Humanity sleeps in the machine. It gurgles for breath, suffocating beneath smoke and gunfire within the netherworld. I grip the joystick with hands like claws; the sweat feels wrong, like oil on water. Heads-up display signals flare all around my vision as I wrench the exoskeletal warrior through warehouses, space stations, and forlorn caverns. When the foes aren't robots, they're pilots just as feckless and desperate as I. The job is king—morals are optional. Captains of industry march us inexorably towards doom, and I'm just trying to keep my head down, chin up against the rising tide. The harder I fight, the deeper I explore, the more I sense the great chain of being start to fray.
Armored Core…that pit of vitality lying within the most veteran of mercenaries, and an apt title for the series to follow King's Field. From Software staff would tell us they bungled their way into developing this game to begin with, but it's appropriate they'd shift from one dark fantasy to another. Both series deal in obscure, arcane worlds, just with divergent approaches to non-linearity and game complexity. They started life as 3D tech demos before unfolding into realms of mystery and danger hitherto unseen on consoles—the kind of innovative experience Sony hoped would set their PlayStation apart from the competition. And for all the nitpicks and missed potential I can (and will) bring up, it's impressive how effectively this studio captured the one-man-army appeal of mecha media versus other developers' outings at the time. From a simple animation test to one of the studio's core franchises, it's a hell of a leap. [1]
| From this point on, you are…a Raven… |
Mecha action games on the PlayStation weren't in short supply before Armored Core (AC) arrived, though I'd forgive you for believing that. The earliest examples—Metal Jacket, Robo Pit, and Extreme Power—all featured some amount of mech customization and variety in scenarios, but always with caveats. None of them had the storytelling emphasis that From Soft's game introduced. At most, Extreme Power let players choose which missions to attempt first, acquiring points to buy new parts if successful. But that still lacked elements like e-mail chains and running a deficit after overusing ammo and/or failing missions. Robo Pit introduced the extensive parts system within a 3D versus fighter context, and Metal Jacket focused on simpler open-field battles a la MechWarrior. (Though the latter remains maybe the biggest influence on so many mecha games to come, it didn't receive a PS1 port until the same year as Armored Core.)
If anything, I see a lot of commonality between the first AC and Front Mission: Gun Hazard, the latter releasing in 1996 with some notability. Combining the series' heavy geopolitical tone and intrigue with a game loop and structure akin to Assault Suit Valken, Squaresoft's game reviewed well and prefigured the genre hybrids they'd produce for Sony's machine. Critically, they also reworked the parts-as-equipment framework from Front Mission, balancing it with arcade-style pacing and more wiggle room for players wanting to test drive multiple builds. The trouble with mecha xRPGs, then and now, is motivating constant character creation (aka editing your mecha) in order to complete stages, ideally while avoiding damage and long-term costs that could ruin a playthrough. I have no way of knowing if the original AC devs were familiar with Gun Hazard and how it elegantly solves these issues via its mix of complex story, set-pieces, and missions designed to reward creativity.
It's hard enough to make a sci-future this dreadful so enchanting and replayable. Armored Core's semi-linear plot and trickle feed of environmental worldbuilding go far in reifying the player's ascension to ace pilot, a new hero of chaos. People are right to point out the jarring, confrontational "initiation" battle, a middle finger to trends of tutorialization beginning in the mid-'90s. Surviving this teaches one to never fully trust the world they're thrust into, be it the obtuse mecha controls or the machinations of agents, corporations, and other Ravens contracting and challenging you. The fun comes from accepting these additive layers of masochism, a reflection of the decaying worldview which From Soft presents without irony or pomp and circumstance. It's on the player to investigate and understand their predicament. Future series entries add fleeting moments of cooperation and optimism to mitigate the grim bits, but the tone here's consistently muted and adverse. Absent are the triumphant flourishes of Gundam or even VOTOMS, replaced by an engaging but ever-present indifference to the erasure of people and elevation of proxy warfare.
| You have the right…the duty to find out. |
Opening missions in this game settle into a formula of scout, destroy, rinse and repeat, followed by a shopping spree. It's never quite as comfortable as you'd hope; browsing for a new radar attachment after gunning down protesters feels ever so morbid. Nor are you interacting with fellow Ravens during the majority of a playthrough, instead fighting or helping a select few through happenstance. Armored Core keeps players at arm's length from the consequences they wreak upon the world, often chiding them through AI monologues and tetchy e-mail chains. This odd pacing and story presentation lets From Soft transition between unusual missions and plot beats without breaking a sweat. The further you work for Chrome or Murakumo to the other's downfall, the murkier the mystery gets, with ulterior motives of anonymous agents pressuring you into service.
Thankfully there's a decently balanced in-game economy to support the amount of experiments and risk-taking the campaign requires, though not without problems. Buying and selling are 1-to-1 on cash return; you'll never enter the red just through shopping. Instead, the way most players wreck their run is by abusing ammo-based weapons and continuing after failing missions with mech damage. Save scumming isn't a thing Armored Core looks down on, but it will go out of its way to promote ammo-less tactics with energy swords and simply dodging past optional foes. Around halfway through the game, it arguably becomes more important to scour levels for hidden parts instead of relying on the diminishing returns from Raven's Nest inventory. I wish this first entry had done better at keeping the market relevant, but it wasn't to be.
My go-to build throughout the story was an agile, energy-focused quadrupedal range specialist dressed to the nines with secret parts. (If the game let me use the Karasawa with these legs, oh boy would I have been unstoppable!) Sure, there's a lot of fun one can have with beefy machine guns and missile options, but getting the most cash out of missions requires plasma rifles and mastery of lightsaber stabbing to play efficiently. While Project Phantasma struggled to balance the economy back towards non-energy offense, it wouldn't be until Master of Arena that the series largely evened out the trade-offs between common mecha archetypes. For instance, tank-tread mecha in this first game are actually damn powerful due to a lack of movement tricks for the bipeds, but it all falls apart when it's time for platforming or quickly escaping. Bipeds often get the class-favorite treatment in this genre, yet struggle to wield a variety of parts and weapons to handle most challenges this game throws at you later on. That leaves quad-legs builds as the most flexible and resilient option at higher levels of play, a flawed but interesting subversion of what's usually seen in mecha anime and manga. (Ed: Yes, I'm aware reverse joint legs exist. No, I don't use them in a game that punishes jumping all the time. Later AC games handle it better.)
With all these incentives combined, the pressure to learn the classic Armored Core control scheme and physics becomes bearable, if still overbearing. I've come from other tank-y mecha games like Gungriffon, so the adjustment period wasn't too bad for me, but I get why many newcomers stick with analog-patched versions of the earlier entries. Memorizing the timings for boosting before landing to minimize lag, or how to effectively pitch the lock-on reticule and snap back to center, matters more than anything in the first couple of hours. Then add on tricks for circle strafing back away from enemies, often while firing guns or launching missiles, and the combat evolves from awkward plodding into a dance of destruction. And there's no arena mode here to let you practice these techniques in a consistent, scaling environment. A veteran Raven or horse of robots can descend upon you in any of the mid-game/late-game missions, requiring quick reactions and establishing a zone of control (or retreat). It's sink or swim in the truest sense. Past the teething phase, it's easy to return to this control scheme and feel one with the AC, even after years have passed. I won't doubt that full dual-stick analog controls will work even better and enable a longer skill progression, but I adapted to the famous claw-grip style quicker than expected.
| "Pledge allegiance to no one!" |
Any problems significant enough to keep Armored Core below a 4-out-of-5 rating or higher must be deep-rooted in the game's loop and structure; that's sadly true for the level and encounter design here. I'm far from opposed to dungeon crawling in my semi-linear mecha action-RPGs, at least when there's room enough to blast around duels (plus verticality to reduce the claustrophobia). Still, a few too many stages in this debut feel like holdover concepts from King's Field II instead of properly scaled settings to wrangle a mech through. The difference between enjoying "Kill 'Struggle' Leader" and dreading "Destroy Base Computer" boils down to whether or not the story framing is compelling enough to justify zooming through non-descript (though nicely textured) hallways for most of their runtime. Occasionally the designers get clever with metal-corroding gas, inconveniently placed explosives, and other traps to keep the spelunking varied; I had a hoot tearing through the insectoid lairs like I was playing an antique musou game! But later series installments improved these confined missions with more arena-like rooms and affordances to players who make it far in and then can't win due to a sub-optimal build.
If I had to speculate, wide open-ended maps are less common here simply due to hardware constraints, be it rendering ACs and other actors in any abundance (regardless of level-of-detail scaling) or the enemy AI struggling with pathfinding in combat on a broader scale. It's a shame regardless since bombarding installations across water ("Reclaim Oil Facility"), going en guarde with a berserker atop a skyscraper ("Destroy Plus Escapee"), and rampaging down public avenues ("Attack Urban Center") offer some of the best thrills in Armored Core. Objective variety and complexity never reaches especially high regardless of mission category, so just getting to rip up groups of MTs, droids, and ACs goes a long way. Defending a cargo train in the desert starts off humble, then escalates to defeating a full-bore Human Plus combatant interceding on the situation. A series of undersea tunnels and chambers, well-defended and secretly primed to implode, threaten to bury you while avenues of escape close off. A select few dungeon crawls also open up in unexpected ways, particularly those set on space stations where vertical engagements come into play. I didn't think mecha and sewer levels could work, but here I am grinning as I pursue Struggle operatives down waterways or methodically undo their bombs within a rat's maze of air treatment tunnels.
Armored Core rarely has bad missions so much as disappointing or overachieving ones, which makes the finale so uniquely odd. By this point, the entropic cycle ensnaring Chrome, Murakumo, Struggle, and adjacent organizations has caused untold devastation across the earth. Now even the Raven's Nest falls, revealed as the illusory sham of governance it always was. Even bit players in the narrative pitch in, waxing over e-mail about the futility of these conflicts and what's really driving it all behind the scenes. So, with all this build-up and conspiracy baiting, I had high hopes for the last hour, wishing for an epic battle and world-shattering revelations to boot. Sure, I got the latter (if in a minimal, trope-adherent form), but instead of satisfying gladiatorial action, I had to ascend the fucking cubes. Everyone's got a horror story about "Destroy Floating Mines", it seems, and I'm just glad to have survived this much awkward, drawn-out platforming using my quad-leg AC. Squaring off against Nine-Ball afterward isn't quite enough to compensate either, not unless you can have an even pitched fight against this iconic rival and win the first couple of attempts. (The penultimate chambers also reflect poorly on the camera's ability to track fast-moving combatants, even if it makes for an exciting sequence.) I can still appreciate how From Soft didn't explicate too much at the end, instead trying to confound players with interesting questions and non sequiturs in the level design itself. It's all a big joke and we get to grimace through it.
| Shape Memory Alloys |
In conclusion, it's a good thing From Soft nailed all their game loop, distinctive mechanics, and interweaving systems here. The original Armored Core is unfortunately limited with how it challenges players, both in level design and mission pacing. Not having an arena to lean on makes completing the missions with maximum efficiency more of a priority, which can lead to excess retries and scrimping on investments in hopes of affording something better later vs. smoother upgrades in the short term. (I do appreciate how only fighting other ranked ACs within missions makes the Ravens' dynamic more hostile and contradictory, but the game does so little to expand on that angle.) These problems sting less knowing that, as a prototype of adventures to come, this game still accomplishes so much with so little.
Not many series strive to reach a profile this high while teasing players with details out of reach and mysteries about its development unanswered. Anyone invested in the wider world Armored Core hints at, from the shadowy groups running these underground beehive cities to the horrors hiding behind Human Plus, has to read through "data books" (artbooks) and track down magazine previews for scraps. We're only now getting English translations of the artbooks and related articles, all of which are coloring the fringes of the AC universe while only letting trace amounts of humanity through the barrier [2]. And as far as these games are concerned, pilots' backstories and white papers on neural augmentation procedures amount to nothing. Heroes and villains drop in and out of history like mayflies—only shocks to the system register on the scale From Soft's using. We're just along for the ride.
It feels like there's still so much else to analyze here: how the studio crowbar-ed their King's Field engine into handling these pyrotechnics, the peculiarities of Human Plus endings as difficulty modifiers, let alone the timely yet appropriate electronica soundtrack. A lot of PS1 releases from this period struggle to make the best use of their developers' skills, assets, and remaining CD space. I wouldn't say Armored Core succeeds at the latter, using only a few FMV sequences at key points in the story, but it's a remarkably lean and appealing game relative to its own premise. Replays come naturally thanks to multiple Human Plus tiers and the freedom to play all missions upon completing the story (plus making new saves to transfer into Project Phantasma). The controls here, though lacking in finesse, carry forward into a good chunk of the later games, with concepts like boost canceling staying relevant even after the switch to analog. Contrast this maturity with all the pratfalls From Soft made during their King's Field days. They'd learned how to not just lead in with a better start, but retain their creative momentum on budgets larger and smaller with each sequel.
Armored Core represents a coming-of-age for the PlayStation as it entered the midpoint of its lifespan, setting a bar other mid-sized studios could aspire to. Its rough edges hardly mar what I'd call one of my favorite experiences in the system's library so far. Maybe I'm going easier on this one due to my enthusiasm for the genre and the myriad themes this game explores, from cyberpunk dystopia to the malleability of history in the post-modern. It could just be that the core game's so, uh, solid after all this time. I chose not to rely on Human Plus for my first playthrough and that might have helped. No matter how you approach the series today, it's awesome to see it debut this confidently, and plenty of players must have thought so too. The Armored Core series became From Soft's backbone for a decade before the Souls-likes came to replace it, and what AC achieved for mecha games (and ARPGs in general) can't be overstated.
| Bibliography |
[1] Alex “blackoak,” trans. “Armored Core – 1997 Developer Interview - Shmuplations.Com.” PlayStation Magazine. 1997. Shmuplations. https://shmuplations.com/armoredcore/.
[2] Reddit. “Translations of Pages 103 to 105 from the Book Armored Core Official Data Book.” Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.reddit.com/r/armoredcore/comments/x940dj/translations_of_pages_103_to_105_from_the_book/.
Armored Core…that pit of vitality lying within the most veteran of mercenaries, and an apt title for the series to follow King's Field. From Software staff would tell us they bungled their way into developing this game to begin with, but it's appropriate they'd shift from one dark fantasy to another. Both series deal in obscure, arcane worlds, just with divergent approaches to non-linearity and game complexity. They started life as 3D tech demos before unfolding into realms of mystery and danger hitherto unseen on consoles—the kind of innovative experience Sony hoped would set their PlayStation apart from the competition. And for all the nitpicks and missed potential I can (and will) bring up, it's impressive how effectively this studio captured the one-man-army appeal of mecha media versus other developers' outings at the time. From a simple animation test to one of the studio's core franchises, it's a hell of a leap. [1]
| From this point on, you are…a Raven… |
Mecha action games on the PlayStation weren't in short supply before Armored Core (AC) arrived, though I'd forgive you for believing that. The earliest examples—Metal Jacket, Robo Pit, and Extreme Power—all featured some amount of mech customization and variety in scenarios, but always with caveats. None of them had the storytelling emphasis that From Soft's game introduced. At most, Extreme Power let players choose which missions to attempt first, acquiring points to buy new parts if successful. But that still lacked elements like e-mail chains and running a deficit after overusing ammo and/or failing missions. Robo Pit introduced the extensive parts system within a 3D versus fighter context, and Metal Jacket focused on simpler open-field battles a la MechWarrior. (Though the latter remains maybe the biggest influence on so many mecha games to come, it didn't receive a PS1 port until the same year as Armored Core.)
If anything, I see a lot of commonality between the first AC and Front Mission: Gun Hazard, the latter releasing in 1996 with some notability. Combining the series' heavy geopolitical tone and intrigue with a game loop and structure akin to Assault Suit Valken, Squaresoft's game reviewed well and prefigured the genre hybrids they'd produce for Sony's machine. Critically, they also reworked the parts-as-equipment framework from Front Mission, balancing it with arcade-style pacing and more wiggle room for players wanting to test drive multiple builds. The trouble with mecha xRPGs, then and now, is motivating constant character creation (aka editing your mecha) in order to complete stages, ideally while avoiding damage and long-term costs that could ruin a playthrough. I have no way of knowing if the original AC devs were familiar with Gun Hazard and how it elegantly solves these issues via its mix of complex story, set-pieces, and missions designed to reward creativity.
It's hard enough to make a sci-future this dreadful so enchanting and replayable. Armored Core's semi-linear plot and trickle feed of environmental worldbuilding go far in reifying the player's ascension to ace pilot, a new hero of chaos. People are right to point out the jarring, confrontational "initiation" battle, a middle finger to trends of tutorialization beginning in the mid-'90s. Surviving this teaches one to never fully trust the world they're thrust into, be it the obtuse mecha controls or the machinations of agents, corporations, and other Ravens contracting and challenging you. The fun comes from accepting these additive layers of masochism, a reflection of the decaying worldview which From Soft presents without irony or pomp and circumstance. It's on the player to investigate and understand their predicament. Future series entries add fleeting moments of cooperation and optimism to mitigate the grim bits, but the tone here's consistently muted and adverse. Absent are the triumphant flourishes of Gundam or even VOTOMS, replaced by an engaging but ever-present indifference to the erasure of people and elevation of proxy warfare.
| You have the right…the duty to find out. |
Opening missions in this game settle into a formula of scout, destroy, rinse and repeat, followed by a shopping spree. It's never quite as comfortable as you'd hope; browsing for a new radar attachment after gunning down protesters feels ever so morbid. Nor are you interacting with fellow Ravens during the majority of a playthrough, instead fighting or helping a select few through happenstance. Armored Core keeps players at arm's length from the consequences they wreak upon the world, often chiding them through AI monologues and tetchy e-mail chains. This odd pacing and story presentation lets From Soft transition between unusual missions and plot beats without breaking a sweat. The further you work for Chrome or Murakumo to the other's downfall, the murkier the mystery gets, with ulterior motives of anonymous agents pressuring you into service.
Thankfully there's a decently balanced in-game economy to support the amount of experiments and risk-taking the campaign requires, though not without problems. Buying and selling are 1-to-1 on cash return; you'll never enter the red just through shopping. Instead, the way most players wreck their run is by abusing ammo-based weapons and continuing after failing missions with mech damage. Save scumming isn't a thing Armored Core looks down on, but it will go out of its way to promote ammo-less tactics with energy swords and simply dodging past optional foes. Around halfway through the game, it arguably becomes more important to scour levels for hidden parts instead of relying on the diminishing returns from Raven's Nest inventory. I wish this first entry had done better at keeping the market relevant, but it wasn't to be.
My go-to build throughout the story was an agile, energy-focused quadrupedal range specialist dressed to the nines with secret parts. (If the game let me use the Karasawa with these legs, oh boy would I have been unstoppable!) Sure, there's a lot of fun one can have with beefy machine guns and missile options, but getting the most cash out of missions requires plasma rifles and mastery of lightsaber stabbing to play efficiently. While Project Phantasma struggled to balance the economy back towards non-energy offense, it wouldn't be until Master of Arena that the series largely evened out the trade-offs between common mecha archetypes. For instance, tank-tread mecha in this first game are actually damn powerful due to a lack of movement tricks for the bipeds, but it all falls apart when it's time for platforming or quickly escaping. Bipeds often get the class-favorite treatment in this genre, yet struggle to wield a variety of parts and weapons to handle most challenges this game throws at you later on. That leaves quad-legs builds as the most flexible and resilient option at higher levels of play, a flawed but interesting subversion of what's usually seen in mecha anime and manga. (Ed: Yes, I'm aware reverse joint legs exist. No, I don't use them in a game that punishes jumping all the time. Later AC games handle it better.)
With all these incentives combined, the pressure to learn the classic Armored Core control scheme and physics becomes bearable, if still overbearing. I've come from other tank-y mecha games like Gungriffon, so the adjustment period wasn't too bad for me, but I get why many newcomers stick with analog-patched versions of the earlier entries. Memorizing the timings for boosting before landing to minimize lag, or how to effectively pitch the lock-on reticule and snap back to center, matters more than anything in the first couple of hours. Then add on tricks for circle strafing back away from enemies, often while firing guns or launching missiles, and the combat evolves from awkward plodding into a dance of destruction. And there's no arena mode here to let you practice these techniques in a consistent, scaling environment. A veteran Raven or horse of robots can descend upon you in any of the mid-game/late-game missions, requiring quick reactions and establishing a zone of control (or retreat). It's sink or swim in the truest sense. Past the teething phase, it's easy to return to this control scheme and feel one with the AC, even after years have passed. I won't doubt that full dual-stick analog controls will work even better and enable a longer skill progression, but I adapted to the famous claw-grip style quicker than expected.
| "Pledge allegiance to no one!" |
Any problems significant enough to keep Armored Core below a 4-out-of-5 rating or higher must be deep-rooted in the game's loop and structure; that's sadly true for the level and encounter design here. I'm far from opposed to dungeon crawling in my semi-linear mecha action-RPGs, at least when there's room enough to blast around duels (plus verticality to reduce the claustrophobia). Still, a few too many stages in this debut feel like holdover concepts from King's Field II instead of properly scaled settings to wrangle a mech through. The difference between enjoying "Kill 'Struggle' Leader" and dreading "Destroy Base Computer" boils down to whether or not the story framing is compelling enough to justify zooming through non-descript (though nicely textured) hallways for most of their runtime. Occasionally the designers get clever with metal-corroding gas, inconveniently placed explosives, and other traps to keep the spelunking varied; I had a hoot tearing through the insectoid lairs like I was playing an antique musou game! But later series installments improved these confined missions with more arena-like rooms and affordances to players who make it far in and then can't win due to a sub-optimal build.
If I had to speculate, wide open-ended maps are less common here simply due to hardware constraints, be it rendering ACs and other actors in any abundance (regardless of level-of-detail scaling) or the enemy AI struggling with pathfinding in combat on a broader scale. It's a shame regardless since bombarding installations across water ("Reclaim Oil Facility"), going en guarde with a berserker atop a skyscraper ("Destroy Plus Escapee"), and rampaging down public avenues ("Attack Urban Center") offer some of the best thrills in Armored Core. Objective variety and complexity never reaches especially high regardless of mission category, so just getting to rip up groups of MTs, droids, and ACs goes a long way. Defending a cargo train in the desert starts off humble, then escalates to defeating a full-bore Human Plus combatant interceding on the situation. A series of undersea tunnels and chambers, well-defended and secretly primed to implode, threaten to bury you while avenues of escape close off. A select few dungeon crawls also open up in unexpected ways, particularly those set on space stations where vertical engagements come into play. I didn't think mecha and sewer levels could work, but here I am grinning as I pursue Struggle operatives down waterways or methodically undo their bombs within a rat's maze of air treatment tunnels.
Armored Core rarely has bad missions so much as disappointing or overachieving ones, which makes the finale so uniquely odd. By this point, the entropic cycle ensnaring Chrome, Murakumo, Struggle, and adjacent organizations has caused untold devastation across the earth. Now even the Raven's Nest falls, revealed as the illusory sham of governance it always was. Even bit players in the narrative pitch in, waxing over e-mail about the futility of these conflicts and what's really driving it all behind the scenes. So, with all this build-up and conspiracy baiting, I had high hopes for the last hour, wishing for an epic battle and world-shattering revelations to boot. Sure, I got the latter (if in a minimal, trope-adherent form), but instead of satisfying gladiatorial action, I had to ascend the fucking cubes. Everyone's got a horror story about "Destroy Floating Mines", it seems, and I'm just glad to have survived this much awkward, drawn-out platforming using my quad-leg AC. Squaring off against Nine-Ball afterward isn't quite enough to compensate either, not unless you can have an even pitched fight against this iconic rival and win the first couple of attempts. (The penultimate chambers also reflect poorly on the camera's ability to track fast-moving combatants, even if it makes for an exciting sequence.) I can still appreciate how From Soft didn't explicate too much at the end, instead trying to confound players with interesting questions and non sequiturs in the level design itself. It's all a big joke and we get to grimace through it.
| Shape Memory Alloys |
In conclusion, it's a good thing From Soft nailed all their game loop, distinctive mechanics, and interweaving systems here. The original Armored Core is unfortunately limited with how it challenges players, both in level design and mission pacing. Not having an arena to lean on makes completing the missions with maximum efficiency more of a priority, which can lead to excess retries and scrimping on investments in hopes of affording something better later vs. smoother upgrades in the short term. (I do appreciate how only fighting other ranked ACs within missions makes the Ravens' dynamic more hostile and contradictory, but the game does so little to expand on that angle.) These problems sting less knowing that, as a prototype of adventures to come, this game still accomplishes so much with so little.
Not many series strive to reach a profile this high while teasing players with details out of reach and mysteries about its development unanswered. Anyone invested in the wider world Armored Core hints at, from the shadowy groups running these underground beehive cities to the horrors hiding behind Human Plus, has to read through "data books" (artbooks) and track down magazine previews for scraps. We're only now getting English translations of the artbooks and related articles, all of which are coloring the fringes of the AC universe while only letting trace amounts of humanity through the barrier [2]. And as far as these games are concerned, pilots' backstories and white papers on neural augmentation procedures amount to nothing. Heroes and villains drop in and out of history like mayflies—only shocks to the system register on the scale From Soft's using. We're just along for the ride.
It feels like there's still so much else to analyze here: how the studio crowbar-ed their King's Field engine into handling these pyrotechnics, the peculiarities of Human Plus endings as difficulty modifiers, let alone the timely yet appropriate electronica soundtrack. A lot of PS1 releases from this period struggle to make the best use of their developers' skills, assets, and remaining CD space. I wouldn't say Armored Core succeeds at the latter, using only a few FMV sequences at key points in the story, but it's a remarkably lean and appealing game relative to its own premise. Replays come naturally thanks to multiple Human Plus tiers and the freedom to play all missions upon completing the story (plus making new saves to transfer into Project Phantasma). The controls here, though lacking in finesse, carry forward into a good chunk of the later games, with concepts like boost canceling staying relevant even after the switch to analog. Contrast this maturity with all the pratfalls From Soft made during their King's Field days. They'd learned how to not just lead in with a better start, but retain their creative momentum on budgets larger and smaller with each sequel.
Armored Core represents a coming-of-age for the PlayStation as it entered the midpoint of its lifespan, setting a bar other mid-sized studios could aspire to. Its rough edges hardly mar what I'd call one of my favorite experiences in the system's library so far. Maybe I'm going easier on this one due to my enthusiasm for the genre and the myriad themes this game explores, from cyberpunk dystopia to the malleability of history in the post-modern. It could just be that the core game's so, uh, solid after all this time. I chose not to rely on Human Plus for my first playthrough and that might have helped. No matter how you approach the series today, it's awesome to see it debut this confidently, and plenty of players must have thought so too. The Armored Core series became From Soft's backbone for a decade before the Souls-likes came to replace it, and what AC achieved for mecha games (and ARPGs in general) can't be overstated.
| Bibliography |
[1] Alex “blackoak,” trans. “Armored Core – 1997 Developer Interview - Shmuplations.Com.” PlayStation Magazine. 1997. Shmuplations. https://shmuplations.com/armoredcore/.
[2] Reddit. “Translations of Pages 103 to 105 from the Book Armored Core Official Data Book.” Accessed January 14, 2024. https://www.reddit.com/r/armoredcore/comments/x940dj/translations_of_pages_103_to_105_from_the_book/.
The start of my AC shenanigans, and I honestly couldn't get into this as hard as i tried. I felt constantly burdened by the stringent expectations, the obscene cost of parts leveled against the mission payout requirements and obtuse presentation of what they do, it all just stifled any desire to customize or express myself. cough I Am Aware That's The Point Of The Capitalist Mercenary Hellscape But My Autism Brain Dislikes Having To Leverage That With Low-Budget PS1 Jank And Wants Out
I fully-intend to play more AC though, I DO like piloting these mechs, I DO like the sense of weight, the ludonarrative interdependence of mechanics and world restrictions, the whole nine yards. But Busy Adult Me doesn't have time to dip my toes here first. Most searches I made to get a better grip on this just told me to play the easier AC2 and work backwards, and I'm gonna do just that.
I'm sure people have well-intentioned responses about how I could enjoy this more, but I really really do not have the energy for it right now. I love my chunky PS1 tank control jank, but as soon as I have to tango that with the ugly step-siblings of escort missions, I flee like a rabbit.
I fully-intend to play more AC though, I DO like piloting these mechs, I DO like the sense of weight, the ludonarrative interdependence of mechanics and world restrictions, the whole nine yards. But Busy Adult Me doesn't have time to dip my toes here first. Most searches I made to get a better grip on this just told me to play the easier AC2 and work backwards, and I'm gonna do just that.
I'm sure people have well-intentioned responses about how I could enjoy this more, but I really really do not have the energy for it right now. I love my chunky PS1 tank control jank, but as soon as I have to tango that with the ugly step-siblings of escort missions, I flee like a rabbit.
This games a trip man odd controls and a shitty final level aside this game wasn't too bad music is pretty great and i also really loved messing around wit my ac unit this game really lets you mess around with the customization since you can sell all ac parts you bought from the shop at the exact same price you bought them for also really loved the fights with the other ac pilots those were pretty cool cept for nine ball obviously story was kinda meh all of ac1 story is done through email you can read after completing each mission so there's not really much going on tho games a solid 5 can't wait to see what the other armored core games are like
Trying to speedrun the main series for AC6, since I'm pretty ignorant about it.
Not bad at all for what it is. Hard to say much since it's so simple, but it's decently fun and fairly challenging. Don't be afraid to try it because of its infamous difficulty, it's kind of overrated in that sense.
I think most people will probably complain about the controls (Aim Up= R2, Down = L2, and R1 and L1 for strafing), but you can get used to them very quickly. It also kinda works as making you feel like you're controlling a huge heavy robot. You can practice them in the AC Test in the Garage menu, instead of failing missions and causing you to lose money. Also, since there's no tutorial for the controls, it's important to note that if you press R2+L2 it centers your lock box to the middle of the screen. If you are still having trouble, there's a hidden weapon in the earlier levels that brings the difficulty down quite a bit. I really recommend not using it if you can, though. With maybe the exception to the final mission because fuckyouholyasdoashdKHFJTOYPU.
As to why this doesn't get a higher score, well it's a PS game, so you can imagine. Cheesy voice acting/dialogue, minimal nonsensical story, boring level design, etc. Still, fun robot shooty mcshooty.
★★½ – Average ✅
Not bad at all for what it is. Hard to say much since it's so simple, but it's decently fun and fairly challenging. Don't be afraid to try it because of its infamous difficulty, it's kind of overrated in that sense.
I think most people will probably complain about the controls (Aim Up= R2, Down = L2, and R1 and L1 for strafing), but you can get used to them very quickly. It also kinda works as making you feel like you're controlling a huge heavy robot. You can practice them in the AC Test in the Garage menu, instead of failing missions and causing you to lose money. Also, since there's no tutorial for the controls, it's important to note that if you press R2+L2 it centers your lock box to the middle of the screen. If you are still having trouble, there's a hidden weapon in the earlier levels that brings the difficulty down quite a bit. I really recommend not using it if you can, though. With maybe the exception to the final mission because fuckyouholyasdoashdKHFJTOYPU.
As to why this doesn't get a higher score, well it's a PS game, so you can imagine. Cheesy voice acting/dialogue, minimal nonsensical story, boring level design, etc. Still, fun robot shooty mcshooty.
★★½ – Average ✅
clunky as expected and the platforming section at the end makes me :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
that being said, the insane amount of customization options and the short length of most missions is what kept me gravitated towards this game. The best part for me was fighting enemy AC units.
that being said, the insane amount of customization options and the short length of most missions is what kept me gravitated towards this game. The best part for me was fighting enemy AC units.
You’re part of Raven’s Nest, a ruthless mercenary group that will do anyone’s bidding so long as they’re willing to pay up, which tends to mostly be doing the dirty work for ever-sprawling soulless corporations that happen to rule over everyone else, the workers are unionizing due to shitty conditions? Send a Raven to squash their heads. A rival corporation is working on brand new technology? Send a Raven to infiltrate their base using any means necessary and destroy it or retrieve information regarding it. Citizens are protesting your area redevelopments by squatting? Send a Raven to kill them all. This is how the cold world of Armored Core operates, there is no right or wrong, there’s only people with money or people to stomp over in your never-ending quest for capital. And all of this lore serves the game perfectly. Thanks to the player being part of a mercenary group, the game ends up having a great deal of mission variety, you’ll hardly ever find yourself getting tired on that front, from missions where you ride flying airships to protect them, or race against corrosive gas that chips away at your AC’a health, to many more missions I won’t spoil. They were all a joy to go through and helped emphasize using different builds for different missions, especially since your sell rate is at 100% so you lose nothing by buying and selling the same parts. And the customizability itself is quite good too as there are multiple builds for multiple play-styles so you’re not boxed into anything specific. The gameplay Itself revolves a bit around management, you have to manage your energy bar, ammo for both weapons, damage received (because fixing your AC takes from your pay) but don’t worry because it’s ultimately not very difficult or tasking to deal with. It’s also worth to note that the game possesses decent enemy variety, from mecha bugs to weak worker MT’s to the other stronger enemies, they do their job well. And last but not least the game is so aesthetically pleasing thanks to the incredible art direction, I was engrossed In all the levels and appreciated how well some of It’s levels captured the sheer lack of soul found In corporate architecture.
v impactful ending for its minimalism. love how quietly it goes out. had a lovely time with AC1
No começo tive uma luta pra me acostumar um pouco com os controles mais arcaicos e principalmente movimentação da câmera, mas aos poucos fui pegando o jeito e até me divertindo com o jogo, até que chega na reta final e a dificuldade dá uma escalada legal. A última fase é muito longa e punitiva, tendo uma sessão de plataforma que é uma das coisas que menos gostei do jogo, e a luta final contra o nineball também é bem difícil. Mas eu até que gostei da experiência, meu primeiro AC tinha sido o VI, foi legal ver que o primeiro da franquia já tinha bastante coisa que foi usado no VI, a essência tá meio que ali, por isso foi até mais fácil pra mim, me acostumar com a customização e sistema de missões, sinto que o jogo não é tão amigável e não faz tanta questão de explicar esse tipo de coisas pro jogador, mas isso é um elemento da época, que muitas vezes o jogo vinha com um manual externo explicando esses detalhes. No fim, uma experiência interessante pra ver onde toda essa saga começou.
The relative ease of survival and mission completion shifts the focus of each mission to balancing the books: the question each encounter asks is not how it can be cleared, but whether the expense in bullets is less than the repair cost of getting shot while running past it. It makes the war-as-business theme feel a little less like set dressing and I admire any game that lets you simply ignore the final boss.
The actual mech combat's simple and repetitive. and part selection doesn't have much bearing on actual gameplay, beyond gating the final, grueling platforming level if you're using a quadrupedal AC. The game drags on a few hours longer than it needs to, in spite of how short it is. Killer sound design, though.
The actual mech combat's simple and repetitive. and part selection doesn't have much bearing on actual gameplay, beyond gating the final, grueling platforming level if you're using a quadrupedal AC. The game drags on a few hours longer than it needs to, in spite of how short it is. Killer sound design, though.
Pretty great. I think Armored Core is at its best when it revels in the dark metal nigh non-human aesthetic, swimming in the cold metal and ethereal ghostly artificial nightmare that is the world; this game has a lot of that. Vibes back and forth with an incredibly memorable and pulsating soundtrack, corny dialogue lines delivered in the most drop dead non-human ways within a soulless and cold realm. Theres enough dark remnants within the emails and spliced out cutscenes to really hold its AC charm and personally I do find it to hold up pretty well. The customization is great and the combat feels good when you get used to it, quite literally nothing feels better than to whip your Mech into shape from a janky hard to control piece of shit to a slightly less janky dominant metal force. Unfortuntately, the game really really drops off in the last few levels. The last mission is downright cruel in almost every way. I could conjur up some trans-humanist excuse to how cruel it is but simply put its just FromSoftware being fucking dicks. Still, I'm glad to have experienced the original AC and I'm even more happy that it is so charming and enjoyable on its own as a memorable piece of mech fiction; one that would explode into numerous additions into the series.
And so begins my Armored Core journey in a belated attempt to catch up with the series before I play VI. I was nervous going into this, the series didn't appear to be easy to get into, and the first game would surely be obtuse in all worst ways, right? Suffice to say, I was dead wrong!
The atmosphere in Armored Core is incredible. From the gritty solitude of the Ravens' Nest to the levels which range from a bright ocean sprawling out endlessly in all directions to the cramped ventilation shafts that keep the underground city alive. I found myself captivated by the narrative despite how sparse on details the game is. Almost everything you learn is through the mission briefings and emails, which do a great job of fleshing out the organisations that run the world. You scarcely find out things about the city and it all paints a destitute picture of a world under constant threat. Your job as a Raven is to work towards peace, and I was shocked to find myself enthralled by this simple premise. It just clicked, which was in no small part due to the timeless visuals and absolutely stellar soundtrack.
As I was emulating this, I took some liberties in regards to the controls. I changed aiming to be my right stick and set the triggers to boost and shoot. While I'm sure this dulled the challenge somewhat, it made the game far more accessible and I think I'd have found much less enjoyment had I just put up with the games rather archaic control system. It is a little janky still, but works rather well for everything you're expected to put up with. I had a hard time at first figuring out what kind of AC I wanted to rock, but once I put some time into understanding the way they're put together (as well as a little time reading a guide), I ended up with an AC I was incredible pleased with. I'd boost around the map at insane speeds, had energy for days to take to the skies and unleash devastating plasma bullets onto my enemies, as well as a backup missile system which dealt with those at range effortlessly. I felt a little too powerful after this, but because it was my own efforts that got me to that point, I was deeply empowering.
The missions themselves are pretty diverse. While many do boil down to killing all enemies, the environments tend to break up the monotony, leading to longer play sessions never feeling like a chore. There were a good few times where I'd scrape through a mission on my first try with nary a bullet or health points to spare, including the last level of the game. My only major qualm with these missions, as well as the game as a whole, is that failure early on feels brutal. You don't just have to replay the mission, you even lose money and at the beginning I found myself in debt constantly. After a few missions, I just decided to start afresh now that I was more familiar with what the game expected of me. While I did abuse save states at the beginning of missions to avoid paying the cost of failure, I rarely ended up relying on them because the game never gets too harsh. I would still change the mission structure though, it was a tad too punishing as a new player and made any kind of experimentation a huge risk.
The original Armored Core probably won't blow you away, but that's hardly an issue. It's not only a strong foundation, it's a superb experience nonetheless. It encapsulates the era it's apart of and gave me incredibly positive flashbacks to the first times I played Sin and Punishment as well as Ace Combat. My interest is piqued and I cannot wait to see what else this franchise has in store for me.
The atmosphere in Armored Core is incredible. From the gritty solitude of the Ravens' Nest to the levels which range from a bright ocean sprawling out endlessly in all directions to the cramped ventilation shafts that keep the underground city alive. I found myself captivated by the narrative despite how sparse on details the game is. Almost everything you learn is through the mission briefings and emails, which do a great job of fleshing out the organisations that run the world. You scarcely find out things about the city and it all paints a destitute picture of a world under constant threat. Your job as a Raven is to work towards peace, and I was shocked to find myself enthralled by this simple premise. It just clicked, which was in no small part due to the timeless visuals and absolutely stellar soundtrack.
As I was emulating this, I took some liberties in regards to the controls. I changed aiming to be my right stick and set the triggers to boost and shoot. While I'm sure this dulled the challenge somewhat, it made the game far more accessible and I think I'd have found much less enjoyment had I just put up with the games rather archaic control system. It is a little janky still, but works rather well for everything you're expected to put up with. I had a hard time at first figuring out what kind of AC I wanted to rock, but once I put some time into understanding the way they're put together (as well as a little time reading a guide), I ended up with an AC I was incredible pleased with. I'd boost around the map at insane speeds, had energy for days to take to the skies and unleash devastating plasma bullets onto my enemies, as well as a backup missile system which dealt with those at range effortlessly. I felt a little too powerful after this, but because it was my own efforts that got me to that point, I was deeply empowering.
The missions themselves are pretty diverse. While many do boil down to killing all enemies, the environments tend to break up the monotony, leading to longer play sessions never feeling like a chore. There were a good few times where I'd scrape through a mission on my first try with nary a bullet or health points to spare, including the last level of the game. My only major qualm with these missions, as well as the game as a whole, is that failure early on feels brutal. You don't just have to replay the mission, you even lose money and at the beginning I found myself in debt constantly. After a few missions, I just decided to start afresh now that I was more familiar with what the game expected of me. While I did abuse save states at the beginning of missions to avoid paying the cost of failure, I rarely ended up relying on them because the game never gets too harsh. I would still change the mission structure though, it was a tad too punishing as a new player and made any kind of experimentation a huge risk.
The original Armored Core probably won't blow you away, but that's hardly an issue. It's not only a strong foundation, it's a superb experience nonetheless. It encapsulates the era it's apart of and gave me incredibly positive flashbacks to the first times I played Sin and Punishment as well as Ace Combat. My interest is piqued and I cannot wait to see what else this franchise has in store for me.
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.
Modern horror games are comfy compared to FMVs of dimly lit operating room ceilings after falling into crippling debt.
I love Armored Core. This game has the trappings of a fascinating action game. It is clunky, but it could easily be argued that its clunk is often the point. Armored Core wants to sell you on the fact that piloting a huge war machine is actually pretty sluggish and clunky, and it succeeds at this while also improving over the course of the game. As you buy new parts, old annoying aspects of control fade away and your machine feels more modern and powerful.
The progression in this game is noteworthy. In between missions you can buy items at a shop, but this isn't a simply case of buying the best item with the best stats because everything has tradeoffs. Having heavy armor or lots of guns will make your vehicle overweight. This can be overcome by having more powerful legs, but these use more energy so you would need a better generator and the bigger generator will be heavier and at that point maybe its worth looking at a different kind of gun that's potentially lighter to do the job. There is a lot to consider when building your mech, and this makes the choice of how to build incredibly meaningful. There are some missions where certain loadouts are better, and you often have to figure out what the optimal loadout will be based on a description alone. This makes a first time run incredibly tense because you don't know what will in store for you, especially because missions will often throw in unexpected surprises into missions. These surprises are fascinating in the sense that AC is such a plan heavy game. I spend a long time planning my mech and optimizing its approach to suit different missions, but these surprises can counter planning to a certain extent and force you to always anticipate unknown threats. One downside of this is that repeat playthroughs can't quite carry the same level of surprise, and the game becomes a lot easier and loses the surprise that keeps you on the tips of your toes.
Armored Core's mission design does a lot for the game. Each mission presents a unique obstacle to the player and each stands on their own. Overall, I like the missions, though there are some that clearly stand out over the others. In particular, the game's final mission is genuinely awful, and is a greater drop in quality than Xen was for Half Life.
Overall, Armored Core is an excellent action game. It's controls are clunky, but that's fitting for the sort of experience the game is going for and only rarely detracts from the experience. It's economic themes pair well with the game's writing, creating an effective critique of capitalism with only a few simple elements
The progression in this game is noteworthy. In between missions you can buy items at a shop, but this isn't a simply case of buying the best item with the best stats because everything has tradeoffs. Having heavy armor or lots of guns will make your vehicle overweight. This can be overcome by having more powerful legs, but these use more energy so you would need a better generator and the bigger generator will be heavier and at that point maybe its worth looking at a different kind of gun that's potentially lighter to do the job. There is a lot to consider when building your mech, and this makes the choice of how to build incredibly meaningful. There are some missions where certain loadouts are better, and you often have to figure out what the optimal loadout will be based on a description alone. This makes a first time run incredibly tense because you don't know what will in store for you, especially because missions will often throw in unexpected surprises into missions. These surprises are fascinating in the sense that AC is such a plan heavy game. I spend a long time planning my mech and optimizing its approach to suit different missions, but these surprises can counter planning to a certain extent and force you to always anticipate unknown threats. One downside of this is that repeat playthroughs can't quite carry the same level of surprise, and the game becomes a lot easier and loses the surprise that keeps you on the tips of your toes.
Armored Core's mission design does a lot for the game. Each mission presents a unique obstacle to the player and each stands on their own. Overall, I like the missions, though there are some that clearly stand out over the others. In particular, the game's final mission is genuinely awful, and is a greater drop in quality than Xen was for Half Life.
Overall, Armored Core is an excellent action game. It's controls are clunky, but that's fitting for the sort of experience the game is going for and only rarely detracts from the experience. It's economic themes pair well with the game's writing, creating an effective critique of capitalism with only a few simple elements
The first ’Armored Core’ is a fascinating game to me personally for multiple reasons. Firstly, when it comes to the fifth generation of consoles, all the titles I’ve played have lied in the survival horror genre. This is including Fromsoft’s own attempt at that style being ’Echo Night’ (which I absolutely recommend) so it's really interesting to try something new from this era of games. Secondly, I, like many others, decided to play the franchise from the beginning after being surprised by my love for ’Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon’. I did have some fears that this would lead to frustrations with the controls of the game and how much crueler games from this time period can be especially coming off a game so modern and smooth and to be honest, the start of the game doesn’t do a lot to tell you otherwise. The moment you click the new game button, you are thrown into a fairly difficult fight without learning the controls or anything. This led me to believe some of the expectations I had for the game were true, but I promise you that there is a learning curve to it and it truly is something that is worth getting the hang of.
After the completion of the test, you get to explore the menu that you will be spending most of your time in if you’re like me. I customized my mech for around an hour or two to be almost exactly how I wanted it. The customization options in this game are really impressive and were a bit more complex than I thought it was going to be which was neat. You can also change the controls of the game if you’d like, which I did. I switched the camera movement to the face buttons and had the triggers be the action buttons for me and it worked like a charm. It still is a lot more uncomfortable than your standard joystick movement, but the level of accessibility that comes from being able to choose whatever else is really cool.
The first few missions in the game are a bit intimidating, especially when you learn that both the amount of ammo you use as well as the damage you take is counted against how much credits you get to buy new parts. I’m a bit mixed on this system. On one hand, this actually becomes a really fun challenge to deal with in the later parts of the game when you get much better, but on the other, it makes getting credits in the early game incredibly difficult which makes experimentation difficult. This is honestly unfortunate because it removes the incentive to just have fun with different builds in the game which is one of the things I’m always most excited for. I don’t mind the punishment overall, but I wish it was a lot less strict so you wouldn’t have to be so afraid to try something new.
When mentioning actual combat and mission structure, it has some ups and downs. I won’t go in depth about the combat as it plays pretty much exactly as you’d expect from a mech game, but just know that it is simple, yet never boring. The biggest issues come from the missions you are given. They heavily vary in quality with some that can be challenging and fun to others that are an absolute chore to get through (specifically one that contains fucking platforming of all things). I enjoyed my time in the game more than not, but the lows that are there are pretty fucking bad honestly.
I won’t be too harsh when talking about the presentation of the game as it is a PS1 title, but I feel it is still worth talking about due to its inconsistency. There are some missions where they have amazing environments. Some of my personal favorites being the ones on water or out right under the ocean. These I always get excited to see since they are done really well. The more flawed locations aren’t terrible looking, but feel uninspired more than anything, such as the sewer locations. I know it should be something to expect within these games, but the boring locations I feel popped up a lot more to a point that was noticeable. The sound design and music is fantastic though and definitely one of the highlights in the game. I absolutely adore the theme that plays in the menu. It never gets old.
The story is honestly really silly, but I mean that in a good way. I don’t have much to say besides it's just very fun to go through and I had a blast with it. I also find it fascinating being a mercenary who gets the mission to fuck up one corporations plan and then the next mission is being hired by that same corporation to kind of get back at the other. It’s an interesting concept to me personally. I won’t go too much into detail on certain events or themes to avoid spoilers, but know it’s a silly, yet fun story.
I know some parts of this review may sound a bit negative, but I honestly couldn’t recommend the game more. A lot of the issues that are in this game aren’t the most severe thing ever and don’t bring the title down too much. It very much feels like the first game in the ’Armored Core’ franchise which is perfectly fine since it is. If you are interested in starting the series then this is not a bad place to start at all. If you are like me coming off ’Armored Core VI’ then you may be pleasantly surprised as well just as I have been. I am interested to see how they take this game and improve upon it in the other games of this first era of ’Armored Core’ because I know I’m going to end up hyper fixated on these games for a while lol.
After the completion of the test, you get to explore the menu that you will be spending most of your time in if you’re like me. I customized my mech for around an hour or two to be almost exactly how I wanted it. The customization options in this game are really impressive and were a bit more complex than I thought it was going to be which was neat. You can also change the controls of the game if you’d like, which I did. I switched the camera movement to the face buttons and had the triggers be the action buttons for me and it worked like a charm. It still is a lot more uncomfortable than your standard joystick movement, but the level of accessibility that comes from being able to choose whatever else is really cool.
The first few missions in the game are a bit intimidating, especially when you learn that both the amount of ammo you use as well as the damage you take is counted against how much credits you get to buy new parts. I’m a bit mixed on this system. On one hand, this actually becomes a really fun challenge to deal with in the later parts of the game when you get much better, but on the other, it makes getting credits in the early game incredibly difficult which makes experimentation difficult. This is honestly unfortunate because it removes the incentive to just have fun with different builds in the game which is one of the things I’m always most excited for. I don’t mind the punishment overall, but I wish it was a lot less strict so you wouldn’t have to be so afraid to try something new.
When mentioning actual combat and mission structure, it has some ups and downs. I won’t go in depth about the combat as it plays pretty much exactly as you’d expect from a mech game, but just know that it is simple, yet never boring. The biggest issues come from the missions you are given. They heavily vary in quality with some that can be challenging and fun to others that are an absolute chore to get through (specifically one that contains fucking platforming of all things). I enjoyed my time in the game more than not, but the lows that are there are pretty fucking bad honestly.
I won’t be too harsh when talking about the presentation of the game as it is a PS1 title, but I feel it is still worth talking about due to its inconsistency. There are some missions where they have amazing environments. Some of my personal favorites being the ones on water or out right under the ocean. These I always get excited to see since they are done really well. The more flawed locations aren’t terrible looking, but feel uninspired more than anything, such as the sewer locations. I know it should be something to expect within these games, but the boring locations I feel popped up a lot more to a point that was noticeable. The sound design and music is fantastic though and definitely one of the highlights in the game. I absolutely adore the theme that plays in the menu. It never gets old.
The story is honestly really silly, but I mean that in a good way. I don’t have much to say besides it's just very fun to go through and I had a blast with it. I also find it fascinating being a mercenary who gets the mission to fuck up one corporations plan and then the next mission is being hired by that same corporation to kind of get back at the other. It’s an interesting concept to me personally. I won’t go too much into detail on certain events or themes to avoid spoilers, but know it’s a silly, yet fun story.
I know some parts of this review may sound a bit negative, but I honestly couldn’t recommend the game more. A lot of the issues that are in this game aren’t the most severe thing ever and don’t bring the title down too much. It very much feels like the first game in the ’Armored Core’ franchise which is perfectly fine since it is. If you are interested in starting the series then this is not a bad place to start at all. If you are like me coming off ’Armored Core VI’ then you may be pleasantly surprised as well just as I have been. I am interested to see how they take this game and improve upon it in the other games of this first era of ’Armored Core’ because I know I’m going to end up hyper fixated on these games for a while lol.
This review contains spoilers
hmmm today i will Destroy Floating Mines
(clueless)
(clueless)
a wild experiment for the--then nascent--FromSoftware. ARMORED CORE proves to be a rock solid foundation for its genre and a game that still stands on its own as a worthwile experience.
one of the rare examples of a game that actually benefits from the artifacts of its age. the slow methodical controls and the delibarate combat mechanics kinda providing a simulacrum of "real" mech piloting.
this, combined with the game's carefully designed missions, create an addictive and rewarding gameplay loop. said loop rewards player progression and mastery of the movement mechanics with increasing levels of freedom.
ARMORED CORE has a pretty perfect amount of mechanical complexity. the customization is at a level of being rich enough to entice you with upgrades and build possibilities, while being agile enough to keep the game generally... arcadey.
the aforementioned missions do a fantastic job of touring you through the game's depths. they're often more creative and atmospheric than you would think for a "game about giant robots". it uses whatever little dropplets of storytelling it can leverage to build one hell of a strong tone.
some of the later missions create genuinely intense "plot twists" and set pieces that you will remember for a long time. this hand-crafted designed coupled with a very considerate difficulty curve make loving ARMORED CORE completely effortless.
one of the rare examples of a game that actually benefits from the artifacts of its age. the slow methodical controls and the delibarate combat mechanics kinda providing a simulacrum of "real" mech piloting.
this, combined with the game's carefully designed missions, create an addictive and rewarding gameplay loop. said loop rewards player progression and mastery of the movement mechanics with increasing levels of freedom.
ARMORED CORE has a pretty perfect amount of mechanical complexity. the customization is at a level of being rich enough to entice you with upgrades and build possibilities, while being agile enough to keep the game generally... arcadey.
the aforementioned missions do a fantastic job of touring you through the game's depths. they're often more creative and atmospheric than you would think for a "game about giant robots". it uses whatever little dropplets of storytelling it can leverage to build one hell of a strong tone.
some of the later missions create genuinely intense "plot twists" and set pieces that you will remember for a long time. this hand-crafted designed coupled with a very considerate difficulty curve make loving ARMORED CORE completely effortless.
holds up exceptionally well still if you're willing to adjust to the controls, and I genuinely quite like the simple but interesting story as it unravels, on a replay some of the missions take on a completely different light
fascinating seeing early AC retain some of the dungeon crawler elements of KF with some of the more labyrinthian levels, I genuinely like the more exploration centric levels and the art direction is minimalistic but still kinda nice
music kicks ass, some of the later levels are sadistic but funny as fuck, and the game is Unbelievably easy to snap in half once you find the right build and hidden parts
fascinating seeing early AC retain some of the dungeon crawler elements of KF with some of the more labyrinthian levels, I genuinely like the more exploration centric levels and the art direction is minimalistic but still kinda nice
music kicks ass, some of the later levels are sadistic but funny as fuck, and the game is Unbelievably easy to snap in half once you find the right build and hidden parts
[Shelved]
I always heard armored core beforehand, but with seeing the armored core 6 announcement, it's best time to dive in I thought. So I started and my first impressions were positive.
Variety is pretty suprising for a ps1 game. Also a controller configuration option? Hell yeaaah! The first thing I did was changing the controller more like a psp scheme(assigning camera to face buttons and action buttons to trigger buttons).
It was all good until I realized this game is bothering kind of jank for me.
Why the heck my lock on box moves faster than my camera????? Who thought this was a good idea? This takes away all the gameplay flow away. You start turning, then wait camera and aim reticle to match again, then you start turning again and wait for the camer....
I heard, the legs changes your turning speed so that's why. But forcing you to suffer for early game until you can get a better legs... That's so unlogical
No thanks.
My another problem is, when you go up the air and then to the ground, you have to watch your character to do a small stand up animation everytime and only way to get out of that is pressing the jetpack button again I guess. You can think this is a small problem but every mini boss does a massive damage against you and that small time wasting is the deciding factor for the life or death sometimes and punishment of is BIG. Die lots of times and bum. Half reset to your game. Nice.
If you are gonna force a big punishment upon me, then I would expect there is no possible way to get cheap deaths. But with these systems... it's just there to make my experience more miserable.
I have a massive respect that loves this game, but with this camera... I can't. Sorry. If it worked then I would be glad to finish this game and replay it 5 times but this camera is I can't, I just can't category for me
I always heard armored core beforehand, but with seeing the armored core 6 announcement, it's best time to dive in I thought. So I started and my first impressions were positive.
Variety is pretty suprising for a ps1 game. Also a controller configuration option? Hell yeaaah! The first thing I did was changing the controller more like a psp scheme(assigning camera to face buttons and action buttons to trigger buttons).
It was all good until I realized this game is bothering kind of jank for me.
Why the heck my lock on box moves faster than my camera????? Who thought this was a good idea? This takes away all the gameplay flow away. You start turning, then wait camera and aim reticle to match again, then you start turning again and wait for the camer....
I heard, the legs changes your turning speed so that's why. But forcing you to suffer for early game until you can get a better legs... That's so unlogical
No thanks.
My another problem is, when you go up the air and then to the ground, you have to watch your character to do a small stand up animation everytime and only way to get out of that is pressing the jetpack button again I guess. You can think this is a small problem but every mini boss does a massive damage against you and that small time wasting is the deciding factor for the life or death sometimes and punishment of is BIG. Die lots of times and bum. Half reset to your game. Nice.
If you are gonna force a big punishment upon me, then I would expect there is no possible way to get cheap deaths. But with these systems... it's just there to make my experience more miserable.
I have a massive respect that loves this game, but with this camera... I can't. Sorry. If it worked then I would be glad to finish this game and replay it 5 times but this camera is I can't, I just can't category for me
I finally finished this janky game. I had abandoned it previous month, but then returned it for later. Why? Because when I start up the ps1 I found out that I didn't take out the disc. Then I said hey let's try it again maybe I'd like it then? Spoiler: unfortunately no.
Camera is awful, when you are moving fast it can't keep up with you, when you go into a corner it starts to broke and move itself without your input, Also looking up or down is non-existent, camera doesn't even try to match with it's damn aim reticle. Also for some reason map designers have a corridor fetish. I think they were keep pressuring each other to make it smaller again and again... IN A DASH FOCUSED MECHA GAME!??
Not just that, one piece of troll decided to include platforming... HUH!?
Why not 1 star then? Because after getting a lot of money, just equipping lots of explosives and spam them without any money care feels actually fun. Also there is a bit of variety in missions as well and also a lot of different weapons this game have, probably more than the most of the ps1 games. But those gameplay mechanics with awful camera... Just takes it down for me unfortunately
Also that last mission is the biggest piece of garbage missions ever. I am not against hard opponents but platforming? Did you even test your game for that!??? At least it was fun to spam all of my collected explosives to the faces of that nineball. Funny thing is he jumped on top op of my head and I spammed the heck out of attack button instinctively and when I was out of energy and when the explosion effects disappeared he was dead already. Now that was damn satisfying I won't lie.
Camera is awful, when you are moving fast it can't keep up with you, when you go into a corner it starts to broke and move itself without your input, Also looking up or down is non-existent, camera doesn't even try to match with it's damn aim reticle. Also for some reason map designers have a corridor fetish. I think they were keep pressuring each other to make it smaller again and again... IN A DASH FOCUSED MECHA GAME!??
Not just that, one piece of troll decided to include platforming... HUH!?
Why not 1 star then? Because after getting a lot of money, just equipping lots of explosives and spam them without any money care feels actually fun. Also there is a bit of variety in missions as well and also a lot of different weapons this game have, probably more than the most of the ps1 games. But those gameplay mechanics with awful camera... Just takes it down for me unfortunately
Also that last mission is the biggest piece of garbage missions ever. I am not against hard opponents but platforming? Did you even test your game for that!??? At least it was fun to spam all of my collected explosives to the faces of that nineball. Funny thing is he jumped on top op of my head and I spammed the heck out of attack button instinctively and when I was out of energy and when the explosion effects disappeared he was dead already. Now that was damn satisfying I won't lie.
didnt find moonlight greatsword, but i got the ending where i fought a big-ass robot so i cant complain much. armored core, at its core (punned), is about private companies using gun-for-hire mecha pilots to fuel their desires for power. but its also about playing dress up with your robot, customizing the parts and weapons to your hearts content. it's janky, it's primitive at times, but it's above all captivating with its premise and palm-sweating combat. genuinely excited to get into the expansions and, eventually, the sequels.
i would put more words into this but ive already been working on a script for a video review for months so yea lol.
i would put more words into this but ive already been working on a script for a video review for months so yea lol.
It seems like FromSoftware have always had a knack for building great combat gameplay loops. 'Armored Core' is a pulpy, fun and very challenging romp that I can't really write all that much about. That's not to imply there's much wrong with it, just that it's so simple I'd feel silly saying all that much about the game. So, in spirit and celebration—mostly—of that simplicity, the story is absurd and great for it, mech customisation has an astounding amount to it that feels satisfying to wrap your head around, and combat is really cathartic, fast and tense which is quite notable given that PlayStation games of this time don't normally give much in that respect. There's plenty of old-school design sensibilities—naturally, you get thrown into the 'tutorial' fight without being told the controls at all, so go consult a manual—but I was pleasantly surprised by how approachable the game became after it's cold opening. There are certainly some pretty terrible levels throughout the playtime but on average the worst you'll come across are ones which are just uninspired. Sometimes there's real standouts, like a tense fight on water or a battle against another AC Unit—the best parts of the game easily—but a lot of the time the memories of fighting very similar, weaker enemy robots in similar grey corridors or walkways all kinda blur into one. I do still, of course, admire 'Armored Core' a lot, and by no means would I recommend skipping it if you're getting into the series as I am, it's a compelling enough first entry. However, after playing the generational follow up expansion 'Project Phantasma'—which boasts a much more lenient economy to encourage experimentation in AC building earlier on as well as a dedicated 'Arena' mode to get really fun, on demand one-on-one fights against other AC's for quick cash—I find myself in no desire to ever really revisit this game again. Still, it laid the mechanical groundwork which gave us 'Project Phantasma' and the future games, and the stumbling that comes with that process is honestly what makes this game worth playing. Case in point: final mission. Wowwwww. Now, my control set up makes looking around pretty alright for me, but the weirdly brutal platforming section was just wild and honestly a little funny. The final boss, Nine-Ball, is thankfully optional because he too is utterly absurd. You can give him the old Anna Navarre treatment and run past him to the objective you have to destroy which will also complete the mission. I could just sit here and whinge about it but I didn't really find myself actively annoyed with this level, it's more just fascinating trying to decipher what FromSoftware's thought process was with this section of the game. Honestly the only part about the game's combat that had me making noises of irritation is that the aiming field has a habit of targeting enemies who are behind walls while you're trying to shoot something right in front of you, other than that, no notes. Robot game. Cool. Can't wait to play more of them since I'm having a much better time with 'Project Phantasma' already.
this game is so good they didn't change the control scheme until well into the PS2's life
My core experience with Armored Core was with the PS2 games, so I didnt experience the first series until much later in life - but its interesting to see how influential this first game was on the rest of the series, and how much Fromsoft had figured out so early on in their history.
The very definition of a neat weekend rental.
one day they'll invent a little stick you can use instead of the d-pad
The last level is proto-Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and suddenly I have this crashing realisation that they totally had faith in these controls, they must've, these platforms are almost as big as your AC.
it boggles the mind. use a lightweight AC and get folded in half by the final boss at the end (or run past him) or use a durable AC and get stuck in the stupid fucking tower? i think this is shit and unnecessarily frustrating
The last level is proto-Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and suddenly I have this crashing realisation that they totally had faith in these controls, they must've, these platforms are almost as big as your AC.
it boggles the mind. use a lightweight AC and get folded in half by the final boss at the end (or run past him) or use a durable AC and get stuck in the stupid fucking tower? i think this is shit and unnecessarily frustrating
Invade gang, "Armor Core"
Bom, não é um dos meus preferidos, mas tem seu valor.
Playstation-era gaming at its best.
Amazing graphics, nice music, and ground-breaking game mechanics. FromSoftware always delivers. All the rough edges are expected and do not hinder the overall experience.
Amazing graphics, nice music, and ground-breaking game mechanics. FromSoftware always delivers. All the rough edges are expected and do not hinder the overall experience.
Okay, first things first: you CAN get used to the default controls. More or Less. It is humanly possible. That said, before you begin your journey into the true old school of Armored Core, be it with this game or anything prior to Nexus, I want you to look up ""Armored Core dual analog patch." Go ahead, I'll wait.
Right! All things considered, this is one of those games that holds up better than you might expect. To be fair, it's also one of those games you might expect to crumble into dust when you check how it holds up, but making some allowances for PS1 jank, I had a pretty decent time with it. And that was shortly before aforementioned patch existed.
It's honestly hard to think of anything interesting to say about AC1 in relation to the series, because the rest of the series is relating to it. Despite the unintuitive controls, on a mechanical and design level it's the simplest game in the series, which is part of the appeal. Bear in mind that simple doesn't necessarily mean accessible, but I'd rate it a lot easier than most of the PS2 games (with a handful of missions, which also just objectively suck ass, as stark exceptions).
The early-game missions throw almost nothing at you by the standards of a game you're comfortable playing, seemingly because the game is aware of how steep the learning curve for even the basics can be, but you will be expected to get over the hump before long. Mistakes are costly unless you save scum (although you can and probably should save scum); people will warn you that in classic Armored Core it's easy to lose money on a mission due to ammo and repair costs, but less commented on is the fact that the game will often progress even when you fail a mission, locking you out of retrying it and giving you no reward money but still charging you for the expenses. Considering how hard some of the missions can be, that's fucking brutal.
This comparison might sound a little Guy Who's Only Seen Boss Baby, but the vibes are honestly kind of similar to old-school (like, all the way old-school. Kaga era) Fire Emblem. They both have a sort of economy-based difficulty; they're games that punish you long term if you play recklessly, if you're not frugal, or if you're too willing to accept a really scuffed win. In AC's case it helps to use energy weapons, which don't cost you anything for the ammo--especially because hands down the best weapon in the game is one. (Karasawa, my beloved.)
Other than the need to plan ahead, there are big difficulty spikes in this game, as alluded to earlier. Periodically it just gives you an absolutely heinous gimmick mission with extended high-precision platforming sequences, or where you have to navigate a fucking maze while your health constantly drains, or where you're fighting in a tight space full of explosives and also the enemies explode when they die so you not only have to avoid a stray shot hitting the wrong thing but you have to wait for the enemies not to be standing too fucking close to said thing and you have no way of controlling where they--ahem. Yeah, it'll tilt you now and then.
Still, if you're struggling with AC1, there's always Human Plus, which you've probably already heard of if you care enough to be looking into playing it. If not: it's an Easy Mode with some of the most insulting unlock requirements of all time! You have to get 50,000 dollars in debt, which requires failing at least two or three missions if you want to do it in the early game, at which point you reset to the beginning of the game but have a special, permanent powerup now. ...And then you do this like five more times because there are different effects of Human Plus that have to be unlocked one at a time, with the best ones coming last.
Oof. I didn't play (the first game) on Human Plus, but it must be said that benefits like "double your energy" and "use cannons without having to stand perfectly still" are genuinely enticing just in terms of having fun. You may be able to just turn it on directly via cheat codes, if you'd prefer. Heads up also that the non-numbered sequels can only access Human Plus by importing a save file that has it from 1 (or 2 in the case of 2's sequel), and that you can't unlock it after beating the game. So if you want to tough out a normal playthrough of AC1 but think you might want the extra edge in, say, Master of Arena... well, there's still the cheat option.
Despite everything, most of the content of AC1 feels pretty well balanced. It's a rock solid foundation, even if the rock is jagged and uneven. There is a reason this series has been so niche for so long; Armored Core is a very specific and uncompromising vision. But in the first game in particular, there's a real purity to said vision that paints it shades of evergreen.
Right! All things considered, this is one of those games that holds up better than you might expect. To be fair, it's also one of those games you might expect to crumble into dust when you check how it holds up, but making some allowances for PS1 jank, I had a pretty decent time with it. And that was shortly before aforementioned patch existed.
It's honestly hard to think of anything interesting to say about AC1 in relation to the series, because the rest of the series is relating to it. Despite the unintuitive controls, on a mechanical and design level it's the simplest game in the series, which is part of the appeal. Bear in mind that simple doesn't necessarily mean accessible, but I'd rate it a lot easier than most of the PS2 games (with a handful of missions, which also just objectively suck ass, as stark exceptions).
The early-game missions throw almost nothing at you by the standards of a game you're comfortable playing, seemingly because the game is aware of how steep the learning curve for even the basics can be, but you will be expected to get over the hump before long. Mistakes are costly unless you save scum (although you can and probably should save scum); people will warn you that in classic Armored Core it's easy to lose money on a mission due to ammo and repair costs, but less commented on is the fact that the game will often progress even when you fail a mission, locking you out of retrying it and giving you no reward money but still charging you for the expenses. Considering how hard some of the missions can be, that's fucking brutal.
This comparison might sound a little Guy Who's Only Seen Boss Baby, but the vibes are honestly kind of similar to old-school (like, all the way old-school. Kaga era) Fire Emblem. They both have a sort of economy-based difficulty; they're games that punish you long term if you play recklessly, if you're not frugal, or if you're too willing to accept a really scuffed win. In AC's case it helps to use energy weapons, which don't cost you anything for the ammo--especially because hands down the best weapon in the game is one. (Karasawa, my beloved.)
Other than the need to plan ahead, there are big difficulty spikes in this game, as alluded to earlier. Periodically it just gives you an absolutely heinous gimmick mission with extended high-precision platforming sequences, or where you have to navigate a fucking maze while your health constantly drains, or where you're fighting in a tight space full of explosives and also the enemies explode when they die so you not only have to avoid a stray shot hitting the wrong thing but you have to wait for the enemies not to be standing too fucking close to said thing and you have no way of controlling where they--ahem. Yeah, it'll tilt you now and then.
Still, if you're struggling with AC1, there's always Human Plus, which you've probably already heard of if you care enough to be looking into playing it. If not: it's an Easy Mode with some of the most insulting unlock requirements of all time! You have to get 50,000 dollars in debt, which requires failing at least two or three missions if you want to do it in the early game, at which point you reset to the beginning of the game but have a special, permanent powerup now. ...And then you do this like five more times because there are different effects of Human Plus that have to be unlocked one at a time, with the best ones coming last.
Oof. I didn't play (the first game) on Human Plus, but it must be said that benefits like "double your energy" and "use cannons without having to stand perfectly still" are genuinely enticing just in terms of having fun. You may be able to just turn it on directly via cheat codes, if you'd prefer. Heads up also that the non-numbered sequels can only access Human Plus by importing a save file that has it from 1 (or 2 in the case of 2's sequel), and that you can't unlock it after beating the game. So if you want to tough out a normal playthrough of AC1 but think you might want the extra edge in, say, Master of Arena... well, there's still the cheat option.
Despite everything, most of the content of AC1 feels pretty well balanced. It's a rock solid foundation, even if the rock is jagged and uneven. There is a reason this series has been so niche for so long; Armored Core is a very specific and uncompromising vision. But in the first game in particular, there's a real purity to said vision that paints it shades of evergreen.