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
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!