utterly stomps the shit out of its predecessor in every regard. way better missions, music and narrative. definitely starts with its weaker leg forward, but those last two endings - the fucking audacity of this game - it's unreal

unfortunately the localization is a bit muddy, but that's true of 4 as well. voice acting's still top notch but you might need to look at a wiki to grasp some of the character motivations and other behind-the-scenes stuff. not a big deal, but worth noting nonetheless

by the way: zinaida was still harder than that one mission - even on hard. if you've played it, you know the one

my perspective as a casual player has me obviously having different priorities to hardcore fans of the series who may prefer this game's deeper customisation options and multiple endings that add replay value with different missions and such but i found it a step down from AC4. the basic gameplay feel and general presentation is an improvement over 4 but at least in the league ending path (the required first playthrough) i didn't really find any of the missions that memorable or unique. in AC4 there were missions that i would ram my head into a wall with attempt after attempt and come to hate, only to restrategise and find incredibly satisfying (chapter 3, mission: 'water gliding' for example). i did not find that here. obvs, people don't come to this game for narrative but i couldn't bring myself to care about anything here unlike in AC4 - as loosely defined as they were 'Anatolia's Raven', 'Fiona' and 'Joshua O'Brien' were tangible characters, not just interchangeable mechs or operators. the events of the lynx war were more concrete and followable and ultimately consequential? a lot of things like that worked to this game's detriment in my eyes.
the arms forts were not particularly fun, feels like a cheap 'next-gen' gimmick (cheap in the tacky sense, im sure those were expensive to make happen), not really fun and appropriately in 7th gen fashion kills the framerate!
all that aside it's still an enjoyable enough game that just didn't really deliver on what i enjoyed of its predecessor. so i can finally pass my judgement that "miyazaki peaked with his first game" (lol) (i am being somewhat facetious i just don't enjoy souls that much)

Es gibt vieles was man an For Answer loben kann.

Die Missionen? Sind besser!
Die Menüs? Sind besser!
Das Bauen? Ist besser! Diesmal wollte ich sogar mal wieder Mechs bauen!
Die Story? Ist besser... zumindest etwas! Irgendwann kam ich aber auch nicht mehr mit.
Die Musik? Nicht besser, aber mehr vom good stuff!
Die Grafik? Uhm... na ja, immerhin kann ich nun mein UI im Himmel sehen, sowie die Farbe von meinem eigenen AC. Die Filter wurden also etwas runtergeschraubt.

Die Arena ist ebenfalls zurück, es gibt wieder verschiedene Routen, For Answer ist das was 4 von Anfang an hätte sein sollen.
Allerdings bleiben viele der Probleme die ich mit Teil 4 hatte weiterhin vorhanden.

Der Kampf ist weiterhin sehr schnell mit weniger Fokus auf dem zielen, wodurch sich alles so indirekt anfühlt und man weniger aktiv "ausweicht" und mehr "durchgehend in Bewegung" ist. Kleine Gegner sind dadurch fast ein Joke, während feindliche ACs sich alle viel zu ähnlich bekämpfen lassen.
Das Spiel hat zwei neue Elemente mit dem Vanguard Overed Boost und den Armored Fortresses als Gegnern, auf die das Spiel aber doch etwas zu häufig zurückgreift.

Als mir die Credits entgegenliefen und dort plötzlich das Achievement für Ending Nr 1 aufploppte, hab ich zuerst geseufzt. Doch nach genug rumgemurre hab ich mich durchgerungen zumindest noch ein zweites Ende zu holen. Also hab ich extra andere Missionen gewählt, versucht meine Ränge in den Leveln die ich schon hatte zu verbessern, nur um am Ende dann genau das selbe Ende nochmal zu bekommen. Na supi


Eine deutliche Verbesserung gegenüber seinem direkten Vorgänger, der aber nur das was schon da war deutlich verfeinerte. Ich kann verstehen, dass dies für viele der Lieblingsteil ist, ich bevorzuge aber weiterhin die Teil 3 Ära der Reihe.

Schade, weil von hier an scheint es nun nur noch bergab zu gehen. Wish me luck!

Ah close, a little late for AC6's release (hell no, I'm not playing AC5 and AC:VD).

In short, much, much superior to AC4, but could've been a lot better. It's alright, overall. Don't really want to talk much about it since AC6 is already out, so here are some random notes:

-Why is Type-B not the default control scheme? It's easily the best choice.
-Still artistically boring, but not as bland as 4.
-Not really appreciating the "someone took a piss on my screen" filter much.
-Menu is so much better than the convoluted mess 4's was.
-Yay, the arena is back and it's actually fun.
-Mission design is an improvement over 4, but still I'm not a fan of "ignore everything and go for the main target" silent hill-style missions.
-Aiming is so annoying. Why are my missiles targeting the enemy's if I'm literally in front of him?
-WHY AM I TARGETING THE FAR AWAY ENEMY IF I HAVE ONE IN FRONT OF MEEEE!? AAAAAAAA!!!
-Arms Forts (colossal weapons) fights are awesome, even if they're on the easier side. Spirit of Mother Will fight might be one of my favorites in the franchise.
-Hm, so it's possible for Fromsoft to do the "bigger=better" shtick correctly (looking at you, Elden Ring).
-For a game with so much movement, the vertical box is very limited in certain maps.
-White Glint fight was so awesome that future fights felt underwhelming. Maybe it should've been the final boss.
-Hands down best soundtrack in the franchise, not even close.
-Ending 2 is somewhat interesting philosophically.
-Some changes up in the missions and story in Route 2, but it's not enough to justify playing it a 3rd time.
-Also, I've already seen Ending 3, and it feels edgy for the sake of being edgy. Not interested. I guess it's a cool bonus, though.

Probably won't play the other ACs, maybe Project Phantasma, which I wrongly skipped, after 6. A cool franchise to play overall, but hindered by the lack of narrative and Fromsoft's inability to adapt to modern gameplay improvements. If they manage to bring an interesting story with 6, I'll be pleased.

★★½ – Average ✅

This one's for the zoomers.

Shockingly ambitious game with its clean graphics and relatively stable 60fps, giant multi-part bosses, destructible environments (with meaningful gameplay implications: shoot out bridges underneath foes, use fragile walls for cover) and weirdly technical quick boost mechanic reminiscent of GunValkyrie where chaining boosts requires you to vary up their direction with every input. Even leverages the PS3 and 360's analog triggers by letting you accelerate and thrust at varying speeds.

Also highly arcade-pilled with its selectable and very powerful starting builds and an extremely tight and varied campaign. This still does feel like Armored Core -- thoughtful movement, cutthroat atmosphere and interesting subversions (that one mission where you blow up the port feels like you're the monster in a horror movie) -- but From left basically no element untouched as they re-envisioned their flagship series for the Bloom Gen. Didn't give me that puzzle solving satisfaction the building mechanics in the oldgen games elicited and can feel sorta samey across its run but this one definitely earns its reputation.

Also legitimately a DMC3-level course correction after AC4 felt like it was rushed out for the PS3's launch.

Booting up this game was one of my biggest mistakes of 2024. I wanted to study for my next exam this month because "why not let's start the year with one less exam" but then I try this game out and suddenly I have clocked 13 hours and done all the routes of this game and it's still not enough. I need more. It's kinda sad for me knowing we don't get to see more games in the series with this direction in gameplay, because it's easily my favourite as of now (I still prefer LR overall, mind you, but this one is a close second).

Mission quality is straight up amazing, customization is insanely good as well, replayability-well if after 3 routes I felt like I wanted more (and there is, with hard mode and some missions left to unlock) that should speak volumes on how replayable this shit is, and overall it's insane how much of a glowup this game is from base 4!

They just saw the base and said "yeah make all the areas open and make the player go batshit insane with the builds, so much he can't even see himself on the screen for how much you can chainboost and overboost yourself". Game also features Arms Forts which are these giant machine bosses which is not a new concept per se but the way they implemented them in the game just wipes mostly everything they went for before this. Don't you ever give me "mAsSiVe Mt" after Spirit of Motherwill istg.

Sadly, chapter 4 missions are kinda frustrating and not as fun as the other ones, but it's absolutely forgivable imo for a game this experimental. What a mistake, man, how do I study without thinking about this game for the next month???

Before following up Demon's Souls with Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki followed up Armored Core 4 with Armored Core: For Answer. The man has many talents, but one quirk, at least early in his career, was being a master of the Second Draft.

AC4 was a fairly bold game, mechanically--for all its faults, it innovated heavily on the Armored Core formula with drastically higher speed gameplay, revised lockon/aiming mechanics to better suit that speed, looser build restrictions, and more. Nonetheless, as a complete experience it was janky and threadbare, and the new mechanics just didn't quite coalesce into truly great action.

For Answer fixed it. Not only is the core combat enhanced with even more freedom of movement, new techniques, heavy balance changes, and, of course, More Parts; not only that, but the content of the game is now actually designed to take advantage of it.

Apart from having more interesting objectives and conditions than 4's, most missions take place in huge, huge environments, vast playgrounds to over(ed)boost across in seconds. Normal enemies are barely roadbumps, but the story prominently features Arms Forts, gigantic setpiece bosses that make even your ten meter tall flying robot look like a mouse, or in some cases perhaps an ant. But even Arms Forts are seldom as threatening as other NEXTs.

Sorry--a NEXT is a player model AC in gen 4, contrasted with Normals, which are literally just generic enemies. This is why you're so much faster and more powerful than in the rest of the series; think of NEXTs as being to Armored Cores what Gundams are to Mobile Suits. Pretty much every game in the series has you fighting other ACs built with the same parts the player has access to and obeying the same mechanics (unless they cheat. they do frequently cheat), but perhaps moreso than ever, these duels are the heart and soul of For Answer. The action is both lightning fast and prone to becoming a tense, protracted struggle; after all, anything you can do, enemy NEXTs can do, too.

There are some rough edges, of course ; it didn't delete all of 4's jank. For one thing, you may want to change the regulations to something earlier than the default, up-to-date 1.4 (there is a simple menu setting to do this). At least in the PS3 version, the later regulations cause severe slowdown in some fights, particularly if you're fighting over water or there are a lot of explosions happening. That's right: they actually patched framerate issues in to a game that was fine on release. And then, judging by 1.4 being the final version, they never fixed it. I've literally never heard of such a thing.

But hey, at least it's fun to experiment with the different regs, because the balance swings all over the place between them to an insane degree. Want extremely generous energy requirements on boosting, meaning you can basically be flying around at top speed at all times? Try 1.20. Want infinite energy, as like a joke god mode? 1.15. Want seemingly generic missile launchers to be the most absurdly overpowered weapon you've ever seen in a game? 1.0, baby. Just be aware that these are changes to how NEXTs and their parts work, not specifically the player; the game's main enemies will also benefit from whatever gonzo shit you're giving yourself.

The story... is it one of the better Armored Core stories? Honestly, that can be a tricky question with this series. For better or for worse, it's more in line with the earlier games than 4's, with more of a focus on politics and worldbuilding than character drama. But it does feature the protagonist of 4 returning as a badass (and still silent) heroic rival character, piloting one of the coolest robots in the series, and honestly that kind of thing makes it easy to get swept up in the hype. For Answer's story is vague but very big, almost feeling like a mythology more than anything. It's also one of the few Armored Core games with multiple endings, which helps it feel like there's more meat on the bone than in 4 even if a single playthrough is still very short.

For Answer is one of the Armored Core games that you most often see people cite as the best one, and it's easy to see why. Are there areas in which it's handily outdone? Certainly. But above all, for a game built mostly off of another one's bones, it's absolutely one of a kind. You can't get robot fights paced like this anywhere else. Accept no substitutes.

Glad so many people enjoyed Elden Ring n all the other souls like games. Are people ready for Armored Core? You better be. Cause this shit is amazing.

I think this is possibly the most re-playable game? Think about it. A lot of the missions here are so short and everything about this game is so fast, especially when you can be built to go like a fucking comet.
Oh yeah this game also has a really great story that involves with the conflict of the preservation of humanity.

Lets just say there's not a lot of games where I can say that.

WHEW so this is what Armored Core can BE!!!!!! For Answer (for Answer?) feels like AC4 got polished up and reworked to feel smoother and more digestible without losing even an ounce of that Armored Core clunk and grizzle. I can’t even really describe what feels so much better. Maybe it’s the new lock on system, which you can set to auto rotate the screen and keep what you’re looking at in focus? That could be a big part of it, but I think there’s more going on here. For Answer is as short and sweet as the last game, but with more reason to replay (multiple endings!) and somehow makes a mech game feel buttery smooth without losing the weight of your big man-tank. It’s just wonderful, and I think it’s given me the energy I need to revisit the older titles with fresh eyes