Retro|Spective 030: Armored Core

[Neon Ignition]

The mechanical whir sounds out followed closely by distant explosions and mech giants face down in...

Armoured Core

Mainline Entry 01 - Armored Core
Formats: Playstation
The Earth's population has been wiped out in the distant future and a handful of survivors emerge from underground. Two surviving companies battle one another using mercenaries, these mercenaries piloting mechs named Armoured Cores. FROM launched the series back in '97 with the series focusing on third person action in the mechs with the player able to heavily customise their own mech to increase their chances of success in combat. This initial entry would launch a rapidly expanding series with FROM placing a lot of emphasis on new entries until they began to find success with their Souls series.



Spin Off Entry 01 - Armored Core: Project Phantasma
Formats: Playstation
Spin Off Entry 02 - Armored Core: Master of Arena
Formats: Playstation
Despite Project's status as a spin-off it followed on directly from the original game in both plot and gameplay. By comparison Arena focused on taking a mode from the Project entry and fusing that element into the core game. The games are considered more so to be expansions of the original with players able to carry over their saves from the original.



Mainline Entry 02 - Armored Core 2
Formats: Playstation 2
Set another sixty years later from the original game, the sequel brought with it large visual improvements due to the new hardware and engine on offer. The sequel brought a third company and Mars into the fold, mostly following up on the same gameplay as the original entry.



Spin Off Entry 03 - Armored Core 2: Another Age
Formats: Playstation 2
Mainline Entry 03 - Armored Core 3
Formats: Playstation 2, Playstation Portable
Though the third game continued the advancements the series had seen with the second game and its expansion, the title also drew a line under the narrative and started a second timeline allowing the story to return to the point where humans first emerged from underground. The third game was also notable for slightly breaking from single format releases by having a port to Sony's handheld that included additional missions. The game was positively received if held back by the series reluctance to start utilising Dual analogue controls.



Spin Off Entry 04 - Silent Line: Armored Core
Formats: Playstation 2, Playstation Portable
Spin Off Entry 05 - Armored Core: Nexus
Formats: Playstation 2
These two titles sit together during an era when FROM was doubling down on the series. They broadly continue the same gameplay model as the third main entry with Silent expanding on the methods of damage that can be inflicted on your Armoured Core whilst Nexus stripped much of that away again.



Spin Off Entry 06 - Armored Core: Formula Front
Formats: Playstation Portable, Playstation 2
Spin Off Entry 07 - Armored Core: Nine Breaker
Formats: Playstation 2
Spin Off Entry 08 - Armored Core: Last Raven
Formats: Playstation 2, Playstation Portable
This trilogy of spin-offs presented the last run of entries that were tied to the third main entry into the series and continued to tweak and revise elements of the gameplay. Formula Front focused more on Armoured Core designing, whilst Nine Breaker stripped the game down to try and ease in new players though proving to be the least popular in the process. Raven was a bit more traditional and for the first time allowed for multiple storyline branching paths and endings.



Mainline Entry 04 - Armored Core 4
Formats: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
For the first time the series released on a non-Sony platform for the new mainline entry that also, once again, rebooted the storyline. Again, the series sported a new engine to make use of the new generation of consoles additional horsepower and focused on the core gameplay mechanics that had seen the series carry over three generations. Results this time were more mixed however with accessibility praised but the games visuals criticised.



Spin Off Entry 09 - Armored Core: For Answer
Formats: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Once again the spin-off acted more as a direct sequel with this new entry set ten years after the events of AC4. The customisation and online elements received a reworking but it failed to win over critics of the main game with the same complaints arising once again.



Mainline Entry 05 - Armored Core V
Formats: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
For the first time a main line sequel arrived within the same generation as FROM aimed to regalvanise the series following 4's tepid reaction. Though somewhat connected to AC4, the new game took a more measured and tactical combat approach rather than being fast action focused. The game also refocused the online multiplayer with a focus on five vs five online battles.



Spin Off Entry 10 - Armored Core: Verdict Day
Formats: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
And here lies the final entry into the series before FROM moved more fully onto its Souls based releases. Verdict Day was tied to ACV but placed the primary focus on the online multiplayer elements. Featuring a persistent world and online seasons that saw that world reset at the end of each, the games attempts to draw in the booming multiplayer market didn't pay off and middling reviews once again dampened the entry and the series future.



Share your thoughts and memories on Armored Core!

[QualityChimp]

Firstly, not writing "Armoured" upsets me.

With that out of the way, I have Armored Core 2 (barely played it), Armored Core For Answer (barely played it) and the Armored Core V demo (barely played it).

I'm not sure why a game about piloting giant robots fails to click with me.
Maybe it's because there are too many options and it's all a bit overwhelming.

I can't deny there are some absolutely lovely mech designs that, for me, are more interesting the increasingly similar Gundams.



The mech designs of the first game, which is now 20 years old, were by Shoji Kawamori, who was one of the original designers on Macross and Transformers. He designed the Valkyries for Macross and Hasbro bought the rights to the toy from Takatoku and changed it into Jetfire.


He said:
"When the design for Armored Core was requested to me, it was before the original PlayStation was launched. There were quite a lot of unknowns and there were ideas for separate parts, such as arms, feet and weapons and so on. These then had to be combined by the player on their own.

However, if you allow a player to create their own mecha it makes it very hard to give it a sense of visual identity. Such as clearly differentiating from other mecha anime and games. I also thought that other games would follow suit when this was released.

As I believed that this idea should differentiate this game from the rest of its competition, I proposed the concept of the “armored cores”. Meaning that of the core block with cockpit and engine as well as the joint connectors for head, arm legs, weapons and so on. They adopted the proposal and called it Armored Core as a consequence."

You can buy Design Works books, Gachapon toys and Gunpla model kits.


I wanted to get into Armored Core V as I'd fallen in love with Lost Planet 2 by this point and I'd heard good things about Chromehounds, but it didn't grip me.

I recently played Dark and Demons' Souls and as I was playing, I thought "wouldn't it be ace if this company used their resources to make a game that focused on amazing mech design, rather than horrific demonic abominations?" Then I remembered they DID with the AC series!

I'm really looking forward to seeing If From Software push ahead with Armored Core 6 as I'd love to see what they can come up with using current tech. ACFA was a little barren. Unfortunately, there's no concrete evidence that FS are working on a new game only saying "We would like to", but I think they're still working on the Souls franchise for Bandai before going back to AC.

I've loved other mech games like Lost Planet 1 & 2, Robotech: Battlecry and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, so I hope there is a new game and it meets expectations.

ROBOOOOTS!

Sources:
Twenty Years Ago 'Armored Core' Changed The World Of Mecha Gaming Forever
Shoji Kawamori, The Creator Hollywood Copies But Never Credits
The strange story of Jetfire, and other Transformers toys
FROM SOFTWARE ON THE FUTURE OF ARMORED CORE FRANCHISE
Armored Core 6

[Neon Ignition]

I wrote the entire opening post putting a U in each title mention then had to go back and remove them, damned 'mericanisms!

Funnily enough, I've never played a single entry in the series. I think I'd overlooked them as I thought they were rpg based rather than action games, I can only assume I thought they were associated with Square's Front Mission games.

[wakka]

I owned an early entry but I never got properly into it. Like Chimp I think I found it overwhelming and a bit inaccessible. I'd genuinely love a modern entry with all the complexity intact. Although DS is - justifiably - now a massive cash cow, I don't think it's outside the realms of possibility that it could happen. Their reputation is among the best of any developer at this point, and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have a second franchise running alongside DS.

[Neon Ignition]

You'd have to hope so. Given how increasingly likely it is that FROM are currently working on Bloodborne II, that would make the sixth Soul'sesque game in a row and that's even setting aside all the DLC and rereleases/remasters. They must want a break from that soon.

[Asura]

Armored Core is one of my favourite game series, and the lack of a 6 is probably one of the reasons I don't own a PS4.

Probably worth adding that I queued up for hours at TGS 2006 to play Amored Core 4 on PS3. The demo crashed, though it wasn't so bad as I still got to play it for a bit, and the staff bumped me back to the front of the queue to play the next available game, so score there.

I was a huge fan of Virtual On and Gungriffon on the Saturn, so when I got a PS1 years later, I bought Armored Core after I asked someone at a local indie for something similar, and it was what they recommended. I remember playing it solid for months afterwards, going through the missions and building different ACs.

AC2 was among the first few games I got for PS2 (iirc along with Devil May Cry), and was a big part in my decision to buy the console. I always remember liking AC2 and later 3, though admittedly not as much as 1. Not even quite so sure why. I think it was just that I'd played the first one so much.

When the PS3 came out, I had an Xbox 360, so I waited until AC4 was available for the Xbox (admittedly I had Chrome Hounds to tide me over). I remember thinking that it was awesome; same for For Answer.

V was a weird one for me. I remember that I liked it, and I respected that FROM were trying to do something different to 4, but it didn't quite grab me as much. I think it's because it was multiplayer and I didn't have the time (at that particular time) to dedicate enough time to it.

Verdict Day unfortunately I haven't played, as I got rid of my Xbox 360 not long before it came out.

In-between I've probably bought all the other ones that got western releases, such as Formula Front. I've even bought other FROM mecha games like the Another Century's Episode series.

I'm really happy that FROM have seen huge mainstream success in the Souls games and their derivative Bloodborne, and I can't really begrudge their focus on that series after decades of being more niche. However, I'm definitely in the group of AC fans who supported them for many years and now feel a bit sidelined. Not quite sure how I feel about that, because I'm aware they're a business first and foremost.

I just hope we see 6 either at this E3 or TGS.

[Neon Ignition]

As I've updated it for Shark, I'll do this weeks clue here. Once again, it's interesting to see what games attract discussion and which ones struggle. Some I could have called, others much less so. I was surprised Splinter Cell failed to appeal, but equally surprised that Ridge Racer exploded.
Even if we never get to the currently planned top end, I have both pre-planned to a certain point and have mixed up the line up. My aim to stick to the order they're randomly placed in and, with Retro|Spective, if we were to reach the one hundredth and one thread I know what that series would be.

With the first thirty now complete, looking out over the next ten weeks they're all quite popular series so it'll be interesting to see how they do. The clue for #31 is:

One One Seven

[Asura]

One One Seven

Halo?

[QualityChimp]

I was hoping for more opinions on Armored Core, tbh.
Plus more robot pictures.

Thanks for running these anyway, Supes!

[Asura]

I was hoping for more opinions on Armored Core, tbh.

Well, FROM have prioritised Souls for a reason. The issue is that while AC certainly had its audience, in the west it's a niche within a niche.

Souls is that rare thing which appeals to both the midcore and hardcore, and it's pretty global. They've found success without compromising themselves. I think if they ever wanted AC to be as big, they'd have to fundamentally change it and the core fans wouldn't like it so much.

[QualityChimp]

If they could do what Capcom have done with Monster Hunter: World and make it accessible, but deep, they'd be onto a winner.

[Asura]

If they could do what Capcom have done with Monster Hunter: World and make it accessible, but deep, they'd be onto a winner.

I haven't played that yet, but it'd an interesting test case. I've seen situations on other boards where people who are new to the MH series (around the time of Tri) complain that the controls/camera movement feel a bit clunky and had the fans absolutely eviscerate them, because they liked the game the way it was.

[wakka]

I think it's doable. It's a niche within a niche, but who would've thought a game as difficult and inscrutable as Souls could ever be such a smash? Same with MonHun as QC points out. I thought Capcom were on a hiding to nothing with their repeated attempts to make the series stick in the West, but I was proven completely wrong. There's definitely more of an appetite for complex, challenging games than I would ever have thought.

I think it's also worth bearing in mind that it's a long time since the last AC, and I'd imagine that FROM have learned a lot. I'd love to see that applied to something that isn't Soulsborne, and AC feels like a perfect candidate.

[Neon Ignition]

.... I think I need to make the clues harder in future

[QualityChimp]

I haven't played that yet, but it'd an interesting test case. I've seen situations on other boards where people who are new to the MH series (around the time of Tri) complain that the controls/camera movement feel a bit clunky and had the fans absolutely eviscerate them, because they liked the game the way it was.

I'm new to Monster Hunter, so have no partisanship for the series.
I was interested because I like fighting giant enemies (EDF, Lost Planet, R-Type. God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Asura's Wrath (that's when Blobcat leaves the toilet seat down)), it had Lost Planet 2 vibes and they said "no" to lootboxes.

I'm so glad I bought it and it's easily made it to the top ten games for me. I love it.

Camera - fine until you fight bigger enemies in tight spaces, but there's loooads of camera options.
Controls - perfectly fine, once you get used to them.

My only issues are the clunky online aspect, which is resolved when realise PS comms Vs. in-game comms is best.
Cut scene waiting can be a pain, but most people are happy to wait when helping out.
Hit boxes a bit biased to the monsters. Maybe they'll tighten them in future patches?

It's been great to play with other people on this board, most of them for the first time, and share tips and tricks.

This is where a new Armored Core would shine because you'd build up a bit of teamwork as you shared advice, 'bot parts and great builds. In the same way the Souls threads on here are packed with great advice. It would be great to team up to take down the giant enemy fortress together.