This is the game that first introduced me to the Armored Core series.

Okay I'm gonna be honest now, this is the only AC game I'd ever played before I decided to play as many of them as I could after they announced AC6. That means I haven't touched this game, this series, in what, 20 years?

I don't know how I stuck so long with this game as a little kid whose English was pretty bad. The structure of these games is quite unlike anything I used to play at the time, what with failure of a mission not forcing you to reload and try again, so as a kid I never finished the story or really did most of the missions.

No, most of my time with this game back then was with the arena, and boy did I have a great time. Looking back after finishing AC2 today I'm not sure how I ever got to be #1, considering even now I had trouble with the top ranks (luckily, limiter release + 50 missiles + KARASAWA will wipe almost anything).

And on that note, the Arena really is the highlight here I think. The missions tend to be really one note, so I guess I'm thankful they're usually so short. This game really shines when it's pitting you 1v1 against an opponent with similar abilities to you (something From Software knows very well), and spending hours customizing your AC to get it juuuust right so you can beat your next enemy. Also helps that losing in the arena doesn't have any monetary penalties, just a mark on your record.

Now that I've catched up to my 7-year-old self in terms of AC, I can't wait to get to the ones eveyone praises as "the best ones".

So, the second generation of Armored Core. A more fluid experience than its predecessors with a solid story that tends to miss its mark in terms of mission objectives.

I feel as if I'm going to have less and less to say about AC sequels, but there has been a substantial jump from the PS1 here. The visuals are wonderful, at its best this game reminds me of F-Zero GX which is high praise from me. Having said this, locales often feel uninspired. Generic laboratory hallways and low visibility night areas take up a lot of the runtime and when the game does veer into more peculiar destinations, there's sometimes a catch. The snow and desert levels are particularly barren, with storms that make it difficult for you to see much. It feels unfair to say that the original AC did areas like this to intentionally build an atmosphere of desolation, but the vibes just weren't hitting the same way in this game. The soundtrack also blended into the background for me, listening back it's good but for whatever reason, it didn't have much staying power.

I was big on the customisation this time around. While I dabbled with different weapons during the prior games, I spent a majority of my time in the menus here. The arena works as a perfect testing ground for new builds and I actually ended up working my way up to rank 1. It took a while for me to find a build I was happy with; many of the best weapons just didn't have the ammunition to carry through the game's longest missions. But when I did settle on something for the final quarter or so, I was stoked!

The missions are the lowest part, though. There's very little in terms of truly unique objectives and on the whole, they feel too long. Many of these missions will drain of your most precious resources, health and stamina. While your AC controls better than ever, there's a vast number of enemies that dart around the screen, being totally impossible to pinpoint. The most annoying aspect of this is when they jump above you, as this is where your coverage is generally the most lacking. I still enjoyed the flow of gameplay for the most part, but the objectives here left a lot to be desired.

All in all, I do prefer this game to those that came before it. It's a big step up in general "feel", but the campaign needs some ironing out in order to truly shine.

We do this every so often, so, as a reminder: my 2 means I Regret Playing This, and in this specific case I mean that I regret playing this when I did and how I did. We got a PS2 and could get one game, so I chose this, not knowing that these games are fucked up hardcore and hard to understand. So, I failed to understand it, and brought it back to Target to get a refund, and we got Dynasty Warriors 2 instead. To be clear: I love the PS2 Dynasty Warriors games. Looking back now from where I am, someone who deeply enjoyed Armored Core VI, I regret that being my first experience with the game and not doing more to stick with it, because I probably would have played the other games if I was able to parse this one. Oh well!

It's decent... I mean, after the three gen 1 AC games which I liked a LOT, this game delivers a lot on some aspects and completely face plants on others. The good parts are; good graphics, smooth gameplay and good missions but the first two of these compliments aren't really that big of a compliment because it's an obvious biproduct of going from ps1 to ps2. Mission difficulty was wildly inconsistent, being ball bustingly hard on some and piss easy on others. Also the arena mode had the same problem with simply just some unfair enemies. The story was good though and I enjoyed being immersed in Fromsoftwares rendition of a mars colony.

booting this game up for the first time after finishing the ps1 games had me going wild over how much better it seemed at first, but after actually playing it for a short time you realize its... still basically the same game. this time however, it seems a lot more balanced, but i feel as if thats to its detriment since the previous games sort of masked some of their awful mission design with just how strong you could be, while this one is just brutal in an extremely frustrating way. unlike the previous games, i didnt 100% this one, the arena was far too difficult, maybe thats a skill issue though.

In a distant future, most of the Earth's population has moved to Mars, where corporations vie for political supremacy through armed conflicts. In the game, players take on the role of a mercenary known as Raven, offering services to the highest bidder to counter other corporations. The gameplay is a third-person shooter structured around missions, featuring customizable mechs as protagonists. Players can choose from various missions and potentially enhance their mechs with new equipment, earning money by completing missions. Customizations aren't just cosmetic but also improve the physical characteristics of the mech. In addition to the main mode, there's a Duel mode allowing players to challenge CPU-controlled or human opponents in arenas, with a ranking system influencing player progression. The graphics are of high quality, featuring detailed mechs and expansive backgrounds. The game isn't initially easy, requiring adjustments and mech improvements to tackle more complex challenges, contributing to the game's longevity.