Reviews from

in the past


Need to get this and finish it. PvP was cool.

The mediocre expansion. Attempt at narrative are mediocre, the missions are mediocre, the arena was the highlight until enemy behavior doesn't outright cheat against you in a insuffereable manner

way too short and the story is boring, may be the worst ac game

"Armored Core: Mehr vom Gleichen"
Project Phantasma lässt sich am ehesten mit dem vergleichen was bei einem PC Spiel ein Add-On gewesen wäre, nur eben Standalone.
Es nimmt die Engine, Assets und Struktur des Originalspiels und macht damit etwas gaaanz leicht anderes.

Das gute vorweg: Der Production Value wurde minimal erhöht. Level sehen allesamt etwas komplexer auf. Teil 1 hatte keinen Akira-Elevator? Project Phantasma hat einen Akira-Elevanter. Checkmate.
Auch die Missionen sind etwas komplexer. Während Teil 1 meist nur aus "Töte alles" oder "Finde Ziel" bestand, hast du hier auch mal Aufträge die sagen "Mach erst das, dann geh dahin und mach das" und das ist gut.
Außerdem gibt es tatsächlich eine durchgehende Story und sogar ganze zwei Charaktere mit Namen, statt nur dieser Lore-Fetzen des Originals.

Das Spiel gibt dir direkt etwas mehr Kohle um sofort mehr rumexperimentieren zu können, es gibt ein paar mehr Teile für deinen Core und die Arena ist ein ulkiger Modus in den man schon paar Runden stecken kann.

Bei diesem neuen Fokus auf eine durchgehende Handlung, ging für mich aber auch der größte Reiz des Originals flöten. Hier machst du nur noch Level nach Level nach Level bis der Endboss kommt. Gelegentlich kann man zwar mal zwischen zwei Aufträgen wählen, die meiste Zeit gehts aber immer nur voran.
Außerdem gibt es schon sehr früh, ich glaub in Mission 3, einen gigantischen Difficulty-Spike der erzwingt, dass du schon seeehr früh weißt was du tust und wie du deinen Core perfekt optimierst, um nicht direkt dein ganzes Geld zu verlieren.

Und genau das ist der Punkt. Da das Konzept sich Aufträge auszusuchen denen man auch gewachsen ist rausgeflogen ist, ist das Konzept für Niederlagen Geld zu verlieren für dieses Spiel absolut unpassend.
Schließlich kannst du Kämpfe in der Arena so oft neustarten wie du lustig bist, aber wenn du für eine Pflichtmission nicht ausgestattet bist, musst du halt tief in die Tasche greifen.
Und das alles für eine Story die... gar nicht mal gut ist.

Das Highlight hier ist tatsächlich die neue Arena. Ließ dir eine kurzbeschreibung vom Gegner durch, pass deinen AC darauf an, forder ihn im 1on1 heraus, steig die Leiter empor.
Eine Art Battlebots bei der Vorbereitung und die Wahl der Arena wichtiger sind als wie gut man draufhalten kann.

Tatsächlich hab ich nicht sooo viel Zeit hier reingesteckt, aber sagen wir's mal so, ich kann schon ahnen wieso der nächste Ableger "Masters of Arena" hieß.

It's fun, you can tell the arena here was definitely still be working on it and it's probably the most insane skill jumps and decreases cuz of the ai builds and other shit to worry for. The story and missions are cool though, and of course the FINGER was so goated they literally had to nerf it for the next game over lmao.


more or less the same as AC1 which is to be expected because Project Phantasma is basically an expansion,but somehow it feels and plays worse?its crazy because the music and the customization is still good,it just everything else are not fun tbh.

it's more armored core 1 but shorter (especially if you import your save)
i didn't really touch on the arena apart from like a couple fights to try it out, it's a neat concept but the base gameplay isn't fun enough for me to really care about it
that last boss got hand but unlike in Armored Core it doesn't happen in a really long and hard stage so it's way easier overall

The story is the polar opposite of AC1: simple (it’s good vs. evil as opposed to evil corporation vs. evil corporation) and told in a straightforward way. It’s also super short. Even though the story feels like an abrupt 180 from what made the original so great, I still enjoyed developing a rivalry with the proto-Iguazu Stinger and having a Raven sidekick in Sumika. The biggest improvement Project Phantasma brings to the series formula is the arena. I love that you get to pick which map you duke it out on. I assumed it’d be like AC6 where each fight has a predetermined map. I always picked the space station level. The mission design felt like a big improvement, too. There’s a lot less missions so it makes sense that there’d be less stinkers, but the story campaign didn’t have any low-points at all for me, which I definitely can’t say for AC1. Overall, it’s a good expansion on the original but doesn’t match or surpass its greatness.

at the time I thought it was better than AC1 but as time went on I was a bit soured by how a lot of the content in this one felt a bit lacking with a lowered mission count and not very interesting arena application compared to later entries. it's still a fine game just not a favorite

This game tells you that there's an option to import your save from the first game, but that's a lie.... Isn't an option, it's a must 'cause is almost imposible to finish withouth it and you would get your ass wipe out of the existence at the new arena mode

Despite of that is a good experiment for what was going to be the next game and the story take a more personal approach... not sure how to feel about your Jerid Messa rival


Instantly better than the first. You actually have to build and plan for the fights. Most notably the arena has ACs that will smack your ass for taking Karasawa.

The main story is hilariously thin and the arena's top half is CBT-tier even with a really busted build. You basically have to pick garage for some of them if you didn't Human Plus in AC1, or else they will glide around at mach 5 and be the hydrogen bomb to your coughing baby.

Just a super solid game, with the mission stucture and the arena's presence making it one of my favorite AC games, I just think it's super solid!

They finally get plotting and stage design right. 1st Gen is good, fuck the Analog stick. Nothing really changes other than the container but nothing really needed to change! Arenas are good, no more platforming.

Really good shorter game. The plot is engaging and Stinger is a good main villain.

Definitely an improvement over the first game. Story was a bit more intersting and the characters were good too. The game was shorter yeah but for the better imo. The 50 ranks in the arena was also fun to do (although the AI became stupid unfair more than half way up). The controls are still horrible but I had a bit of a better time than the first game. It's good but still needs so much more polish.

Aunque se siente que iba a ser el auténtico primer paso de la saga, salió el segundo.

Se agradece una historia como tal pero el gameplay es 1:1 al primero con algunos cambios. Debería haber jugado primero este. Una pena.

An expansion game to the first Armored Core. Overall it was just ok.

Music and gameplay itself, along with the customization were all still excellent. Having more dialogue and story scenes was also cool.

However, the missions were overall not that fun. Either they had weird structures, or were just gauntlets with framerate dipping down below 5fps, which the original game hardly ever did.

If this came out nowadays it would be a somewhat forgettable $20 DLC.

armored core 1 otra vez pero con mejor level design y modo arena

Un poco más serio que el anterior, ta wapo que tenga cinemáticas

A cool expansion for the first game in the series, with some fun missions and an arena mode that turns out to be a particularly
crucial component to enrich the customizable and varied gameplay elements that make this franchise unique in its own way.

Man that one mission in the snow field is just too hard

Making every mission story focused creates an incredibly tight experience that improves upon Armored Core 1 in every way. I give this game the highest recommendation. I’m sure it’s made even better by transferring your data from the first game, but while I played the ps1 games in order, I did not ever transfer my saves.


Está bien, no mucho que decir, la historia se me ha hecho más interesante que la del juego base, se nota mucho que está pensado para jugar con el save del anterior juego y está mucho más divertido así.

this game is rlly easy if you just finger your enemies

a lot more frustrating than the first game. the arena is absolute shit and every enemy is just a combination of karasawa, moonlight, and human plus. on top of this, the final boss is so tanky for normal weapons, making it near impossible to beat him, but dies in about 20 shots to arm cannons. thankfully it's not too long, if you ignore the arena mode, and it only took a little over an hour to beat, while the arena mode maybe took around two hours. on the upside, it did make me experiment with different builds, which was fun, but then i used the build to fight in the arena and the fun was mostly sucked out