"Wanzers," "The Huffman Conflict," "The People's Republic of Alordesh." This is the kind of anime nonsense from the 90s and 00s that I crave, and the "Front Mission" series seems to have it in abundance: the second installment of this series, which PCG editor-in-chief Evan Lahti describes as "Final Fantasy Tactics with mechs," will be available April 30 PC for the first time through Steam.

Front Mission combat takes place on a grid of 3D maps, with individual attacks zooming into a cinematic view. The primary combat platform in this dark future is the onezer, a compound of "wandering panzer." They are basically mechas, and, fantasy's unfortunate naming conventions aside, giant robots with tactical weapons are always creepy. Front Mission 2 was released on PlayStation in 1997, but Squaresoft (at this point, Suns Enix) had no intention of localizing it for the Western market.

Story-wise, it reminds me of games like "Valkyria" or "Ace Combat," set in a somewhat European alternate universe with fake nations using semi-realistic, industrial military technology. Your wanzer will represent the People's Republic of Aroldesh against the Oceania Cooperative, which will probably result in much calamity and mayhem.

Publisher Forever Entertainment is bringing the Front Mission series into the 21st century with a staggered schedule in favor of the Nintendo Switch, with Front Mission 2: Remake originally released on Nintendo's aging hybrid handheld in It was released last October. Though billed as a "remake," I'd definitely classify it as a "remaster," with PS2-PS3-era-like graphics, HD resolution, and, of course, the first official English translation, considering Front Mission 2: Remake's $35 price tag for the Switch version, It won't be cheap, though.

Front Mission 2: Remake will be released on Steam on April 30, but you can already add it to your wish list and check out the free demo to see if you can get a feel for the one-zer life.