Armored Core Franchise
This is my hole, it was made for me.
I love cool robots. Cool robots are a cornerstone of my identity. Which is why it may shock you to find out the first armored core game I played was armored core 6. And I was obsessed with it, so much so that I 100% it. But this aint about AC6. This is about (most of) the rest of them.
Over the passed few months, I played and beat Armored core, Armored Core project phantasma, Armored core, master of arena, armored core 2, armored core 2: another age, armored core 3, armored core: silent line, armored core 4 answer and a little bit of nexus. I will be reviewing these in terms of generation. Disclosure, i aint played 5 or verdict day, i heard 9 breaker sucks, i lost steam on nexus because it does kinda suck like everyone says, and i havent played last raven yet cuz i heard its very hard, you dont get to sell parts at full price, and i barely got through silent line so I dont know if i got what it takes.
GEN-1
Deadly, Fast, Deep.
I had somehow never picked up armored core as a kid because my ability to pick good games from a game store was ass. For example, instead of picking up Marvel Vs Capcom i got ball breakers. But if I had I would either become obsessed with it or bounce off super hard. Which brings me to my first point, the controls. The default AC controls are wack, and the fact they remained that way long after analogue sticks became standard is a wild choice. I had tried multiple times to start playing AC 1 but I never got better at using the triggers to strafe and control the camera. I figured I would just have to deal with it, but then I learned the way of remapping from some guy on the internet. This was my way in. Making the face buttons control the camera like a second d-pad, and the d-pad control movement made it possible for me to play. From that point on I became a raven.
I ported my progress between the gen 1 games so it felt very rewarding to play them all back to back with all my parts. When you get the hang of the controls and really start customizing your ac, it becomes incredibly addictive even though the game looks crunchier than a lot of psx games. I love how ac 1 starts, they just throw you into a raven test, with no control explanation and it's just sink or swim. If you die you just have to start a new game. Very fromsoft.
Now I should also note, I beat the game with maxed out human plus which I know is looked down on in some circles, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna take a knee to fire a shoulder weapon, and if 9 ball gets to cheat then so do I. I reject my humanity, the flesh is weak steel is eternal, long live the new flesh, etc. Over time I began to enjoy the clunky nature of the controls. Once I got a handle on it, it really did feel like I was piloting a mech and not just controlling a character. The momentum management from bunny hopping made the game feel more fun than if you just had auto ground boosting like later entries. I found myself using light energy builds because not getting hit is way better than armor and laser ammo is free. I almost wish laser ammo wasn't free because it almost makes it too easy, but i aint gonna stop using it for something more expensive and worse.
Project phantasma had alot more mission variety than the original and it was pretty fun. The main baddy was much more of a putz than 9 ball though. He just shows up, gets his ass beat then runs away talking about how i didnt really win and he will get me next time. You can really see how much FromSoftware's level design has stayed consistent throughout the years. Somehow they added poison swamp levels in the form of corrosion gas, they have annoying intentionally shitty platforming where you drop down a series of narrow beams, and they even have secret walls with absolutely no indication that they are destroyable.
Master of Arena though is when things get really good. I love being able to switch between arena and main missions which becomes a must have in all other A.C. games in the future. It's nice to be able to just have a fun 1 v 1 ac battle whenever you want with no risk. MoA is a great gen 1 send off because you get to finally put nine ball down once and for all (mostly).
In summary, Gen 1 hooked me and holds up surprisingly well for its age.
GEN-2
I know it's still technically linked to Gen 1 by story, but I cant transfer my parts, it's on the ps2 and it's on mars, so I'm calling it gen 2.
I was worried about AC 2 cuz I heard it was just ok. I think this is true in the full scope of the franchise but I had a pretty good time with it.
AC 2 is a pretty solid continuation of the franchise, but here I must criticize it for introducing the mechanic that curses the franchise until gen 4. Heat system. I do not like the heat system, i dont like having to look at another meter, and i really dont like losing health cuz my mech got too hot. I love customizing a robot, but I think the least cool part is the radiator. I think the heat system incentivizes cheesing ACs with heat weapons which can be an op strategy in some games but not affect any enemies in others. I wish I could get a version of the ps2 games that didn't have heat because I think they would be more fun. For all you heat lovers, if you exist, if heat was fun, why isn't it in the games from gen 4 on.
Other than all that, I liked it.
Another Age on the other hand... was also alright but waaaaaay too long. I heard this game had no arena but double the missions and thought, well more ac doesnt sound so bad, but holy shit, that is way too many missions. This game really overstays its welcome and doesn't give you enough new parts fast enough to keep you engaged. There are some fun missions, don't get me wrong, but I think I would have rather Another Age be 2 different AC games with arenas than what I got. I liked the post game bosses though, hearing the 9ball music again triggered my ptsd. One of the nice parts of AC2 another age is that if you fail a mission, you can just try again with no penalty. Because if i'm being honest, up to this point any time i failed i would just reload my save anyway, so it's a major timesaver. I know that may be casual of me but i aint playing this like a rogue like especially when so many mission descriptions just lie to you about what you are up against.
GEN-3
Alot of people say this is the best ps2 armored core game and i have to agree. Still has the heat system, which again im not a fan of, but its a really well paced game in terms of difficulty. This one started to add left hand weapons other than swords and I am a big fan of a left arm howitzer. The story was pretty fun, I love destroying a big world running AI especially these days, and I enjoyed that you basically have to beat the game to get this game's version of human plus.
Silent Line: Armored core. I thought I was good at armored core, this game taught me I was wrong. This game feels mean in a fromsoft way where it feels like they heard my ego and wanted to smash it. If I had hair, this game would make me rip it out on several occasions. I am not a fan of missions that decide to drop you into a scenario part way through where your targeting system doesn't work, there is a sandstorm, and you have no ammo because you already used it in the first half of the mission which was just a shooting gallery. In retrospect it was a pretty fun game, but I don't think I'm skilled enough to enjoy it as much as AC3.
Armored Core Nexus
They made heat even worse. Now your boosting and energy weapons cause heat too. Also the game is so blurry, why did they make it look like this, AC3 looked good I dont know why they added the ps2 blur effect to everything. This game is where I kinda checked out, if this was someone's first I could see them liking it, it has cool cutscenes at least. It's a shame this one isn't as good because there is quite a lot of it and it actually has analogue controls which is a first.
Finally we arrive at the game that made me mod my ps3 so i could play it.
‘Armored core 4 Answer’. This game is sick
This is what I heard so many people talk about. So let's start with some negatives. I think this games color pallete and level design is boring as fuck. It reminds me of falling asleep watching my friend play chromehounds which is fitting because it's the same era of fromsoft. I reallize the environments need to be big and empty to accomodate how fucking fast you are, bu i wish it looked a little less sleepy beige all the time. The ui is also minimalist, maybe too minimalist. It looks like a placeholder menu, especially compared to AC3. The industry was really going through a style crisis during this time. Also weapon audio and the sfx when you are getting hit are so faint. Alot of the time I would die without even realizing I was in danger.
Now for the good, which is everything else about it.
While you no longer feel like you're piloting a piece of heavy machinery, you do feel like you are piloting a fighter jet with legs. This is fitting because this ain't an armored core, this is a Next. Which is such a stupid name that it wraps back around and becomes cool again. You get auto boost on the ground and you are able to target enemies as long as you see them on screen. What I miss about bunny hopping I gain in quick boost chaining. If there is one principle that makes armored core fun, its movement options. I love that I can dual wield weapons freely without arbitrary left hand restrictions. And in place of the optional parts they added tuning which is a pretty fun way to specifically min max your ac beyond just parts.
This game has some much more distinct branching story paths that make replaying a lot more fun. Plus it has one of my fav mechs, White Glint, which surprisingly is only a fight halfway through the game. We also got some Arms Forts. I love arms forts. I like getting in my giant robot to take down an even gianter robot that makes my giant robot look like a chibi robo. If I had one complaint about AC6 there weren't enough arms forts. For Answer, much like AC3 is pretty well paced and just the right level of difficulty for me, aside from some fittingly brutal alternate missions.
SUMMARY
Overall I am obsessed with this franchise and I cant believe I let it pass me by my whole life when I could have got in at the ground floor. There are very few mecha games like this. The customization from stats to cosmetics is great through the whole franchise, it's not full of anime waifu cringe like so many other mech focused games, and it is 99% Robot focused. You almost never see a character outside their mech. Their voice, emblem and mech are effectively their whole character. The way their mech is built is a reflection of their personality, how they fight, and what they fight for. Everything is told through emails and radio drama and I like that. And again to reiterate no anime ass anime voice acting like daemon x machina where there is constant terrible chatter in my ears about anime girls defending their big brother or whatever. The saddest part of this journey is knowing I'm past the peak and there really isn't another successor to armored core as of yet. However there is an indie game I started playing recently which is fairly different from armored core but scratches the same part of my brain. But that is a tale for another time. (Granvir review coming soon.)
I rate the early armored core franchise a