I played It Takes Two before touching this and that may have been a mistake, because this is worse in almost every way.
The voice acting was not up to the task of delivering powerful moments which the game relies on a lot considering how generic the story is; it feels like an amalgamation of every crime/heist movie ever made.
While you'll spend a lot of time with the plot, at least the primary focus is on the co-operative gameplay and having to complete admittedly simple tasks with a partner. These are fun enough and some of the side-activities were cool, though every individual part of the game is jank and only enjoyable taken in the larger context of the whole experience which is thankfully short enough to prevent these bad mechanics from getting -too- infuriating.
This should really be played before It Takes Two as that game builds on pretty much every aspect of this one. I wouldn't skip this either though, because the ending is so much more interesting and enjoyable in this one. Where that game feels like it just gave up at a certain point and rolled the credits, A Way Out gives a proper, lengthy conclusion, which made it worth getting to that point even if the issues with the voice acting and contrived plot still rear their head.

I played this with my long-term partner and we generally had a great time. She tends to struggle with controls more than I do but she got to grips with this one after the first couple chapters and we had basically no problems afterwards, making this a brilliant choice if you want a co-op game to play together regardless of skill level. The game was fairly easy for me but was still capable of pulling out some interesting co-op mechanics and exciting setpieces.
The theme is also something not usually explored too hard in games of this size but they definitely compromised here to keep it more kid-friendly and vague so that anyone can impress their own experiences onto it. I'm not saying they needed to talk about their sex life the entire time but they don't really go in on their problems beyond a surface level, making it all feel like justification for the level themes/powers which is fine when they're at least fun to play.
The dialogue is irritatingly packed with Disney-tier humour with very few truly emotional moments which are sorely under-represented until the last 5 minutes of cutscenes. It feels like they remembered they had to actually give the game an ending at some point and just crammed in a few heartfelt moments to signpost it.
Generally a great time though and the gameplay variety was consistently solid for the most part; a very good thing when the game is this long.
Favourite level was the time manipulation one. I spammed the fast-forward/rewind over and over to murder my partner repeatedly with an eagle statue. I did this for about thirty minutes. This game about rekindling romance might have done more to damage my relationship than help it.

New control scheme and improved mechanics make this the best feeling PS2 AC game yet. While I'll miss the old Arena system of being able to endlessly replay battles for free until you win, the new one makes more sense with this game's focus on allowing you to fail missions while the plot continues and reacts to the outcome (though maybe not as much as the messages would lead you to believe).
The missions themselves are unfortunately quite repetitive for a large stretch of the game, especially if you're playing this right after the previous games, but this will not be a huge problem for newcomers who will likely mesh a lot better with the dual-analog controls. Even then the lacking mission variety is somewhat helped by the second disc remixing some of the most iconic levels in the series. There's plenty of quality and quantity here to enjoy, if not always at the same time.
The way the final gameplay sequence is handled is one of the most memorable in the series.
Feels like the start of the transition into AC4-style gameplay while still clearly shooting off from AC3.

A neat expansion on AC3 though with a much looser story, probably because the stakes are just following on from AC3's ending which definitely had a more interesting setting that helped it to stand apart from the rest of the series up to that point.
This brings back some of the difficulty that was largely absent from AC3 which is an easy plus. A lot of missions towards the end became large treks through facilities which got a bit tiring back-to-back.
An overall improvement on AC3 and easy to enjoy if you liked that one too.

The combat mechanics are great and a general improvement over the first game. The physics remove any stiffness and all animations feel completely fluid. I spent hours just messing around in the dev mode, jumping at the highest point off a cliff and spamming 'V' to have Turner's neck unexpectedly burst open and spray blood decals everywhere. This was largely what most players had to mess around with during the excruciatingly long wait between the Alpha program and release.

Now the game is here, it's disappointing what these highly-refined combat mechanics were wasted on. It's clear that a huge portion of time and energy was spent on making a fantastic in-house engine and that alone is an achievement in the current Unreal-dominated landscape. Unfortunately these high production values don't mash well with the very basic, visual novel style of storytelling that worked previously, causing a weird disconnect that I can't seem to shake. The campaign feels like a fan mod, though I can see why perhaps they didn't want to spend too much time on it when after all these years they provided the fans with all the tools to make their own stories. Regardless, the story didn't seem to hit as hard for me this time, and the final boss didn't even come close to the terror of the first game (which also had the rather unnerving realistic textures, where this game goes for a more smoothed out CGI look).
This is an impressive toolbox, but without much content to carry it. I can commend Wolfire for sticking it out for this long, this might be the last time we see an independent in-house engine for anything again.

A great introduction to a new generation of Armored Core and the reduced difficulty makes this one of the best introductions to the series in general, though for anyone who beat the previous games this will prove to be one of the easiest in the franchise which takes away some of the shock value when an AC suddenly appears in a mission, drastically reducing your chances of survival (or slightly in AC3's case).
Story is the most cohesive it's been yet, though perhaps one of the most predictable and straightforward too. Again, great for new players, less so for series vets.
The increased production values let these mechs feel as great as ever, easily one of the best things this game has over AC2, even if I slightly prefer that game's grittier aesthetic. Here every part feels a lot more unique thanks to the extra effects and animations at play.
I also massively appreciate the less irritating mission and enemy design over AC2/AA - no more 'your mech can't jump this cliff fuck you lol' moments, for once I didn't feel the need to save after every mission.
One of the best main themes ever composed, at least boot it up for that (but I'd stick around for the sick mecha action too).

Refined Armored Core 4 to a point and gave it some more interesting missions to boot. This is peak mecha design and gameplay. It was a good move to keep the mission count low but have branching paths and encouraged repeat playthroughs with your now-stronger mech. Nothing more satisfying than completely bodying those missions that gave you trouble before. A very on-point story that feels very grounded despite the fantastical tech on display.

I am absolutely head over heels for the music, aesthetic, atmosphere, visuals, and designs. Armored Core 4 created it but this game improves on it with more of an actual game surrounding it now. I'll never get the HUD and shading out of my head.

Probably my favourite mech game, just over Zone of the Enders 2. I just wish there was more of it but after this we were subjected to Armored Core 5. Oh well.