A pretty safe sequel that brings the franchise to the 6th console gen. Considering this was a PS2 launch title and coming out just a year after the previous AC game one can't really complain about it's shorter length.

It has some new mechanics like the heat gauge and extensions, but overall it feels like a prettier AC1: PP, due to it's shorter length and added arena that consists of one ranking list.

Music was pretty good, I liked the way it looked and found the difficulty on normal to be quite manageable. Definitely helped that I went through the entire arena at some point and had absolutely no money problems anymore. Plus you could always do a human plus run if you wanted.

Good times, just kind of unremarkable in the sense that there aren't that many new interesting weapons and the final boss being a little lackluster. Curious about Another Age.

Also might be worth mentioning that I played this with the dual analogue stick mod which improved the controls significantly in my opinion.

Interested in Armored Core 2 but haven't played it yet?
Maybe Armored Core 6 was your 2023 GOTY and you want to see what one of the older games is all about?

Check out this Prep Kit! It's full of magazine coverage, sourced interviews with Kota Hoshino & Tsukasa Saito, official renders and promo, Shoji Kawamori sketches, an action figure line, and even Frankie Muniz. I've compiled everything in one place to help get you in that Launch Day mindset! Did you know German DJ Mijk Van Dijk composed the game's theme and released it on a 12" as GameTrax Vol.2? Check it out -

https://goatedquest.blogspot.com/2024/05/070-armored-core-2-prep-kit.html

Let me help make every game you play feel brand new, no matter how old

I wish I liked Armored Core 2 more because it does make a lot of much-needed improvements from the 1st gen games. The story is more involved, the levels have more variety, the difficulty of most of the game is increased without the final level feeling impossible again, etc. But look beneath the surface and most of these changes begin to feel superficial, and there remain many areas in which AC2 fails to improve or actually falls below AC1/MoA.

For a PS2 launch title, it looks great, and the opening cinematic is particularly incredible. I rewatched the whole thing every time I launched the game just to see the bit where the locks explode off the capsule and the mechs come out, it's so cool. Maybe not quite as good as the Omega Boost opening video, but it's still cool. Still, I can't help but feel the smooth, refined aesthetic here is weaker than the blocky grit of the PS1 games. I don't mind the visual departure from those games entirely, it suits this game's new setting and story taking place ages after the first, but considering most of the parts and mecha designs are still completely in line with the 1st gen stuff, it kind of falls flat. Of course, the style of those games was so effective because of the technology they existed on, and there isn't any point in trying to recapture the PS1 aesthetic in a PS2 launch title, but I do wish they committed further to a sleek, futuristic look instead.

As for the gameplay, I finished playing this like half a year after I played the first-gen games so I can't really comment on any minute differences in the control scheme or whatever. On a broader scale, there were two things that stuck out to me. One, there are a few missions here that have no inherent reward for their completion, most if not all of them being mandatory. This means any damage taken or ammo spent will be drained directly from your money rather than cut out of your reward, meaning at a few points in the game you have to lose a good amount of money to continue. This is a smart decision, it makes the mission reward system more interesting and forces you to consider what missions you are taking and when. Ideally, it means you will spend more time taking on non-mandatory missions to build up money rather than speeding through the story, but in reality, you don't have any way of knowing what missions are mandatory, when missions will leave the board, or when new ones will arrive, so unless you are using a guide this doesn't really work. Beyond that, there were a few missions here where I took so much damage and used so much ammo that the amount I had to pay was more than my reward anyway, something that never happened in the first three games. I think either of these options (ramp up the difficulty so you can lose money even when completing missions, or adding non-rewarding mandatory missions) would work to develop the money system in general, but they happen so rarely that together they both feel half-baked.

Two, coming off Master of Arena, the arena in this game feels almost non-existent. I think I played it a little bit when I was playing this last year, but the game never even once prompts you to explore it. I don't think it needs to work exactly the same as it did in MoA, where you had to progress through it to unlock more missions, but some method of blending the missions and the arena on a deeper level feels necessary after that game. Maybe they improve on this in later gens, we'll see.

Mostly, Armored Core 2 feels safe. It doesn't change much in most areas and doesn't change at all in others. Its few new ideas feel half-baked (like the hover legs), and the downgrades from MoA are very apparent. It isn't what I want out of the series at all, but as a basis for expansion, it isn't much better or worse than the first Armored Core. That game ultimately led to Master of Arena, which I really enjoyed, so I'm hoping Another Age is a similar improvement to AC2.

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!

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.

Armored Core 2 is one of the rare games where it does everything and more compared to its predecessor. Better world building, more plot, more AC customization, and the arena.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, the story is basically Char's Counterattack, but with all the mistakes in the movie fixed.

Fighting for corporations and the earth government has never been more fun, and with that comes the arena, a place where you can take on other pilots one-on-one for some extra cash to either upgrade your armored core early or keep yourself out of debt. Every pilot in the arena is fleshed out with a backstory, and you can see their personality even in the way they fight. At 60fps, combat is just perfect. On top of allowing you to rebind buttons, it makes for a fun and intense combat system lifted from the first.

If you couldn't get into Armored Core 1, go ahead and give this game a shot. With the improvements above and the added arena, this is definitely the easier entry to get into. I also see that most people who try Armored Core 1 don't know about the plus system. Once you hit 50k debt, your handler sends you off for upgrades, and it restarts your game. This allows for the game to be a bit easier, and each time you hit 50k debt, you get another upgrade and restart.
Although with the additional arena, debt isn't as much of a worry, and most should be able to get through the game fairly easily on the normal difficulty without the plus program.
Overall, this is a perfect mecha action game and one I highly recommend.

It sounds hyperbolic when I say it, but I don't think there's a single thing this game does that I didn't enjoy more in the PS1 trio of Armored Core games. The one thing it unquestionably does have over them though is that the game runs at a smooth 60fps which feels very nice coming from the low-framerate PS1 titles. Outside of that though the quality of this sequel is extremely dubious.

Gameplay feels more sluggish in general than in the first generation AC games. Even the faster core parts don't seem to have the responsiveness of the prior title. Any sense of arcade-like speed and action is dulled down. The one major movement mechanic added is the overboost, a high speed dash that drains your meter quickly. Outside of Arena matches though its uses are relatively few as it's an unwieldy maneuver and many stages take place in cramped quarters where its utility is limited.

While the jump from the PS1 to PS2 hardware is impressive and AC2 is probably one of the better looking launch titles I still can't help but prefer the art direction in the prior game. It's a shame since moving from Earth to Mars seemed like an opportunity for all sorts of beautiful colors, but this is rarely taken advantage of. AC1 had bold, strong color choices that helped to accentuate the game's atmosphere, whereas 2 has far more muted tones that turn many missions into a muddy soup of grey and brown colors. There's nothing here that wowed me like the Moon Arena stage from the previous generation of titles. It's an unremarkable-looking game.

Mission design is probably where Armored Core 2 suffers most compared to its predecessor. Many stages feel drawn out and involve fighting waves of weak enemies that filter into the map slowly. It feels as though there's less creativity and variety, with more defense missions taking place over smaller maps. There's nothing as interesting as venturing into an insect hive to destroy the queen, or the trek through a base full of corrosive acid to disable it. The stage bounds felt very restrictive and arbitrary as well, as I found myself accidentally moving out of bounds a number of times, something that was never a problem in the original three games.

The arena from AC1's expansions return and is probably the least compromised aspect of the game. I had the most fun with this. Some of the high-ranking arena ACs are absolute monsters and it feels great when you finally beat their cheating asses. This is probably the most fun I had with AC2.

The plot of this one follows AC1's blueprint nearly beat-for-beat. It's a conspiracy laden plot about a dystopian post-war future full of evil corporations, power hungry players, backstabbing and the like. The storytelling is still mostly done by mail and mission briefings, though with more funny 6th gen voice acting. It feels less subdued here though. AC1 didn't need to have characters say things like "you only exists because of corporations" to get that same point across.

I feel a bit bad for being so harsh on the game. I don't think it's an outright bad game, but it's also hard to justify playing when it's directly inferior to its predecessor and does so little new. It feels like a game you can easily skip playing and not miss much.

I can't imagine what 'Armored Core 2' would be like for someone who skipped the expansions to the first game, but speaking as someone who didn't, this is about as standard as sequels come. If we are to assess this game without the 1997 and 1999 instalments in mind, it's a fantastic and thrilling breakthrough, but if this is not the case then it is merely a more polished more of 1999s 'Master of Arena'. Lucky it is, then, that I found FromSoftware's exit piece for the Playstation so moreish, because I felt no more provoked by this game than I have any of the previous, which is maybe why I sound so down on it in the introduction, so let us lighten up a little.

'Armored Core 2' has just as well a compellingly pulpy set up as any other entry, a mission to Mars! The new human solution to the industrial consequences which trapped all underground previously is a new colony setup on the red planet. Lax on regulation as an emerging setup is to be, this is where the Ravens come back into the picture, working on the corp offering the carrots each passing hour—you, no different in structural entrapment to any other forcefully integrated into the economic cesspit, a hopeless vulture with no agency. The brutal, nihilistic corvid. What proceeds is, in terms of levels, an almost remake of the first generation games, with many sections operating as straight up remastering down to the cutscenes, moving, say, the desert train mission of 'Armored Core'—where planes crudely nipped at you from angels that jank had refused elegance—to a personal favourite. But such good spirits had the understated tingle of a game running out of ideas, which is the real shame, for half of the levels in 'Armored Core 2' are far in away the best the series could offer by the turn of the millennium, but the other half are simply half hearted or seen before too recently. Mechanically, the game is stronger than it has ever been, with overheating adding a new layer to the carefully formed tapestry of AC building first weaved in those focused Playstation titles, the addition is just as considered, but so little of it's company is. Customisation has more here than ever, and yet, the game never challenged enough nor felt long enough to warrant such investigation on anything that hadn't been present in the prior generation anyway. A waste of good metal, since the effort here might be the strongest innovation setting this sequel apart from what came before.

On difficulty, as was perhaps illuminated earlier, '2' is a strange mecha duck. Still challenging yes, but also quite easy up until the abrupt shift in the second half which felt like the game coming back up to speed with the adversity felt in 'Master of Arena'. Now, here's a funny thought, have I really gotten that much better at 'Armored Core' between 'Project Phantasma' and '2', or is my almost immediate abandonment of tetrapods going into the first hour of this sequel and sharp dedication to a light sniping mech with little resistance or major effort from me compared to the last entries all the way through to the end maybe a sign that the balancing in this one wasn't amazing? This adversity I sought had nested itself very comfortably in the Arena mode of course, for what was an excellent but truly brutal experience. Of course it, like 'Phantasma' before it is loaded with small potatoes, quite literally small in the case of the child you murder in the first 10 placements, but when you get stuck on an Arena fight in the top half of the list it can be a real fabric chewer.

Now, while the missions of the game didn't take nearly as much focus as the previous, '2' still has a fair few pretty thrilling moments. So as Mars develops, authority makes itself known. The Frighteners work as an effectively intimating force ludically at first, with the Fortner's handing you off a guaranteed failure on a sortie and later an excellent 2 on 1 fight, but Klein, while loaded with some very daunt dialogue that does him a lot of favours, is a complete pushover. The final encounter itself is great for sure, with his final design being something truly otherworldly, but he stands no chance and could've definitely been a more gritty challenge, no matter how appreciable his noble end is.

With the end of the independent attempts at controlling Mars, whether they be some earnest attempt to end the libertarian dystopia or some grotesque market warfare, the red planet bleeds and it was all upon your hand as a Raven. Klein asks a sly question in "what is it that you wish for?", as the brutality of the status quo came back again and again to those who systematically helped enforce it. Victims too are the Ravens when it comes to the making of fate, the fence-guard of capital and its inherent material and psychological nature leaves them, cruelly, unable to wish. The bird flees change not because of anything genuine enough to be called visceral or cerebral, it flees because it does not know anything else.

Great start to the PS2 era of AC games with a single exception, somehow this game has no option for analog controls but given that it was a launch title, they haven't figured out how to incoporate it, so I would recommend to find a mod that enables these controls as it makes a massive improvment.

Now to the actual game itself not a lot of changes to the controls, you're still playing an AC game though weapon projictile seems to be a bit slower for some weapons, there's also new options to spice up the gameplay like adding decoys and anti air missiles as well as the addiition of shields (which were not for me I still prefer laserblades).

The plot is kind of insane in a good way, it reminds me of ace combat zero with how destructive it gets, the villian while not having a lot of depth is enjoyable, I only wish there were more to the characters who briefed on missions instead of being just people that tell you to do something.

Overall I quite enjoyed it this is a great game by itself with a lot to offer.

8.5/10 would blow up mars again.

I went into this quite excited, really dug Gen 1 in just about every regard, even if AC1 was the peak.

However, I feel like this game fell kinda flat. The arena and gameplay is a total improvement, music's pretty nice too. Although from an aesthetic/story perspective I can't really consider AC2 better than Project Phantasma or Master of Arena, I found most of the missions to be unmemorable save for a key few. Leos Klein is kind of neat from a conceptual standpoint, but could've used a bit more fleshing out, then again you're not gonna top Nine-Ball.

The ending genuinely goes hard though.
Raven? Where will you? What will you do?
Uhhh I'm going to play Another Age

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.

Armored Core 2 brings the series into the next generation, but does little more than that in my eyes. It doesn't quite capture the atmosphere of the original, nor the excellent pacing of Master of Arena, and otherwise doesn't bring much in the way of mechanical advancement. In fact, I'm actually quite shocked by how similarly this played to the Gen 1 games. The addition of new part types, "Inside" and "Extension", didn't do much for me; they just felt bolted on to the Gen 1 framework, rather than something which could give Gen 2 its own identity.

A minor disappointment then, but still a good enough time. The arena was cool, even if I found some of the maps ripe for AI cheese, and the general Armored Core gameplay was fun and engaging enough to keep me through so the end. Armored Core casually strolled into the next generation, but I wish it had taken that full leap.

Bog-Standard good ol' Armored Core. Not much else to say, aside from this game is generally the bare minimum for what makes a solid AC game. Fun parts, cool story and aesthetic, fantastic soundtrack, enjoyable progression, so on. While it's a general step down from something as masterful as MoA, this game essentially keeps standard with what made the first two installments of Gen 1 enjoyable. A pretty good sequel if a little boiler-plate for sheer virtue of being less interesting than MoA and preceeding the directly more significant Gen 3.