The best japanese mech game I’ve ever played.

It’s not a perfect game, but it comes very close.

Armored Core is basically a game where you pilot a mech and partake in short missions as a mercenary.

The gameplay loop is basically do a mission until you hit an obstacle. Mess around in the hangar testing a build, use the build, if it doesn’t work, go back to the hanger, if it does work, continue until you hit another obstacle.

The gameplay is incredibly well polished, the mechs, the weapons, the missiles, everything feels so good to use. The sound design, movement, bosses, enemies and voice acting is impeccable.

Mechs are very customisable, you can paint individual parts, like the arms, legs, head, body. You can add decals, text, etc etc

The campaign is around 10 hours but it has 3 different routes with different endings so can be done 3 times. So that’s about 30 hours. Considering it’s £50 game (£60 for the deluxe edition), it might not be worth it if you equal £1 = 1 hour of gameplay. This game is lacking content.

The campaign does have some spikes in difficulty, the bosses especially take inspiration from FromSoftware’s Soul-like games. If this is your first FromSoftware game, be warned. Bosses’ attacks have be dodged in a particular manner, they can read your inputs as well, and require a lot of patience.

The multiplayer is where most people spend their hours. The game has a ranked 1v1 multiplayer ladder, multiplayer is both fun but frustrating. Matches are fast and furious, they can end within seconds. The netcode has issues, and with the small playerbase you can get matched overseas, which can lead to some poor matches, teleporting opponents, rubberbanding, getting hit by things when you were clearly out of it etc.

But I’ve had some exhilarating matches. Matches that feel like they’re straight out an anime like Gundam. I’ve had matches where I’ve ended with my heart pounding and my hands shaking in sweat, the adrenaline rush, it’s glorious.

I’m hopeful FromSoftware release sequel to Fires of Rubicon, I’ve been addicted to Armored Core since Last Raven, there’s just no other game like Armored Core.