I can only imagine how longtime fans of the series felt after eating this fucking good for the first time in almost 10 years. I'm a newcomer to the series except playing a bit of AC 1 before this released. And by god, this is an absolutely wonderful game. I knew I was probably going to like it based on my experience with AC1, but I was floored by how good it ended up being. I bought the game, and played it non stop until I beat the first route the next day. Afterwards I immediately started the second route because it was just that engrossing.
It's so fucking fun to play this, that rush you get from a good 1v1 duel against another AC never got old for me. The titular Armored Core handles like a dream and the truckload of parts make for a lot of possible builds. It is true some things like the Zimmerman shotguns were busted as hell back when I played it, but since then a couple of balance patches have dropped that evened the weapon playing field a little and some of the weaker stuff is probably a lot better now. Hell, I kinda want to go back in for another playthrough and see what changed. There are a total of 3 story routes to play through, and you need to do so to experience every single mission in the game. Final one requires you to have beaten the game 2 times, while the first 2 are always possible based on your choices. There is a wide variety of missions, and not all of them are winners, but there's more than enough to satiate me until the hopefully inevitable expansion/sequel this series always seems to give its numbered entries.
The story was also great, it's pretty good scifi with some amazingly strong characters despite none of them ever showing their faces and only existing as disembodied voices you hear through the radio. The voice acting is absolutely phenomenal and carries so much of the emotional weight the big stompy robots can't by themselves. Visually, Rubicon is not the most beautiful of planets. It's an industrial, desolate and horribly polluted hellscape, and despite the potentially drab setting that could have gotten boring without all the mission variety, the game managed to make my jaw drop with how beautiful some scenes could be. This game has some of the prettiest skyboxes in any game on god, and the climactic missions that end chapters always left my jaw open with the spectacle. The bosses on this game man like holy shit. When Contact with You hits during the Baltheus fight it was transcendent. At that moment I knew that this game would be one to remember possibly forever. Whole soundtrack is good as hell, I must admit a decent chunk does blend in with the carnage on missions, but its always right where you need it to in order to elevate every important moment or fight.
If I had a better computer I would be emulating AC4 right now, those games look so fucking fun and part of me wishes that Fromsoft tries the neckbreaker 3000 style again with better tech on platforms that can actually handle it, but even if that never happens I'm just glad there's good ass mech games like this out, and I'm glad I played it.
It's so fucking fun to play this, that rush you get from a good 1v1 duel against another AC never got old for me. The titular Armored Core handles like a dream and the truckload of parts make for a lot of possible builds. It is true some things like the Zimmerman shotguns were busted as hell back when I played it, but since then a couple of balance patches have dropped that evened the weapon playing field a little and some of the weaker stuff is probably a lot better now. Hell, I kinda want to go back in for another playthrough and see what changed. There are a total of 3 story routes to play through, and you need to do so to experience every single mission in the game. Final one requires you to have beaten the game 2 times, while the first 2 are always possible based on your choices. There is a wide variety of missions, and not all of them are winners, but there's more than enough to satiate me until the hopefully inevitable expansion/sequel this series always seems to give its numbered entries.
The story was also great, it's pretty good scifi with some amazingly strong characters despite none of them ever showing their faces and only existing as disembodied voices you hear through the radio. The voice acting is absolutely phenomenal and carries so much of the emotional weight the big stompy robots can't by themselves. Visually, Rubicon is not the most beautiful of planets. It's an industrial, desolate and horribly polluted hellscape, and despite the potentially drab setting that could have gotten boring without all the mission variety, the game managed to make my jaw drop with how beautiful some scenes could be. This game has some of the prettiest skyboxes in any game on god, and the climactic missions that end chapters always left my jaw open with the spectacle. The bosses on this game man like holy shit. When Contact with You hits during the Baltheus fight it was transcendent. At that moment I knew that this game would be one to remember possibly forever. Whole soundtrack is good as hell, I must admit a decent chunk does blend in with the carnage on missions, but its always right where you need it to in order to elevate every important moment or fight.
If I had a better computer I would be emulating AC4 right now, those games look so fucking fun and part of me wishes that Fromsoft tries the neckbreaker 3000 style again with better tech on platforms that can actually handle it, but even if that never happens I'm just glad there's good ass mech games like this out, and I'm glad I played it.