Short and sweet. An all around fun game with little to complain about asides from a couple annoying missions (especially the final one).
The different parts are interesting to play around with and can really change up how your mech plays. The money system is interesting and encourages you to keep tweaking your mech to waste as little money on ammo and repairs as possible.
The missions have some decent variation. Maps themselves are mostly narrow, maze-like hallways but there's a bunch of different locations so the level design never got tiring for me.
The story is basically non existent but I found it to be a nice backdrop for missions. It's funny how forthright companies are about having you do heinous shit, they'll casually ask you to terrorize a city and directly explain it's so that the citizens will pay them protection money.
The different parts are interesting to play around with and can really change up how your mech plays. The money system is interesting and encourages you to keep tweaking your mech to waste as little money on ammo and repairs as possible.
The missions have some decent variation. Maps themselves are mostly narrow, maze-like hallways but there's a bunch of different locations so the level design never got tiring for me.
The story is basically non existent but I found it to be a nice backdrop for missions. It's funny how forthright companies are about having you do heinous shit, they'll casually ask you to terrorize a city and directly explain it's so that the citizens will pay them protection money.
This review contains spoilers
Armored Core is a series that I was introduced through the 6th entry. I love that game and wanted to go back and play through the series. I played through and beat this once already on steam deck, but wanted to do so again on legit hardware, and since I was playing through the series. The story is barely a part of the game, I have tried to look deeper into it but there really isn't much. It's set in a world that was destroyed in a war, humanity moved undergrouind due to this and two companies (Chrome and Murakumo) are fighting for control of the old world. We as a Raven fight on both of their behalf, but this is were I get lost. It's revealed that it is an AI running the Raven's Nest and who is controlling the strong AC named Nine Ball. In one ending, we destroy a space cannon named Justice and see the Murakumo CEO get bricked afterwards. If we continue to the next ending then we can destroy the AI controlling Nine Ball and the Raven's Nest. It seems like Nine Ball was pitting the two companies against each other so that one would be destroyed and it could have a better chance at taking control, but I'm unsure. On to gameplay, jesus christ this has not aged well. Graphics are fine, I can deal with this. But, tank controls to maneuver your AC feels horrible. We also have to use the triggers to look up and down, making this incredibly tedious and sometimes impossible. While customization is an option and fun, there is not much room to be fast and have a good selection of gear (apart from the Karasawa, my beloved). Missions were alright if not a little tedious, it was extremely annoying to melee enemies at times or to interact with buttons. The worst part is the platforming, especially on the final level. I did not want to do it again, so I skipped the Nine Balls at the end and simply ended it. The lack of the arena detracks a lot from this, and after ending the game I had no intention to go back and do the alternative missions. The story was lacking overall and gameplay was tedious, though it did shine through at times.
This review contains spoilers
Minha primeira experiência com armored core e para minha surpresa foi bem melhor do que eu esperava, os controles, principalmente os de câmera, são bem estranhos no início mas com 1 ou 2 horas de jogo no máximo já da pra se acostumar e depois que se acostuma é bem divertido de controlar o mecha.
Os gráficos não são os mais bonitos do ps1 mas também não da pra reclamar.
A gameplay é muito boa, por mais que isso provavelmente vai depender muito da build do seu robô, o jogo tem bastante rejogabilidade, já que depois de zerar você vai poder rejogar todas as missôes podendo customizar a sua build varias vezes.
A trilha sonora é legalzinha, não achei ruim mas também não é nada demais.
Por fim eu preciso dizer, a parte mais difícil da missão final não é enfrentar o nine-ball mas sim aquela parte de plataforma chata pra caralho, eu me estressei mais caindo das plataformas várias vezes do que morrendo pro nine-ball.
Os gráficos não são os mais bonitos do ps1 mas também não da pra reclamar.
A gameplay é muito boa, por mais que isso provavelmente vai depender muito da build do seu robô, o jogo tem bastante rejogabilidade, já que depois de zerar você vai poder rejogar todas as missôes podendo customizar a sua build varias vezes.
A trilha sonora é legalzinha, não achei ruim mas também não é nada demais.
Por fim eu preciso dizer, a parte mais difícil da missão final não é enfrentar o nine-ball mas sim aquela parte de plataforma chata pra caralho, eu me estressei mais caindo das plataformas várias vezes do que morrendo pro nine-ball.
I don't know why I gave this a 3/5 before, AC1 is deserving of more than that. It cannot be said enough how much they got right with the first entry. Real banger soundtrack too.
No video game will ever top this soundtrack. Very clunky gameplay at first but you get used to it. I think it's by design as you really feel like you're using a giant mech that shoots things to pieces. The game is very forgiving even though difficult in the FromSoftware fashion. Completing the game also gives you an opportunity to replay missed missions and collect missed collectables which is good to know before going into the game!
Very hard to play on my emulation device and a hard game but will beat
Honestly it holds up pretty well and is pretty impressive for the time, even though the controls are... something, and a lot of missions are just go around the dark maze that you can barely call level-design and find/kill something, and the weapons are hilariously unbalanced (the Kurosawa is infamous, but I beat the game on a four-leg with the machine gun arms (not the gatling), the beam cannon shoulder that has 80 ammo and does stupid damage, and the shoulder machine gun, and that build shredded). I get out of it with the feeling that I'm glad I played this even if it wasn't always great, and that's a good sign
also wtf was that last mission
also wtf was that last mission
Everything about this game rocks except the final level. Gameplay loop, customization, UI, soundtrack. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
I'll start off with saying that I never had any experience or knowledge prior to playing the armored core series, I only ever hear words about it being fromsoft lesser but still well-known franchise, so I figured it would be a great idea for me to play all the AC games from AC1 all the way to fires of Rubicon.
starting off with AC1, there are a lot to consider here first it's a PS1 game so emulating it is no problem however I didn't tamper with any graphic settings as I wanted it to be as close to the original as possible, it is graphically impressive for its time, the armored core you play as are visually appealing and the areas do have fog distance probably to improve performance, they do tend to be the same dark and grainy areas but you do get some visual variety.
Sound design is great, AC movements to the gun noise and explosion are good quality, the noise the enemy makes when they explode is great as well, the sound can also help you determine if there are enemies in the other room but that is where the radar helps you out most of the time.
Now for the gameplay itself that’s when a lot of problems and frustration arises, AC1 being a PS1 game where you control a mech in a 3d environment has tank controls meaning you can only turn your position with the left and right d-pad, the bumpers lets your strafe right or left and the triggers adjust your aim up and down, this will a lot difficult to adjust especially for newcomers and people who have played newer AC games but this is offset by your weapons having auto lock so you it’s not like you’ll be shooting at an enemy and take 5 business days to turn left, the game is slow and it’s by design.
The Armored Core part of the game is doing missions with a straight objective and get rewards in the form of money, you’re given a mission briefing about two companies fighting each other to see who can wear themselves out first while you are a supposed Mary Sue working for a PMC to fix these problems, an important note is that every time you complete a mission your pay will be deducted to fix your mech and how much ammunition was used, this means you’ll have to get used to play efficiently as you can actually be indebted if you fail too many missions, this doesn’t mean a game over just that you’ll have to do even more missions so you’re in the green and can afford items in the shop, your mech is comprised of many parts and this is where you can customize to find your playstyle, do you want a slow and huge tank mech with a hand canon and dual warhead launcher or maybe you prefer lightweight, fast mech with a small handgun, you have a lot of options to choose from the shop, another neat feature is you always buy and the sell items at the same prices so you don’t feel like you wasted money if you bought the wrong items.
Enemies can range from comfy to brutally difficult, part of that difficulty is taking the time to adjust your aim and position while you’re getting swarmed, most enemies will go out of their way to always stay behind you forcing you to turn and eat a lot of bullets and explosions, this is very dependent on your playstyle and approach to combat.
At this point the game is hellish if you’re playing it on the OG ps1 so I can say that I won’t feel bad if you played it on emulator and used save states, I only ever used them if my deaths were cheap and on the final level.
Even with save states this game is frustrating but also gives you a sense of satisfaction when you complete a mission, spending 10 min in a level fighting through waves of enemies only to reach the last area with a boss waiting all while you’re low on health and ammo is fitting for an old PS1 game and I appreciate that for it.
If you’re planning on playing all the AC games this one is not a bad choice to start with, very frustrating to control but satisfying to beat at the same time, it's also pretty short though may take more time if you played it on the OG PS1
6.5/10 don’t fight Nine-Ball
starting off with AC1, there are a lot to consider here first it's a PS1 game so emulating it is no problem however I didn't tamper with any graphic settings as I wanted it to be as close to the original as possible, it is graphically impressive for its time, the armored core you play as are visually appealing and the areas do have fog distance probably to improve performance, they do tend to be the same dark and grainy areas but you do get some visual variety.
Sound design is great, AC movements to the gun noise and explosion are good quality, the noise the enemy makes when they explode is great as well, the sound can also help you determine if there are enemies in the other room but that is where the radar helps you out most of the time.
Now for the gameplay itself that’s when a lot of problems and frustration arises, AC1 being a PS1 game where you control a mech in a 3d environment has tank controls meaning you can only turn your position with the left and right d-pad, the bumpers lets your strafe right or left and the triggers adjust your aim up and down, this will a lot difficult to adjust especially for newcomers and people who have played newer AC games but this is offset by your weapons having auto lock so you it’s not like you’ll be shooting at an enemy and take 5 business days to turn left, the game is slow and it’s by design.
The Armored Core part of the game is doing missions with a straight objective and get rewards in the form of money, you’re given a mission briefing about two companies fighting each other to see who can wear themselves out first while you are a supposed Mary Sue working for a PMC to fix these problems, an important note is that every time you complete a mission your pay will be deducted to fix your mech and how much ammunition was used, this means you’ll have to get used to play efficiently as you can actually be indebted if you fail too many missions, this doesn’t mean a game over just that you’ll have to do even more missions so you’re in the green and can afford items in the shop, your mech is comprised of many parts and this is where you can customize to find your playstyle, do you want a slow and huge tank mech with a hand canon and dual warhead launcher or maybe you prefer lightweight, fast mech with a small handgun, you have a lot of options to choose from the shop, another neat feature is you always buy and the sell items at the same prices so you don’t feel like you wasted money if you bought the wrong items.
Enemies can range from comfy to brutally difficult, part of that difficulty is taking the time to adjust your aim and position while you’re getting swarmed, most enemies will go out of their way to always stay behind you forcing you to turn and eat a lot of bullets and explosions, this is very dependent on your playstyle and approach to combat.
At this point the game is hellish if you’re playing it on the OG ps1 so I can say that I won’t feel bad if you played it on emulator and used save states, I only ever used them if my deaths were cheap and on the final level.
Even with save states this game is frustrating but also gives you a sense of satisfaction when you complete a mission, spending 10 min in a level fighting through waves of enemies only to reach the last area with a boss waiting all while you’re low on health and ammo is fitting for an old PS1 game and I appreciate that for it.
If you’re planning on playing all the AC games this one is not a bad choice to start with, very frustrating to control but satisfying to beat at the same time, it's also pretty short though may take more time if you played it on the OG PS1
6.5/10 don’t fight Nine-Ball
awesome ass game. iffy at first cause of the controls and gameplay but once you find a control scheme that works for you and begin to properly understand your ac and how to use it i don't think that there's anything quite like this. it's such a wonderful feeling and it makes the probably actually eh gameplay really really good. aside from that the mechs are awesome and the music is great. story is cool too though kinda cryptic. excited to see how the games expand in the rest of the ps1 trilogy