The first ’Armored Core’ is a fascinating game to me personally for multiple reasons. Firstly, when it comes to the fifth generation of consoles, all the titles I’ve played have lied in the survival horror genre. This is including Fromsoft’s own attempt at that style being ’Echo Night’ (which I absolutely recommend) so it's really interesting to try something new from this era of games. Secondly, I, like many others, decided to play the franchise from the beginning after being surprised by my love for ’Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon’. I did have some fears that this would lead to frustrations with the controls of the game and how much crueler games from this time period can be especially coming off a game so modern and smooth and to be honest, the start of the game doesn’t do a lot to tell you otherwise. The moment you click the new game button, you are thrown into a fairly difficult fight without learning the controls or anything. This led me to believe some of the expectations I had for the game were true, but I promise you that there is a learning curve to it and it truly is something that is worth getting the hang of.
After the completion of the test, you get to explore the menu that you will be spending most of your time in if you’re like me. I customized my mech for around an hour or two to be almost exactly how I wanted it. The customization options in this game are really impressive and were a bit more complex than I thought it was going to be which was neat. You can also change the controls of the game if you’d like, which I did. I switched the camera movement to the face buttons and had the triggers be the action buttons for me and it worked like a charm. It still is a lot more uncomfortable than your standard joystick movement, but the level of accessibility that comes from being able to choose whatever else is really cool.
The first few missions in the game are a bit intimidating, especially when you learn that both the amount of ammo you use as well as the damage you take is counted against how much credits you get to buy new parts. I’m a bit mixed on this system. On one hand, this actually becomes a really fun challenge to deal with in the later parts of the game when you get much better, but on the other, it makes getting credits in the early game incredibly difficult which makes experimentation difficult. This is honestly unfortunate because it removes the incentive to just have fun with different builds in the game which is one of the things I’m always most excited for. I don’t mind the punishment overall, but I wish it was a lot less strict so you wouldn’t have to be so afraid to try something new.
When mentioning actual combat and mission structure, it has some ups and downs. I won’t go in depth about the combat as it plays pretty much exactly as you’d expect from a mech game, but just know that it is simple, yet never boring. The biggest issues come from the missions you are given. They heavily vary in quality with some that can be challenging and fun to others that are an absolute chore to get through (specifically one that contains fucking platforming of all things). I enjoyed my time in the game more than not, but the lows that are there are pretty fucking bad honestly.
I won’t be too harsh when talking about the presentation of the game as it is a PS1 title, but I feel it is still worth talking about due to its inconsistency. There are some missions where they have amazing environments. Some of my personal favorites being the ones on water or out right under the ocean. These I always get excited to see since they are done really well. The more flawed locations aren’t terrible looking, but feel uninspired more than anything, such as the sewer locations. I know it should be something to expect within these games, but the boring locations I feel popped up a lot more to a point that was noticeable. The sound design and music is fantastic though and definitely one of the highlights in the game. I absolutely adore the theme that plays in the menu. It never gets old.
The story is honestly really silly, but I mean that in a good way. I don’t have much to say besides it's just very fun to go through and I had a blast with it. I also find it fascinating being a mercenary who gets the mission to fuck up one corporations plan and then the next mission is being hired by that same corporation to kind of get back at the other. It’s an interesting concept to me personally. I won’t go too much into detail on certain events or themes to avoid spoilers, but know it’s a silly, yet fun story.
I know some parts of this review may sound a bit negative, but I honestly couldn’t recommend the game more. A lot of the issues that are in this game aren’t the most severe thing ever and don’t bring the title down too much. It very much feels like the first game in the ’Armored Core’ franchise which is perfectly fine since it is. If you are interested in starting the series then this is not a bad place to start at all. If you are like me coming off ’Armored Core VI’ then you may be pleasantly surprised as well just as I have been. I am interested to see how they take this game and improve upon it in the other games of this first era of ’Armored Core’ because I know I’m going to end up hyper fixated on these games for a while lol.
After the completion of the test, you get to explore the menu that you will be spending most of your time in if you’re like me. I customized my mech for around an hour or two to be almost exactly how I wanted it. The customization options in this game are really impressive and were a bit more complex than I thought it was going to be which was neat. You can also change the controls of the game if you’d like, which I did. I switched the camera movement to the face buttons and had the triggers be the action buttons for me and it worked like a charm. It still is a lot more uncomfortable than your standard joystick movement, but the level of accessibility that comes from being able to choose whatever else is really cool.
The first few missions in the game are a bit intimidating, especially when you learn that both the amount of ammo you use as well as the damage you take is counted against how much credits you get to buy new parts. I’m a bit mixed on this system. On one hand, this actually becomes a really fun challenge to deal with in the later parts of the game when you get much better, but on the other, it makes getting credits in the early game incredibly difficult which makes experimentation difficult. This is honestly unfortunate because it removes the incentive to just have fun with different builds in the game which is one of the things I’m always most excited for. I don’t mind the punishment overall, but I wish it was a lot less strict so you wouldn’t have to be so afraid to try something new.
When mentioning actual combat and mission structure, it has some ups and downs. I won’t go in depth about the combat as it plays pretty much exactly as you’d expect from a mech game, but just know that it is simple, yet never boring. The biggest issues come from the missions you are given. They heavily vary in quality with some that can be challenging and fun to others that are an absolute chore to get through (specifically one that contains fucking platforming of all things). I enjoyed my time in the game more than not, but the lows that are there are pretty fucking bad honestly.
I won’t be too harsh when talking about the presentation of the game as it is a PS1 title, but I feel it is still worth talking about due to its inconsistency. There are some missions where they have amazing environments. Some of my personal favorites being the ones on water or out right under the ocean. These I always get excited to see since they are done really well. The more flawed locations aren’t terrible looking, but feel uninspired more than anything, such as the sewer locations. I know it should be something to expect within these games, but the boring locations I feel popped up a lot more to a point that was noticeable. The sound design and music is fantastic though and definitely one of the highlights in the game. I absolutely adore the theme that plays in the menu. It never gets old.
The story is honestly really silly, but I mean that in a good way. I don’t have much to say besides it's just very fun to go through and I had a blast with it. I also find it fascinating being a mercenary who gets the mission to fuck up one corporations plan and then the next mission is being hired by that same corporation to kind of get back at the other. It’s an interesting concept to me personally. I won’t go too much into detail on certain events or themes to avoid spoilers, but know it’s a silly, yet fun story.
I know some parts of this review may sound a bit negative, but I honestly couldn’t recommend the game more. A lot of the issues that are in this game aren’t the most severe thing ever and don’t bring the title down too much. It very much feels like the first game in the ’Armored Core’ franchise which is perfectly fine since it is. If you are interested in starting the series then this is not a bad place to start at all. If you are like me coming off ’Armored Core VI’ then you may be pleasantly surprised as well just as I have been. I am interested to see how they take this game and improve upon it in the other games of this first era of ’Armored Core’ because I know I’m going to end up hyper fixated on these games for a while lol.