Front Mission series we want to make sure we improve on the visual from other games, and previous games in the series.

Alex: Can you tell us a bit more about the graphical style?

DH: These are military made machines, they are supposed to be very gritty and realistic. The world you are travelling through is being torn apart by war, it wont be all clean and shiny – although with the customisation options available to the player, if you wish to make your Wanzer shiny and untouched you can.

Alex: Can you expand more on the customisation options? Can you make your own emblems and so on?

DH: We haven’t announced anything about that yet. There are a lot of customisation options in terms of colour, surface material, hardened arm plates, body, weapons shield amount. There is a lot of customisation.

Alex: What kind of direction will you be having? What kind of structures can I break?

DH: When moving the Wanzer through a city like New York or other similar areas, structures are of no importance, so we have lots of destructible elements. You know, destroying a car, strait through a building. The enemies you will play, you can destroy their arm, knock out a weapon, destroy their legs to stop them coming at you. There are different ways to disable an opponent, so its not just a case of run and gun.

Alex: So can you use the environment to take out the enemy?

DH: There are places like that, but our focus was on Wanzer-to-Wanzer combat. There are places like that, but the main uses for the buildings will be for cover and defence during combat.

SE: To come to a close, the reason why we’re doing this collaboration is because when Japanese companies try to mimic western games it usually ends up with them saying “This isn’t really going to work.” You need the experience and the history there, which is what this allows us to do. Colleagues in the industry from Activision, Rockstar or EA ask why their games that are huge in the west don’t sell in Japan, and its the same idea.

Working with a western developer allows us to create a better product for the west, which is what we believe Front Mission Evolved is.