This game feels like it was stewed in the preserved essence of late 90s to early 00s Sci-Fi gaming. It was like my memories of playing MechAssault and watching the Zone of Enders demo were manifested into a modern reality. It is ultimately a simple game compared to the evolutions the medium has experienced since, but that means its elements have had time to ferment into a pungeant beauty.
This is a very retro title in its structure and gameplay. You progress through a series of self-contained missions in a mostly linear order with a few opportunities to switch up order or take a handful of mutually exclusive excursions. You get an opportunity to outfit your mech with a set of unlockable parts. Then you drop, zoom around for 2-10 minutes, finish one of a variety of mission objectives, and extract.
The story is told through comm voices and mission briefing videos. The controls are arcadey—almost exactly what I remember from an arcade PvP mech game once fights start in ernest. A single playthrough would be considered short these days and there's an emphasis on just replaying the single campaign or the PvP multiplayer if you want more. There's no inclusion of some "souls-like" element to the progression, either. You either restart the mission on death or restart from a checkpoint on the longer ones.
You can even run a mission select and go for S-ranks if you're so inclined.
At the high level, there's almost nothing "novel" in this game—as a game. Yet the details of its execution show the developers' years of experience and passion: missions are well paced and varied; the controls are responsive and well balanced in function versus simplicity; combat supports a wide variety of viable playstyles and challenges with a consistent set of rules that the player will gradually master over time.
It's a classic sort of game done really well and I really appreciate that.
It's also the most clear narrative I've seen in a FromSoft title to date (having never played another Armored Core game) and I was rather surprised how invested I was in the plot and characters—of which there were many and with good writing.
The delivery was often subtle and appropriately sober for the industrial-surrealist world it presents, but contrary to what I expected it stayed fairly grounded as a "human" drama and delievered its story beats in a pretty traditional, direct way. Per the studio's modern reputation, it does not spoon feed your every relevant detail, but its plot is driven by the goals and ambitions of its characters and their dialogue and development makes them feel very present in the game. Every mission you go on serves someone's agenda, and you'll see the effects of your actions—both good and ill—on each of the pilots and commanders you encounter.
It's not hard to tune out and play the part of the uncaring mercenary, if you so desire. True to the studio's style, it will not force you to sit and wait for the story to be told. However, the pacing and method of its delivery makes it easy to digest during normal gameplay, so even the most unga of action players will at least find the atmosphere of the action well setup as opponents scream, scoff, and applaud over a fight.
The visuals are one of the game's biggest strengths. One could say they are heavily influenced by the art of the Souls titles, and I'm sure some contingent of purists to the older AC games has some petty bone to pick. As for me:
These vistas slap.
These battles are beautiful.
And the audio accompanying the ballet feels just right. Punchy but not too exaggerated. Distinct sound cues that don't get lost to the trained ear, but still layer into the challenge. And the track "Rough and Decent." chef's kiss
The learning curve will be steep for a lot of players, especially those with no prior experience with arcade mech games or similar 6-directional action games. But if you're into that kinda of thing, this is a much needed hit in a AAA industry that has otherwise forgotten it. And if you wanna be into that kinda thing, this is a good start.
Frankly, this has reminded me that *I* want more of this in my life, and I should go play more of this series.
This is a very retro title in its structure and gameplay. You progress through a series of self-contained missions in a mostly linear order with a few opportunities to switch up order or take a handful of mutually exclusive excursions. You get an opportunity to outfit your mech with a set of unlockable parts. Then you drop, zoom around for 2-10 minutes, finish one of a variety of mission objectives, and extract.
The story is told through comm voices and mission briefing videos. The controls are arcadey—almost exactly what I remember from an arcade PvP mech game once fights start in ernest. A single playthrough would be considered short these days and there's an emphasis on just replaying the single campaign or the PvP multiplayer if you want more. There's no inclusion of some "souls-like" element to the progression, either. You either restart the mission on death or restart from a checkpoint on the longer ones.
You can even run a mission select and go for S-ranks if you're so inclined.
At the high level, there's almost nothing "novel" in this game—as a game. Yet the details of its execution show the developers' years of experience and passion: missions are well paced and varied; the controls are responsive and well balanced in function versus simplicity; combat supports a wide variety of viable playstyles and challenges with a consistent set of rules that the player will gradually master over time.
It's a classic sort of game done really well and I really appreciate that.
It's also the most clear narrative I've seen in a FromSoft title to date (having never played another Armored Core game) and I was rather surprised how invested I was in the plot and characters—of which there were many and with good writing.
The delivery was often subtle and appropriately sober for the industrial-surrealist world it presents, but contrary to what I expected it stayed fairly grounded as a "human" drama and delievered its story beats in a pretty traditional, direct way. Per the studio's modern reputation, it does not spoon feed your every relevant detail, but its plot is driven by the goals and ambitions of its characters and their dialogue and development makes them feel very present in the game. Every mission you go on serves someone's agenda, and you'll see the effects of your actions—both good and ill—on each of the pilots and commanders you encounter.
It's not hard to tune out and play the part of the uncaring mercenary, if you so desire. True to the studio's style, it will not force you to sit and wait for the story to be told. However, the pacing and method of its delivery makes it easy to digest during normal gameplay, so even the most unga of action players will at least find the atmosphere of the action well setup as opponents scream, scoff, and applaud over a fight.
The visuals are one of the game's biggest strengths. One could say they are heavily influenced by the art of the Souls titles, and I'm sure some contingent of purists to the older AC games has some petty bone to pick. As for me:
These vistas slap.
These battles are beautiful.
And the audio accompanying the ballet feels just right. Punchy but not too exaggerated. Distinct sound cues that don't get lost to the trained ear, but still layer into the challenge. And the track "Rough and Decent." chef's kiss
The learning curve will be steep for a lot of players, especially those with no prior experience with arcade mech games or similar 6-directional action games. But if you're into that kinda of thing, this is a much needed hit in a AAA industry that has otherwise forgotten it. And if you wanna be into that kinda thing, this is a good start.
Frankly, this has reminded me that *I* want more of this in my life, and I should go play more of this series.
3 Comments
@Detectivefail Thank you! From what I've heard about the first game I believe my journey through the series will be quite interesting.
Great Fckng Review! Thx so much ^_^
Detectivefail
3 months ago