skyth's Full Review: Armored Core: Master of Arena for PlayStation 1
It may be unrealistic, but its definitely a whole lot of fun to play with a 100 ton mech warrior. If you are unfamiliar with the genre, mech is a building tall robot controlled by a human pilot from its cockpit. Your ultimate job, of course, is to blow away enemy mechs and other obstructions that come your way. The controls in such games take some getting used to, but its not remotely as complex as Jane's F117 flight simulator. Press a button and your mech is running, use another and you are shooting heat seeker missiles. Technique and experience grows with time, but I don't care what the whole world says -- Mech sims are mindless shoot 'em up style games with some finesse.
Game Play 9/10
You are a mercenary in humanity's unequivecally cathostrophic future. Its sad that we all must die in wrath and agony for future generations to come up with towering mechs, but that's how it always is video games. You start with a piece of junk, and build your way up buying upgrades and other equipment for your mech. Call me weird, but I enjoy fitting mechs more than playing the actual game. Hours will I spend in the fitting room trying to make enough space to put a crazy amount of long range weapons, and than try to take out a mech with one shot. I know it sounds crazy, but I have managed to do this in all Mech Warrior series. I am having trouble in this one, but I shall manage. Oh yeah, the best is when I outfit the mech so well that, when you press fire not only does your target explode, so do you. Kind of defeats the whole purpose, but its a whole lot of fun.
Armored Core hasn't developed an insane, hard to beat AI, but the variety of enemies makes things a whole lot interesting. Your objectives are always changing, and the enemy mechs become tougher as you go along. Just when you think its all over, you will end up getting a bot that is twice as strong as yours. Its really neat and manages to keep you on the edge. Solid game play is the key here, and Armored Core will make you one happy camper.
Multiplayer 10/10
In addition to the Mech Warrior II style single player missions, the game puts a lot of emphasis on head-to-head arena combat. Although you get some tough enemies to do this against, you can also blow up your friends using a link cable. This is just too much fun to explain, expecially when your friend thinks he's got it all. There is also the split screen mode, but that looks kind of ugly. My highest recommendation is the use the link cable for this mode.
Graphics 7/10
PSX is an old system, and shows its age. The game graphics are fine to look at, but there isn't really any eye candy to speak of. Its neither good nor bad, just somewhere in between. Even the smooth running frame rate gets a little bit chunky in hot situations.
Conclusion 9/10
Although it's a shoot 'em up style game, Armored Core requires you to do some brainstorming if you are trying to come up with the best mech design. But, if you just want to sit on a 100 ton monster and watch things blow up, its easy to just use a basic set-up. You will miss most of the fun, and still manage to have fun in this incredible game that spans over 2 CD's. Give it a shot, and keep shooting.
Climb into a deadly giant robot and get ready for some intense combat. Don't like your weapons? No problem, just outfit your robot differently. You ca...More at GameQuest Direct. com
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