This is my first AC game, so a fair warning for my potentially dogshit takes down further in the review.
I absolutely have my problems with this game, mostly due to spotty information prep in pre-missions (I don't need to know hyperspecifics like ambushes, but more lines like "there have been signs an AC activity in the area" would be nice, could even be a fakeout), a few hitbox issues and other issues I'll get into later, but what a game Armored Core 3 is.
The story, while sparse and minimal, is pretty compelling to see unfold. I won't go into detail because spoilers but it reminds me of, well, how it feels to watch big events unfold in real life. Doing your job, some more action packed than others, but all-in-all just standing by the wayside as shit goes down. Of course since this is a video game, you're the one to put the end to an major historical event, but even then AC3 made me feel ways I haven't felt in a while. It also has some biting criticism of both PMCs and corporations as a nice bonus.
Atmosphere and environmental design is great, simultaneously beautiful and soul crushing. The District 1 and 3 areas are probably my favorite - put some hints of some cyberpunk alongside the killer mecha designs of AC, and you have an image that'll be in my head for a while, but the rest of the game is no slouch. There's so many standout locations in AC3; the reservoir, the forest, the labs, the mines, so many good locations.
Speaking of killer AC designs. I think there's only one AC part that looks goofy as hell, the VEN or the radar head, but literally other piece is phenomenal. All killer designs, any AC combo (that doesn't have the VEN head) looks kickass. I definitely spent way too much time customizing my ACs while listening to this banger of a main menu theme.
Controlling the game can be a little unwieldly at first due to tank controls. I'll be the first to admit that I would definitely prefer analog controls, but once you get the hang of moving around it's borderline addictive. There's a reason I 100%'d this game, my god it's so much fun to play. Fighting other ACs outside of a select handful (Ace and Exile can eat my ass) is challenging with any build but so fun to engage with.
Builds are another factor I love a lot, but sometimes the design can be a little aggressive in how it wants you to change your build. Maybe it's my prior experience with FromSoft's later works conflicting with the very different style of AC, but sometimes it felt like the game was less encouraging you to try a different build to give you breathing room and more saying "lol use these parts or die", especially in late game.
It definitely does a better job of encouraging a different build than something like Souls does - one of my biggest issues with Souls as a series was how limited respecs were and how shit certain builds can feel in comparison to just running STR/DEX even if those builds are actually good strategies, AC3 by comparison feels amazing all round outside of 3-4 hyper niche weapons - but I think AC3 can sometimes lean too hard in the opposite direction where it's encouragement becomes more like enforcement. Being encouraged in the right direction to use a different build or different parts for different environments - a heavy build to give you more breathing room, to use a lighter build with a longer range gun to avoid getting shot entirely, swapping parts for certain defensive traits, hover legs to make water levels your playground, etc? Completely fine with that, I'm glad these exist. Only being able to win a (non-Massive enemy) fight with an incredibly light build with exclusively nothing but a strong, heavy weapon slapped on it because heavy ACs are too slow - or with a heavy AC's multiple hyper-powerful weapons because there is literally no other way that you could do enough damage in time before you'd deleted with a light AC, and even then only barely scraping out a win? With some of the missions having only enough room for one strategy and not the other, not so much. I'm not saying "oh the game should be a piece of cake for anything to beat" but sometimes it feels like a mission is built around a specific set of parts with no room for experimentation.
This isn't as big of an issue as I'm making it out to be, it really only is a few missions at late game and a select couple of arena fights that I think have this enforcement issue that admittedly might only be in my head, but I worry that future games in my AC backlog (Silent Line, Nexus, Last Raven, 4 and For Answer) might take those missions I have a problem with and stretch that out to a full game. Cautiously optimistic though that they're more akin to most of AC3's best missions where it's much more freeflow but nudges you to experiment.
Outside of my handful of complaints, I really did enjoy the game a lot, would go so far to say that I loved it. It scratched an itch I didn't even know I had, and I'm looking forward to playing other games in the series.
I absolutely have my problems with this game, mostly due to spotty information prep in pre-missions (I don't need to know hyperspecifics like ambushes, but more lines like "there have been signs an AC activity in the area" would be nice, could even be a fakeout), a few hitbox issues and other issues I'll get into later, but what a game Armored Core 3 is.
The story, while sparse and minimal, is pretty compelling to see unfold. I won't go into detail because spoilers but it reminds me of, well, how it feels to watch big events unfold in real life. Doing your job, some more action packed than others, but all-in-all just standing by the wayside as shit goes down. Of course since this is a video game, you're the one to put the end to an major historical event, but even then AC3 made me feel ways I haven't felt in a while. It also has some biting criticism of both PMCs and corporations as a nice bonus.
Atmosphere and environmental design is great, simultaneously beautiful and soul crushing. The District 1 and 3 areas are probably my favorite - put some hints of some cyberpunk alongside the killer mecha designs of AC, and you have an image that'll be in my head for a while, but the rest of the game is no slouch. There's so many standout locations in AC3; the reservoir, the forest, the labs, the mines, so many good locations.
Speaking of killer AC designs. I think there's only one AC part that looks goofy as hell, the VEN or the radar head, but literally other piece is phenomenal. All killer designs, any AC combo (that doesn't have the VEN head) looks kickass. I definitely spent way too much time customizing my ACs while listening to this banger of a main menu theme.
Controlling the game can be a little unwieldly at first due to tank controls. I'll be the first to admit that I would definitely prefer analog controls, but once you get the hang of moving around it's borderline addictive. There's a reason I 100%'d this game, my god it's so much fun to play. Fighting other ACs outside of a select handful (Ace and Exile can eat my ass) is challenging with any build but so fun to engage with.
Builds are another factor I love a lot, but sometimes the design can be a little aggressive in how it wants you to change your build. Maybe it's my prior experience with FromSoft's later works conflicting with the very different style of AC, but sometimes it felt like the game was less encouraging you to try a different build to give you breathing room and more saying "lol use these parts or die", especially in late game.
It definitely does a better job of encouraging a different build than something like Souls does - one of my biggest issues with Souls as a series was how limited respecs were and how shit certain builds can feel in comparison to just running STR/DEX even if those builds are actually good strategies, AC3 by comparison feels amazing all round outside of 3-4 hyper niche weapons - but I think AC3 can sometimes lean too hard in the opposite direction where it's encouragement becomes more like enforcement. Being encouraged in the right direction to use a different build or different parts for different environments - a heavy build to give you more breathing room, to use a lighter build with a longer range gun to avoid getting shot entirely, swapping parts for certain defensive traits, hover legs to make water levels your playground, etc? Completely fine with that, I'm glad these exist. Only being able to win a (non-Massive enemy) fight with an incredibly light build with exclusively nothing but a strong, heavy weapon slapped on it because heavy ACs are too slow - or with a heavy AC's multiple hyper-powerful weapons because there is literally no other way that you could do enough damage in time before you'd deleted with a light AC, and even then only barely scraping out a win? With some of the missions having only enough room for one strategy and not the other, not so much. I'm not saying "oh the game should be a piece of cake for anything to beat" but sometimes it feels like a mission is built around a specific set of parts with no room for experimentation.
This isn't as big of an issue as I'm making it out to be, it really only is a few missions at late game and a select couple of arena fights that I think have this enforcement issue that admittedly might only be in my head, but I worry that future games in my AC backlog (Silent Line, Nexus, Last Raven, 4 and For Answer) might take those missions I have a problem with and stretch that out to a full game. Cautiously optimistic though that they're more akin to most of AC3's best missions where it's much more freeflow but nudges you to experiment.
Outside of my handful of complaints, I really did enjoy the game a lot, would go so far to say that I loved it. It scratched an itch I didn't even know I had, and I'm looking forward to playing other games in the series.