It's like Armored Core if it controlled well - compared to the PS1 Armored Core games this thing controls like a dream, but the movement can be a little janky sometimes, leading your mech to aim at weird places. Aiming is generally pretty iffy in the game, actually.
Anyways, beyond control improvements and caveats, one thing I thought this game did poorly was mech customization. In Armored Core you have a whole host of different options for your mech, and most of them feel like they make substantial changes to your playstyle and abilities. This does, of course, lead to imbalance, but that's all part of the fun. Here in Frame Gride, however, most body parts feel samey. They have stat differences, sure, but they're mostly minimal, and you'll quickly find that only a few stats actually matter, at least in singleplayer. Weapons are the only things that will massively change your playstyle here, and even then your melee weapon doesn't feel like it changes all that much.
All this talk of customization brings up another topic: the way you obtain gear. This game has a Gem system, where instead of using currency to buy gear and having it be sellable, you combine gems you pick up in battle in specific ways to create different weapons. It's a cool idea, but farming for these gems is a pain, and you're going to need to do it if you want to try out all of the gear in the game. A lot of it. You can't sell or dissemble gear you don't want to use anymore, either, so you're forced into a situation of pseudo-trial-and-error, where some parts actually suck, and you just have to deal with the lost gems. Not fun.
The singleplayer of the game is quite simple and short. This might not have been as bad back in the day, since this game used to have netplay support. I'm guessing that was the real main attraction of the game on release, since the Dreamcast was still pretty new, and online gaming on consoles was extremely novel. These modes are now offline, so there's not much to be done there. It's disappointing. I feel like multiplayer would really make this game, but I'm not going to have a couch versus session of goddamn Frame Gride for Sega Dreamcast any time soon. Wish I could though.
There's one more thing that stops this game from being as great as it could have been, in my opinion, and it's the largest deviation it makes from Armored Core. The Squire system. Squires are summonable AI buddies that will fight for you, and there are 32 to choose from. None of them are especially busted, but a lot of them suck. I feel they take away from the fun of 1v1 mech battles in the game, being more annoyances than threats. The most they'll do is stun you mid-melee combo most of the time, and that's really not fun.
The aesthetics of the game are great, there's some good music, and it's like Armored Core from another dimension. Not a terrible game, not an amazing game, but a pretty fun four or five hours from start to finish in singleplayer. The final boss is a little unfair, but the boss room is so cool-looking that you probably won't care.
Cool game. Probably not gonna play it again any time soon, unless somebody miraculously wants to go head-to-head and has save files with 100% of the mech parts unlocked for us to create our mechs with. Until then, goodbye, and I'll see you next time in the Forgotten Temple (忘れ去られた神殿).
Anyways, beyond control improvements and caveats, one thing I thought this game did poorly was mech customization. In Armored Core you have a whole host of different options for your mech, and most of them feel like they make substantial changes to your playstyle and abilities. This does, of course, lead to imbalance, but that's all part of the fun. Here in Frame Gride, however, most body parts feel samey. They have stat differences, sure, but they're mostly minimal, and you'll quickly find that only a few stats actually matter, at least in singleplayer. Weapons are the only things that will massively change your playstyle here, and even then your melee weapon doesn't feel like it changes all that much.
All this talk of customization brings up another topic: the way you obtain gear. This game has a Gem system, where instead of using currency to buy gear and having it be sellable, you combine gems you pick up in battle in specific ways to create different weapons. It's a cool idea, but farming for these gems is a pain, and you're going to need to do it if you want to try out all of the gear in the game. A lot of it. You can't sell or dissemble gear you don't want to use anymore, either, so you're forced into a situation of pseudo-trial-and-error, where some parts actually suck, and you just have to deal with the lost gems. Not fun.
The singleplayer of the game is quite simple and short. This might not have been as bad back in the day, since this game used to have netplay support. I'm guessing that was the real main attraction of the game on release, since the Dreamcast was still pretty new, and online gaming on consoles was extremely novel. These modes are now offline, so there's not much to be done there. It's disappointing. I feel like multiplayer would really make this game, but I'm not going to have a couch versus session of goddamn Frame Gride for Sega Dreamcast any time soon. Wish I could though.
There's one more thing that stops this game from being as great as it could have been, in my opinion, and it's the largest deviation it makes from Armored Core. The Squire system. Squires are summonable AI buddies that will fight for you, and there are 32 to choose from. None of them are especially busted, but a lot of them suck. I feel they take away from the fun of 1v1 mech battles in the game, being more annoyances than threats. The most they'll do is stun you mid-melee combo most of the time, and that's really not fun.
The aesthetics of the game are great, there's some good music, and it's like Armored Core from another dimension. Not a terrible game, not an amazing game, but a pretty fun four or five hours from start to finish in singleplayer. The final boss is a little unfair, but the boss room is so cool-looking that you probably won't care.
Cool game. Probably not gonna play it again any time soon, unless somebody miraculously wants to go head-to-head and has save files with 100% of the mech parts unlocked for us to create our mechs with. Until then, goodbye, and I'll see you next time in the Forgotten Temple (忘れ去られた神殿).