At a glance Nexus looks like just another PS2 Armored Core game, but beneath the surface it's probably the most willing to change things up that any AC game has done since the PS1. This is a fact that speaks more to just how conservative these games have been to this point rather than positing Nexus as some grand revolution. It's still ultimately a very similar game to its predecessors, but the winds of change are starting to blow for Armored Core.
The mission structure has changed and with it the voiced mission briefings from previous games are gone. You get only a brief summary of the mission objective before being thrown in. In their place the emails you receive are more detailed and alongside them there's a news bulletin where you can follow the events of the world happening, including how the results of your missions alter them. While some may miss the lavish production of previous games I thought this very thematically fitting. As a mercenary you feel more detached from the missions than you did before and it's only by carefully paying attention to world events that you can truly get a grasp on just what kind of impact your decisions are having, and maybe in doing so choose which jobs you want to take or not. Or you can be like me and just reject all defensive missions and accept anything else.
In place of the voiced mission briefings missions now feature considerably more elaborate in-engine cutscenes. These were extremely rare in prior titles but now feature frequently and while they're not incredible or anything some of them feature some pretty cool camera shots and even unique animations for the intros. This probably sounds pretty standard to anyone not familiar with the franchise, but rest assured that From Software have been extremely frugal about this sort of thing up to now, so seeing them in action actually shocked me the first time it happened. It's a real nice update to add some liveliness to the story sequences in game.
I've been pretty lax when it comes to discussing soundtracks in these titles as I don't consider myself very skilled at criticizing music. I do however know what sounds good to my ears and Nexus easily has the best soundtrack featured in any Armored Core game yet. Beyond that though it also features the best use of music in-game, with great track selection and variety throughout the missions.
Gameplay has been changed up in both subtle and more overt ways. This is easily the largest number of parts we've seen in a non-expansion AC game, though it did have the foundation of 3 and Silent Line to build from. Everything has been rebalanced however, for better or worse. The movement mechanics have also been changed up leaving Nexus feeling just a bit slower than either AC3 game. The heat mechanic has been changed too to require the player to more carefully manage their heat as just about everything generates it now.
I expected to dislike this going in, but ultimately found it to be a pretty enjoyable system, choosing your radiator and parts based on cooling is actually something I paid close attention to when I never had before and in general I felt like I was more mindful of my build in this game than previous entries in which I would just slap on whatever parts sounded good and jump in. Your mileage may vary though about whether this is good or bad.
Everything sounds pretty good so far right? What's the catch? Probably the biggest one is that this game is the easiest title in the series yet, but more than that has the biggest disparity in quality between missions. I ultimately didn't mind Nexus being on the easy side as it's not like every previous game was super-difficult. AC3 was only a little harder than this game and I didn't mind it. The missions are more of an issue however. While there's plenty that are fun and worth playing there's also a notably high number of extremely short levels offering little or no challenge here. Missions where you shoot down a small handful of weak MTs, and most notoriously of all the huge abundance of 'test' missions in which you do some lab work for what is basically a free payout with no risk.
Speaking of risk From seems to have given up balancing the economy at all anymore. It was never much of a factor since the introduction of the arena in Project Phantasma, but at least it was still possible to lose money during missions so you could pretend you were trying to go for high payouts if you ignored the absurd arena bonuses. Now though mission payouts are so generous you'll usually make a profit even if you fail a sortie. And as far as the previously mentioned arena goes this is definitely the worst implementation of it yet. I was personally never a big fan of the arena so this bothered me relatively little, but it could be a big sticking point for those who loved that feature.
Ultimately the good still outweighs the bad as there are plenty of missions worth playing here, but it's easily the game's biggest failing and the one that prevents it from being an incredible game instead of merely a very good one. Of course this is all in reference to Disc 1: Evolution. But what really elevates Nexus is the presence of Disc 2: Revolution.
Nexus' second disc features a remake of a large assortment of missions from Armored Core 1, Project Phantasma and Master of Arena. These are lovingly recreated with fully voiced mission briefings and play great in the new engine. It's strange how the production quality on these can often feel higher budget than those of the supposed 'main game.' If anything the exception selection of old missions highlights just how uneven disc 1's quality could be.
It doesn't stop at just remaking sorties though, as they also feature optional extensions of these missions as well as the opportunity to play them from the opposite side. These were fantastic additions that build upon the stories of these old levels by adding in new background details. It's always a risk to add in new story elements to old works, but I always found these to be respectful and fitting in tone with the source material. On top of that there's a ton of remixes of classic Armored Core tracks all throughout, taking what was already the best soundtrack in the series and elevating so far above everything else it's not even a contest anymore.
You can feel the love for these classic games pouring out in every single aspect of the Revolution Disc. AC1 was 7 years old by the time Nexus had released and From Software treat it with the utmost respect and adoration here. As someone who loved the PS1 Armored Core games this was a huge treat and the quality of these missions (amounting to nearly 40 total sorties when including the original missions and their extensions) injected some much-needed oomph into Nexus. It's a labor of love that emphasizes Nexus' as a marriage of new and old ideas and when combined with the uniqueness of Disc 1 leaves it as the most refreshing title AC has had in a long while.
The mission structure has changed and with it the voiced mission briefings from previous games are gone. You get only a brief summary of the mission objective before being thrown in. In their place the emails you receive are more detailed and alongside them there's a news bulletin where you can follow the events of the world happening, including how the results of your missions alter them. While some may miss the lavish production of previous games I thought this very thematically fitting. As a mercenary you feel more detached from the missions than you did before and it's only by carefully paying attention to world events that you can truly get a grasp on just what kind of impact your decisions are having, and maybe in doing so choose which jobs you want to take or not. Or you can be like me and just reject all defensive missions and accept anything else.
In place of the voiced mission briefings missions now feature considerably more elaborate in-engine cutscenes. These were extremely rare in prior titles but now feature frequently and while they're not incredible or anything some of them feature some pretty cool camera shots and even unique animations for the intros. This probably sounds pretty standard to anyone not familiar with the franchise, but rest assured that From Software have been extremely frugal about this sort of thing up to now, so seeing them in action actually shocked me the first time it happened. It's a real nice update to add some liveliness to the story sequences in game.
I've been pretty lax when it comes to discussing soundtracks in these titles as I don't consider myself very skilled at criticizing music. I do however know what sounds good to my ears and Nexus easily has the best soundtrack featured in any Armored Core game yet. Beyond that though it also features the best use of music in-game, with great track selection and variety throughout the missions.
Gameplay has been changed up in both subtle and more overt ways. This is easily the largest number of parts we've seen in a non-expansion AC game, though it did have the foundation of 3 and Silent Line to build from. Everything has been rebalanced however, for better or worse. The movement mechanics have also been changed up leaving Nexus feeling just a bit slower than either AC3 game. The heat mechanic has been changed too to require the player to more carefully manage their heat as just about everything generates it now.
I expected to dislike this going in, but ultimately found it to be a pretty enjoyable system, choosing your radiator and parts based on cooling is actually something I paid close attention to when I never had before and in general I felt like I was more mindful of my build in this game than previous entries in which I would just slap on whatever parts sounded good and jump in. Your mileage may vary though about whether this is good or bad.
Everything sounds pretty good so far right? What's the catch? Probably the biggest one is that this game is the easiest title in the series yet, but more than that has the biggest disparity in quality between missions. I ultimately didn't mind Nexus being on the easy side as it's not like every previous game was super-difficult. AC3 was only a little harder than this game and I didn't mind it. The missions are more of an issue however. While there's plenty that are fun and worth playing there's also a notably high number of extremely short levels offering little or no challenge here. Missions where you shoot down a small handful of weak MTs, and most notoriously of all the huge abundance of 'test' missions in which you do some lab work for what is basically a free payout with no risk.
Speaking of risk From seems to have given up balancing the economy at all anymore. It was never much of a factor since the introduction of the arena in Project Phantasma, but at least it was still possible to lose money during missions so you could pretend you were trying to go for high payouts if you ignored the absurd arena bonuses. Now though mission payouts are so generous you'll usually make a profit even if you fail a sortie. And as far as the previously mentioned arena goes this is definitely the worst implementation of it yet. I was personally never a big fan of the arena so this bothered me relatively little, but it could be a big sticking point for those who loved that feature.
Ultimately the good still outweighs the bad as there are plenty of missions worth playing here, but it's easily the game's biggest failing and the one that prevents it from being an incredible game instead of merely a very good one. Of course this is all in reference to Disc 1: Evolution. But what really elevates Nexus is the presence of Disc 2: Revolution.
Nexus' second disc features a remake of a large assortment of missions from Armored Core 1, Project Phantasma and Master of Arena. These are lovingly recreated with fully voiced mission briefings and play great in the new engine. It's strange how the production quality on these can often feel higher budget than those of the supposed 'main game.' If anything the exception selection of old missions highlights just how uneven disc 1's quality could be.
It doesn't stop at just remaking sorties though, as they also feature optional extensions of these missions as well as the opportunity to play them from the opposite side. These were fantastic additions that build upon the stories of these old levels by adding in new background details. It's always a risk to add in new story elements to old works, but I always found these to be respectful and fitting in tone with the source material. On top of that there's a ton of remixes of classic Armored Core tracks all throughout, taking what was already the best soundtrack in the series and elevating so far above everything else it's not even a contest anymore.
You can feel the love for these classic games pouring out in every single aspect of the Revolution Disc. AC1 was 7 years old by the time Nexus had released and From Software treat it with the utmost respect and adoration here. As someone who loved the PS1 Armored Core games this was a huge treat and the quality of these missions (amounting to nearly 40 total sorties when including the original missions and their extensions) injected some much-needed oomph into Nexus. It's a labor of love that emphasizes Nexus' as a marriage of new and old ideas and when combined with the uniqueness of Disc 1 leaves it as the most refreshing title AC has had in a long while.