Project Phantasma funciona quase como uma versão 2.0 do jogo original, adicionando um novo modo de jogo e uma nova campanha bem curtinha.

No novo modo - arena - você tem que enfrentar outros ACs, em batalhas 1x1, com o objetivo de alcançar o rank 1(você começa no rank 50, então é uma longa jornada). É definitivamente a coisa mais divertida do jogo, pois as batalhas são bem desafiadoras e requerem constante mudança do seu AC pra se adequar ao do oponente. Meu único problema é com os ranks mais altos, pois a maior parte deles possuem a ls-99-moonlight equipada - uma arma de curto alcance com um dano absurdo - que faz com que muitas lutas se tornem bem frustrantes.

A nova campanha foi muito divertida no quesito técnico, muitas novas mecânicas foram adicionadas que abrem um bom caminho para missões mais bem elaboradas em jogos futuros. Tirando essa parte de novas mecânicas, foi uma campanha bem ok, nada que se destaca muito.

Apesar dessas novas adições, achei que poderiam ter inovado bem mais. A sensação final foi de um jogo liminar, sendo só um ponto de passagem para um jogo bem melhor, e isso me incomodou bastante. Em resumo, não considero um must play como o primeiro jogo, porém é bem divertido e vale a pena se gostou de como as coisas funcionam no AC original.

I can see why this is considered more of an "Expansion game" Than a spinoff or some other category, because it really is just more of the same but some additions. However, those additions are top class and make perfect sense. Particularly Arena is a fun and well-fitting way to keep you sharp and give you another avenue of progression past the woefully short story. I say woefully not because its bad, quite the contrary its far better than the previous game in a lot of regards. The first of most being that it is far more choate and gets followed directly with little deviation, with a narrative centered around duology of characters and yourself rather than disjointed squabbling amongst corpos. Felt a lot more personal for that too, in a positive way. Though it was dreadfully short. Solid addition though.

more of the same for better or worse

the new arena mode is decent fun, but I find the plot significantly weaker and lacking the darker tone AC1 had going on, felt a lot safer and more generic

a Lot less missions, entirely linear and lacks the more open ended mission structure AC1 had, and the missions are generally dull and forgettable, a few were decent

overall an Okay prequel that's kinda forgettable and one-upped in every single way by MoA and the original game minus some small additions

Hmm... a generally positive time, but a mixed bag. I started with this one because it's technically a prequel to Armored Core 1, and that was silly. It was fine, but it was silly.

Controls are... crusty. To say the least. Even for PS1. I was able to adapt given a few hours, but even once firing while boost-strafing in circles starts to feel "normal" it never feels smooth. Interacting with consoles and doors and such feels pretty consistently bad. This lack of fine motor control also made me prefer standard outdoor brawls to anything that involved going into a confined space. Missions in general are hit and miss. Some feel very slapdash.

The arena is a highlight, and it's great, both as fairly interesting content and as a way for a player to "grind" and power up their builds in order to get through the next mission. Looking forward to more.

Just beating out Verdict Day in the vote for Armored Core With Most Awkward to Abbreviate Subtitle, Project Phantasma is the second game in the series and it is... middle of the road. It's not the AC game that most could have been an email, but it probably could have been an email. In fact it would absolutely be DLC today, with only a handful of new parts added and a story clocking in at maybe three hours (not that most other games in the series get far past the 8-12 range, counting just the main story).

Said story is considered sort of... an oddity. It has more... it's more of an... it has A Character. Like a persistent supporting one who's relevant to the plot. That's more than the other very early games, or at least the others never really show up on screen. Sumika is another Raven, though, and you occasionally co-op with her. That said, the main impression the story gave me was of something more... Saturday Morning than the usual Armored Core fare. It's a very straightforward, self-contained conflict against a single antagonist, who is also probably the most Generic Cartoon Supervillain character in the series. He even has kind of a catchphrase, which is pretty annoying. (Ha ha, get it? It's like the thing!) But hey, the voice actor is having fun with it. It's just not exactly the darkly camp political commentary or high-melodrama real robot anime tropes the rest of the series might get you used to: a bad man wants to build a scary robot to take over the world, so you shoot at him until he dies, and also, a lady is there. (I'm not marking this as spoilers.)

It must be said that by far Project Phantasma's biggest contribution to the series, if not exactly a unique draw, was the Arena. Basically just a series of standalone, optional AC duels in which you climb a rankings ladder one opponent at a time, it's an instant-staple game mode that didn't exist in AC1; the concept of Ravens being officially ranked was just there for narrative flavor, despite the rankings getting an entire main menu option. It honestly feels a little wrong that the Arena started here. Not, like, morally wrong, it just sounds Incorrect. I mean, the very next game is the one that's actually about the Arena. PP doesn't mention it in the story at all, as far as I can remember; it's kind of such a random Thing Off to the Side you could be forgiven for assuming it's nondiegetic, up until you play Master of Arena.

I will also point out that the reward for beating the final arena opponent is one of the funniest weapons in the series--the FINGER, a hand-shaped five-barreled machine gun with absolutely obscene DPS that also burns through ammo faster than any weapon in the game. That might almost balance itself out if not for the ammo capacity being 3000. Yeah, Fromsoft wasn't really big on constant balance tweaks yet at this point, but this thing got nerfed into fucking oblivion for the next game.

Mission design is... fairly solid, for the early series. I'd call it more even than AC1, if not necessarily better; it's possibly debatable which game has higher peaks, although I'm leaning 1, but 1 for sure has lower valleys. PP is a very Safe kind of game compared to the two it's sandwiched between. I don't recommend skipping it, but neither do I really recommend not skipping it; it's just, Some More. Take it or leave it.

Anyway, the next game pops the fuck off.

é tipo uma DLC do primeiro, todos os menus e visual do jogo são a mesma coisa, ele usa a mesma OST também (eu ACHO que com algumas tracks novas?). História mais linear e com mais diálogos, achei um downgrade comparado com a do AC1 mas não é ruim, os personagens são bem legais. O design das missões é diferente, adorei as várias lutas contra o Stinger, principalmente as 3 últimas, uma coisa q eu posso dizer desse é que a última missão é melhor que a última missão do primeiro, com de fato uma boss fight legal pra encerrar.

I only played AC 1 for a little bit before dropping it, but feeling like I wanted to give it a second try, and wanting to play all Fromsoft games I had some sort of interest in, I popped into Project Phantasma.
While Project Phantasma has mostly the same exact gameplay as AC 1, it feels... better, somehow. There might be some slight changes here and there, a sound effect might be different, the lock-on might act slightly different, etc., I'm not really sure, but it feels a bit nicer to play, enough that I could see past the clunkiness and into what makes Armored Core special - customizing your mech, taking into account your limitations and desires, and trying to take whatever the game throws at you with what you can make.
The Arena is a genius addition to the game. I know there were AC fights in Armored Core 1, but they weren't accessible at your leisure, they happened as you progressed the game like story events. Here you have 49 fights (is that how math works? I think so) up the rankings in the arena, fighting a large variety of opponents in stages of your choosing. You can replay these as much as you like without penalty, which is great, and beating opponents allows you not only to fight the next, but rewards you with cash and sometimes exclusive parts for your mech. Some of the fights are really tricky, and may require you to change around your mech to be a good match for your opponent. The Arena really forces you engage with the AC customization system on a deep level, which is pretty fun. The fact that penalties are not deducted at all from Arena battles also helps the player earn some cash to buy new parts a lot easier than doing missions ever was in AC 1, although here it's definitely a requirement since all of the actual missions are linear, story-advancing fair. Nothing to help grind there.
Regardless, it was a really fun trip up to Rank 1 in the Arena, and that was by far the most enjoyable part of this expansion-thing.
Second to that are the actual missions. It's a mixed bag, but I'd say about 50% of the missions are fun to play. Not a great ratio, but considering the Arena is where most of the actual game is, and the Arena is super fun, it's not too bad.
The story is intriguing, if bland. The threat of an unknown WMD being created by secret societies is nothing new or novel in the world of fiction, especially science fiction, but the rival character, Stinger, has some good moments. I also love how he never fails to bring up his catchphrase, 「俺は面倒が嫌いだ」 in some way each time you meet him.
Speaking of that catchphrase - being in Japanese and all - IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, PLAY THE JAPANESE VERSION OF THIS GAME. Having seen some of the English translation, I can say for sure that ASCII Entertainment was not on their A-game here. Shortened, changed, or poorly translated/flavorless text seems to be all over the place in the translation, not to mention the godawful voice acting. If you're a fan of that, don't let me stop you, I'm always up for a good trash fire myself, but I personally think the poor voice acting and translated text isn't charming here, just bad. The Japanese is quite difficult in this game, with an abundance of technical terms and long strings of kanji, but if you can stomach it, I'd say to go for the Japanese version if at all possible. The voice acting for Stinger in particular is quite good.

Overall, good game. Looking forward to playing Master of the Arena in the future! If the title is anything to go by, it should be right up my alley.

This is essentially the Opposing Force for Half Life as this is to AC1. Missions are much better, though in shorter quantity. Story is a lot more concise and actually pretty entertaining, too. All the new parts introduced are kind of awesome, especially the final part acquired from the Arena which is just a complete melter to anything it touches.

Speaking of Arena, Arena! This is the first time it appeared in true form and its quite good! Very basic, but the fights are fun, the maps are varied, and some fights are completely fucking bullshit! (Pale Rider is quite literally just insane)

Good entry!

Played on: PS1 Emulator | Completed main Story / Arena Rank 9

Gameplay: 3.5/5 - I think that there is a little improvement over the previous one. Levels feel more authentic and fun, there is a recurring villan, and there is actually a final boss. The arena part is a cool addition to the game, something that was lacking from the previous one

Narrative: 3/5 - Set up is still cool

OST: 3.5/5 - Basically the same as the previous one

Soul: 3.5/5 - This one still has the same feeling as the previous one

Visual design / Atmosphere / Worldbuilding 3/5: A little improvement over the previous one

Difficulty design 3/5: Difficulty is ok, but if you win too much arena matches you get very OP very fast and the game looses the balance.

Nostalgia factor: N/A

I completed the expansion with a 99% build of the game and an absurd optional taken from it. That's all it offered me and what this disappointing expansion has to say: just an optional. The levels are ridiculous, there are cutscenes and a rival that does nothing but get beaten from the beginning to the end of the game. It set out to be more cinematic, but in the end it just comes off as awkward.
Everything it has that is enjoyable comes from AC1, and what it adds, excluding the arena, is to be discarded. It is forgettable, silly, a task without infamy or praise from a technical point of view. However, since I wanted to immerse myself in this experience because of the supposed references, I deserve to suffer this disappointment.