Solid version of 'Tetris' on 3DS, while the loss of online features might hurt it today, they were a good inclusion for the time. The tuning of the game itself is pretty much perfect, presentation is solid, and it has a decent suite of modes. Marathon is rendered a bit redundant since clearing level 15 isn't the highest demand the game could ask of you, but it does unlock the standard endless mode one is after. Sprint and Ultra feel like the expected timed modes you find in any 'Tetris' game worth its salt and they're alright if a bit unimaginative. Battle and Battle Ultimate kinda suck though, the TetriBot is pathetic and doesn't hold up much of a fight at all, you're much better off doing some local play with friends for that sort of experience. The challenge modes are neat though and certainly worth ones time. Overall its fine, not as interesting as something like 'Puyo Puyo Tetris' or 'Tetris Effect' but I prefer the presentation quite a bit more over something like 'Tetris: Axis', but I suspect that title is more feature packed and therefor considered the ideal 3DS 'Tetris' release.

On the surface, there's something rather off-putting to me about 'Armored Core 2: Another Age' as a cultural artefact. The 'bigger is better' philosophy is garish in all periods of course, but the quaking ground the industry now stands on because of it makes it all the more foul to the taste. I confess this is the central reason I avoided 'Another Age' at first, my resentment of overly long games which pitch themselves as such almost purely for the sake of itself as a novelty deterred me and invoked my shameful reactionary purely because of the timely context I myself as a player and critic exist in. What I would not have anticipated is one of the more fascinating and, now in my view, important entries in FromSoftware's catalogue.

It's easy to perceive 'Another Age' as merely more 'Armored Core 2', so say we humour this perspective for a little while. On this platform, one will discover 'Another Age' a simultaneously invigoratingly inventive and suffocatingly boring experiment of a project, with equal ability to dazzle and push the technology and conceptualisation abilities of its predecessor as well as risk surprise top surgery with its insipid monotony threatening to really bore one's tits off. It's a bizarre experience to watch this game violently vacillate between the series' very best moments and very worst in its bountiful mission variety. On this easy perspective, one might also be aware of the mechanical succession to 'Armored Core 2', a game I held qualms with on the basis of difficulty and mechanical onboarding. 'Another Age' amends my previous notes here by being both significantly harder and, hilariously enough, longer. Unlike '2' I felt actively prodded by the structure of 'Another Age' to create a variety of ACs and engage with all aspects of the construction process in a way I found far more engaging and well rounded, it helped to notice the good manner to which the game introduces it's layers as this is the only expansion game other than 'Project Phantasma' where I did not load a save.

So concludes this little written experiment of 'Armored Core 2: Another Age' as simply more 'Armored Core 2', a far more inconsistent experience that is bolder in mission design as well as being, in completeness, more systemically and mechanically rich and satisfying, held down primarily by the fact that it is fucking hopelessly absent on a cohesive or conventionally compelling narrative context. 3/5, not enough fish, will hang myself in my cute dress later.

But this is reductive, so it's time for me to commit to my tradition in reviews and embarrass myself properly.

'Armored Core 2: Another Age' from an actual cohesive perspective is, without contest, the most experiential of FromSoftware's mecha titles. This doesn't mean it's the best, not even close, but it does mean it's dramatically more important than its exterior would suggest, and I can now fully understand where folks are coming from in their love of the title. There is, in critical space, some well earned admiration for the world building in previous titles achieved through cold dialogue and a practically inhuman structure. 'Armored Core 2: Another Age', because of it's excellent mechanics and demand for player engagement with its most important systems in AC building, because of it's borderline abrasive mission variety and broad curation of it's 100 mission catalog, because of it's completely barren, detached and decisively not cohesive narrative, this is the purest distillation of the 'Armored Core' experience that has presently been conceived. The emptiness, the boredom that was felt in this game's lows stopped being flaws for me to harp on in my annoying review and instead became an integral part of the experience that, in retrospect, I wouldn't have any other way. Never before have I felt so drearily detached from myself, from my behaviour in one of these games. The progression of the world building is limited only to the changing landscapes of metallic murder you travel to as the map expands, painting the world itself in physicality as nothing more than stages for violence, total background noise. This technique of environmental storytelling is, of course, very important to what would evolve stylistically in the city of Layered in 'Armored Core 3', but thematically, this absent separation of Raven from Place is deeply important to what is explored in that third generation. A legion of metal and smoke charging forward across the Earth in systemic automation, ignorant and disconnected from the environment itself they impose upon, doomed to face its retort beyond the rebooted setting's Silent Line. This all starts in 'Another Age', truly marking it as a deeply important play in my eyes. There's no 'plot', there's nothing real in 'characters', this is truly immersive experiential storytelling, there is nothing but a dissociative conflict of corporate interests which you numb yourself into accepting, a furious blend of steel and fire signifying only the greatest, grossest industrial heights of our systemic failure. This is a very unique kind of compelling, one that the series feels born for given the notes of it sprinkled in all entries, but 'Another Age' is the only title to truly slice it down to the bare nub of it's meaning, and for that, I passionately applaud it. Given how much FromSoftware's later work is championed for this kind of storytelling, I'm surprised to hear the sentiment of 'Another Age' having no story to be one so common, because with a small change in perspective one may realise that this bloated experiment is hollowingly rich with it.

'Silent Line: Armored Core' is a fantastic expansion game and has made itself possibly my favourite entry thus far. If 'Armored Core 3' was an engaging and surprisingly poignant mecha romp then 'Silent Line' is more so, only now further developed in conciseness and creativity.

Mechanically this is practically the same game so I won't repeat my praises of FromSoftware's introduction to the third generation, but this does not at all mean that these games play the same. 'Silent Line' is noticeably more demanding but also features levels which support more frantic combat and makes some changes to building your AC. Starting with the latter mentioned alterations, left arm weapons have evolved into proper form here, and there is now a huge variety of left arm ranged options to choose from, not just howitzers and laser blades. As long as you customise your control method to make firing both at the same time feasible you can create some utterly deadly combinations which will be necessary for these new, much more challenging missions. There's such excitement in how much 'Silent Line' expects of you, treating with almost 200 new parts, many of which are hidden off the beaten path in levels, making the polyamorous marriage between systems, mechanics and level designs stronger than it ever has been. They all feed each other dearly.

'Silent Line: Armored Core' truly has one of the most finely tuned difficulty curves I've enjoyed in a good amount of time, every single fight feels more intense than the last barring a singularly disappointing exception I'll speak on later, and the kinda weirdly balanced Arena. The Arena this time is gated and paced similarly to how to was in 1999s 'Armored Core: Master of Arena', and those of you who read my review of that game will know that I very much approve of this, it's just that I found most of the encounters too easy. Lots of the builds felt samey or had weaknesses so universal that the cool quirks of their design just never got a moment in the sun before being obliterated, but other than that occasional hiccup it was just as fun as it's always been and the best way to stay on top of the economy since mission providers are extremely stingy with cash this time around. John Morbius was certainly a more formidable Nine-Breaker than Ace, and the three new maps are all great additions which I spent a lot of time on. Now, while the Arena might be a bit on the absent minded side at times, the main missions are laden with welcome skill checks to keep even those who demonstrated great talent in the base game from slacking off. The mid-late game has great tests of endurance and careful consideration of how one spreads their AP across a mission in a daunting decent in an underground lab the player performs asynchronously with another pilot, or movement in a frenetic assault on a base near the titular location where orbital lasers paint the floor you spring from. Mission variety is on complete focus, as while this game is much shorter, it is only made better by how precise its concerns are. Every mission feels like it would have been among the best of 'Armored Core 3' and while the environmental design is not as rich, it still plays as an elegant framing device and has some very strong moments. On the former point, as missions get closer to the Line the areas become bleaker, more barren, featuring less to be able to draw conclusions with. This makes the mystery of the Silent Line as a location much stronger, giving its eventual reveal the same appeal as the surface possessed previously in '3', the design of the unique enemies which come to defend it being almost otherworldly in appearance makes the player controlled AC feel alien in these settings, immersing you as the encroaching force, the invasive vulture, reporting to a nest of saccharine metals and short-standing concrete. This idea is played through to the end and it's very compelling, it would be easy to think of the extended time you spend away from the Line and even underground in places from 'Armored Core 3' as cop outs, but the missions themselves that take place in moments like that are backed by the same level of enthralling, memorable challenge and elegant narrative contextualisation that it would feel weak-sauce to make a negative point out of. The return to the Controller's lair in old Layered is such a haunting section, doubling down on the presentational twinkles from 'Armored Core 3' of a bleaker, more tested setting that have now truly gleamed into the representative qualities they were building up to be. The mission, in terms of structural design, is also strikingly bold in asking "what if instead of having two enemy ACs up the player's ass... we had... three? Wouldn't that be bossed up?" And for sure, it was awesome, though someone really needs to teach Ori how to get his Moon Salt to re-ascend an elevator shaft properly without getting his big metal knob stuck in the crevices on the way up. These levels aren't padding, they're pacing, this builds reverence and anticipation for the unexplored region of the surface world, FromSoftware know how to mediate this aspect to great ends here and it results in quite the enticing game.

Such as it is advanced and majestic, the Silent Line, it is to take no want of humanity, ostensibly. As the game goes on the player will unknowingly build a relationship with the series' best antagonist who shall remain unnamed for the sake of keeping this review spoiler free, but the key understanding is simply something excellent. By the end, it is to be realised that it was never the Silent Line which rejects humanity, but rather the other way around, for the systems of capital have dominated so much of this setting that they now almost entirely define human existence all up to a single point, that of the vultures themselves. This system, these visions of metal and smoke, it never wanted the prosperity that could be found in the Silent Line to be constituted by attributes relating to the inherent worth of its environment—capital doesn't see things that way—it was merely some new medium of conquest, of advancement, of capital aspiration. Humanity, dictated by the corporations, pushed forward toward it in a pattern, a pattern so deep that no reason could penetrate its cover of cruel and spotless steel, simply because they had to, simply because there had never—in their minds at least—been anything else. The antagonist surreptitiously places faith in the player controlled Raven, provoking them at various points to think about what these organisations you cater to might do in their ascendancy to power, calling out to them in the dying voices of their minions , trying to reach them in some way to maybe awaken the idea that one mightn't feel all too comforted by this pattern of endless violence when it's logical conclusion draws closer. By the end, toppled over in an unfortunately easy boss encounter, they tell the Raven that "the rest is up to [them]", this onus, just as it did with Klein in 'Armored Core 2' comes back to those who might have the power to truly change things if they themselves can change, the faith placed again in those who choose to awaken anew, away from all of this.

The capital submissiveness of the Ravens as a focus could very well be seen as a little trite at this point, but I don't feel that way, not only because the 'Armored Core' series is finding more poignant language to express these things, but also because this language is being treated to an intersection relating to industrialisation's relationship with our physical environment in capital's inability to appreciate our very own Earth—or, as implied, any other aspect of life—so far as it sits outside it's own mind game, and the game has levelled out to a point of self awareness that makes it hard to call pretentious. The idea of the Ravens as competitive vultures has been played for both drama and comedy at this stage, with a one very funny mission in particular having three of them—including the player—start senselessly ripping each other apart during what was supposed to be an light aim training exercise, hilariously being one of the harder two-on-one fights in a game with a bunch of tough encounters of that type.

I have such deep affections for the third generation of 'Armored Core', these two are absolutely some of the best games on the PlayStation 2, which is saying a lot given the legendary status of the machine and its library. I feel like these are the two entries that really had me get what makes 'Armored Core' truly special. One really has to wonder how FromSoftware do it, but at any rate, I'm very excited to see what 'Nexus' does with this ground to jump off... and its right analog stick.

I can't imagine what 'Armored Core 2' would be like for someone who skipped the expansions to the first game, but speaking as someone who didn't, this is about as standard as sequels come. If we are to assess this game without the 1997 and 1999 instalments in mind, it's a fantastic and thrilling breakthrough, but if this is not the case then it is merely a more polished more of 1999s 'Master of Arena'. Lucky it is, then, that I found FromSoftware's exit piece for the Playstation so moreish, because I felt no more provoked by this game than I have any of the previous, which is maybe why I sound so down on it in the introduction, so let us lighten up a little.

'Armored Core 2' has just as well a compellingly pulpy set up as any other entry, a mission to Mars! The new human solution to the industrial consequences which trapped all underground previously is a new colony setup on the red planet. Lax on regulation as an emerging setup is to be, this is where the Ravens come back into the picture, working on the corp offering the carrots each passing hour—you, no different in structural entrapment to any other forcefully integrated into the economic cesspit, a hopeless vulture with no agency. The brutal, nihilistic corvid. What proceeds is, in terms of levels, an almost remake of the first generation games, with many sections operating as straight up remastering down to the cutscenes, moving, say, the desert train mission of 'Armored Core'—where planes crudely nipped at you from angels that jank had refused elegance—to a personal favourite. But such good spirits had the understated tingle of a game running out of ideas, which is the real shame, for half of the levels in 'Armored Core 2' are far in away the best the series could offer by the turn of the millennium, but the other half are simply half hearted or seen before too recently. Mechanically, the game is stronger than it has ever been, with overheating adding a new layer to the carefully formed tapestry of AC building first weaved in those focused Playstation titles, the addition is just as considered, but so little of it's company is. Customisation has more here than ever, and yet, the game never challenged enough nor felt long enough to warrant such investigation on anything that hadn't been present in the prior generation anyway. A waste of good metal, since the effort here might be the strongest innovation setting this sequel apart from what came before.

On difficulty, as was perhaps illuminated earlier, '2' is a strange mecha duck. Still challenging yes, but also quite easy up until the abrupt shift in the second half which felt like the game coming back up to speed with the adversity felt in 'Master of Arena'. Now, here's a funny thought, have I really gotten that much better at 'Armored Core' between 'Project Phantasma' and '2', or is my almost immediate abandonment of tetrapods going into the first hour of this sequel and sharp dedication to a light sniping mech with little resistance or major effort from me compared to the last entries all the way through to the end maybe a sign that the balancing in this one wasn't amazing? This adversity I sought had nested itself very comfortably in the Arena mode of course, for what was an excellent but truly brutal experience. Of course it, like 'Phantasma' before it is loaded with small potatoes, quite literally small in the case of the child you murder in the first 10 placements, but when you get stuck on an Arena fight in the top half of the list it can be a real fabric chewer.

Now, while the missions of the game didn't take nearly as much focus as the previous, '2' still has a fair few pretty thrilling moments. So as Mars develops, authority makes itself known. The Frighteners work as an effectively intimating force ludically at first, with the Fortner's handing you off a guaranteed failure on a sortie and later an excellent 2 on 1 fight, but Klein, while loaded with some very daunt dialogue that does him a lot of favours, is a complete pushover. The final encounter itself is great for sure, with his final design being something truly otherworldly, but he stands no chance and could've definitely been a more gritty challenge, no matter how appreciable his noble end is.

With the end of the independent attempts at controlling Mars, whether they be some earnest attempt to end the libertarian dystopia or some grotesque market warfare, the red planet bleeds and it was all upon your hand as a Raven. Klein asks a sly question in "what is it that you wish for?", as the brutality of the status quo came back again and again to those who systematically helped enforce it. Victims too are the Ravens when it comes to the making of fate, the fence-guard of capital and its inherent material and psychological nature leaves them, cruelly, unable to wish. The bird flees change not because of anything genuine enough to be called visceral or cerebral, it flees because it does not know anything else.