Faselei! is a mech SRPG developed by Sacnoth and released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999. We had a Sacnoth month last year, but I'll remind you of how Sacnoth was founded by
Secret of Mana composer Hiroki Kikuta in 1997 - who apparently didn't actually have anything to do with the development of
Faselei! - and other former Square employees. They developed only a few games, including
Koudelka which still is my favorite JRPG for the PS1. As for
Faselei!, well
, Faselei! is basically what'd happen if you mixed
Front Mission and
Vandal Hearts 2.
The game starts with a cool intro where you get introduced to the characters as the main theme plays in the background. What's crazy for the Neo Geo or any handheld device at the time, it's that the main theme has actual lyrics. Much like
Front Mission, the game's plot is about some plausible geopolitical struggle in a troubled area of the world - it's the Middle East in the case of
Faselei!, in a fictional Mediterranean country right next to Syria called
Lebanon Istar. Following the assassination of the king, the country plunges into a civil war. The game puts in the boots of Sho, an ace TS (Toy Soldier = Mech) pilot for Faselei, a top notch mercenary group under the command of Istar's younger prince.
Usually you'll get to choose a fellow Faselei member to accompany you during your missions. However, unlike your average SRPG,
Faselei! only lets you play as Sho, meaning you can't issue any command to your allies. They'll always go on the offensive anyway. During your turn, you get to issue a series a commands to your TS: these commands can either be simple movement orders like going forward or turning left and right or shooting with your weapons. There are also special actions like reloading your weapons, repairing your TS, placing a mine or calling for backup. Later on, you'll be able to issue more orders as you gain access to mechs with higher AP (actions points) and buy more powerful computer units for your TS as well as more advanced command chips.
Much like the player, the AI also gets to issue a series of orders to each enemy unity depending on the current position of your TS, so that you want to be very mobile as well as to predict where the enemy units are going to be in order to inflict damage while avoiding their attacks. In other words, similarly to
VH2, both your and the enemy team act at the same time. As in
Front Mission, your mech is highly customizable. While there is a vast selection of weapons to choose from - long range, medium range and melee - you can't buy single mech parts, you can only purchase the entire mech.
The characters are likeable and pretty well written, while the art - both for the character sprites and drawn 'cutscenes' - is pleasing to the eye.
Faselei! is a fast paced SRPG with solid and fun gameplay mechanics. However, it might appear a tad too basic and easy if you're coming from
Front Mission.
The allied unit that often accompanies you makes the game even easier and sometimes can even get in the way of your unit, basically wasting your turn, or get stuck in the environment. The game is also a tad too short - it took me no more than 8 hours to complete - with only 13 missions. Make no mistake though, I'm kind of nitpicking and the game is the textbook definition of 'short and sweet'.
All in all, I had a very good time with
Faselei!. The game is great as it is, but I wish more entries followed, possibly with more meat on the bone and where you got to control an entire mech squad. The potential was definitely there.
8/10EDIT: This was also one of the only two games I was looking forward to play for the Neo Geo, the other one being
Dark Arms: Beast Buster. OK,
Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun as well, kinda. The rest of the library there seems to consist of fighting games and beat 'm ups and that's not my jam.