Fromsoft has always been one of my biggest gaming blindspots, as the infamously high difficulty of their Souls series always left me a bit cautious about delving into their work. But this year I decided to change that... by getting into their far more niche series Armored Core instead. I've been playing through all the PS1 and PS2 entries of Armored Core over the past few months, and came away with a lot to say. So I wanted to talk about my impressions and takeaways from my experience with the Armored Core series.
Armored Core: Armored Core is a more realistic and dystopian take on the mecha genre, having you play as a mercenary called a Raven doing odd jobs as you try to scrounge up money to improve your mech. These games have some incredibly deep customization and resource management with how using ammo and losing health costs the money you get paid with, and when you add in some rigid tank controls and consistently steep difficulty curves, whichever game I played first was going to be a bit tough to get used to. And even then, this first entry puts absolutely zero effort in letting you adjust to the controls, and I spent the first few stages clumsily bumbling around and barely staying out of the negatives. It does kinda work in Armored Core 1's favor though. This is still one of the bleakest games in the series, both in terms of its dark PS1-era visuals and its woefully cynical story that has you ally with one of two competing corporations only for them to brand you as dangerous and turn on you. There's none of the goofy cutscenes, bombastic music, or pure fun arena battles that the later games would add, and that's kinda cool. Everything about Armored Core 1 feels deliberately designed to make the player understand how miserable being a Raven would be, and it leads to a unique atmosphere that helps it stand out.
That being said, this still means AC1 is held back a bit in terms of fun factor. As I said, there's no Arena here which would end up becoming one of my favorite things about the series, and the customization is a lot more lacking than in the sequels. In exchange, there's nearly 50 missions in this entry but that's not exactly a great thing. While there are some fairly fun and iconic missions in AC1, most of them tend to either be incredibly short and frustrating hostile, boasting surprise AC fights, clunky platforming, and of course, Fromsoft's very first poison level. There is a stretch in the middle of Armored Core 1 where everything clicks and doing mission after mission can get really fun, but that's only after you get past that initial hurdle of learning the gameplay, and eventually another difficulty spike hits hard. It all culminates in AC1's infamously awful final mission which has you do some brutal vertical platforming, and then fight two 9-Balls in a row just to twist the knife further. It's such a disappointing way to end an otherwise solid start to the series.
B Tier
Armored Core: Project Phantasma: Project Phantasma is very much an expansion to the first game, being a lot lighter in content and even using the same soundtrack. But that's not always a bad thing because I'd argue Project Phantasma is a lot more refined than its predecessor. For starters, the arena has been introduced and while it feels pretty undercooked in this game due to the basic opponent AI, it is a welcome addition. As for the campaign, it only has 17 missions but makes up for that with all of them feeling developed, fleshed-out, and worthwhile. Most of the missions in Project Phantasma tend to feel really dynamic, often having multiple parts to them and even some in-engine cutscenes to spice things up. There's a great level of variety to the missions and many of them have you infiltrating a variety of bases which is always a fun time. Overall, I got a lot more enjoyment out of this game solely because the missions were more interesting.
However, if there's one area where Project Phantasma drops the ball, it's the atmosphere. While I love the fact that there is a more developed story with cutscenes, a hammy goofball of a villain in Stinger, and even a partner, the tone here feels weirdly light-hearted for an Armored Core game. Project Phantasma plays out more like a fun blockbuster spy thriller which is fun in its own way but feels completely at odds with the other two games in the PS1 trilogy. It also doesn't help that this game is easy as sin, it barely gave me any trouble across its entire runtime and that's only made worse by how much money the arena gives you. So for as much as I enjoyed this one, I still think there's more potential for an Armored Core game that can blend the polish of Project Phantasma with the atmosphere of the first game...
B Tier
Armored Core: Master Of Arena: ...And thankfully, Master Of Arena is mostly that game. In terms of the presentation, Master Of Arena is the best PS1 game by a landslide in so many ways. I love the story being a revenge tale, in which the protagonist becomes a Raven to take down 9-Ball once and for all. Considering how terrifying the run-in with 9-Ball in the first game was, this setup made me both excited and scared to get my own payback. The stages still had in-engine cutscenes and a greater story context, but the tone felt more mature once again. The soundtrack is also easily the best out of the PS1 trilogy as well, with tracks like Rescue, 9, and Synoptic Dope standing out as series highlights.
I think the best thing about Master Of Arena is how it intertwined the Arena and the normal campaign. The game forces you to alternate between arena battles and standard missions, and doing both is what progresses the plot. This allows the game to have really strong pacing throughout, while also being a lot more balanced than PP in its difficulty since you won't be able to grind a ton of arena money before doing a single mission. Personally, I do think the missions in MoA aren't quite as developed as the ones in its predecessor, some of them are still pretty short, but at the very least, none of them are annoying either. And I'd say the improved Arena makes up for the weaker missions with its more varied opponents, each with a unique gimmick and a cute little bio explaining their backstory. It was just fun to see all the different wacky mech designs, and I can't even imagine how many more were in the postgame EX Arena.
I'd also say Master Of Arena was the first game where I felt truly confident in my abilities, and it's so masterful at showing this off by constantly pushing you into different situations. This was the first time I fully completed an arena in an Armored Core game, and the various missions had me fighting off ACs pretty much constantly. Compared to the first game where I was terrified every time an unfamiliar mech would show up, I was wrecking house throughout most of Master Of Arena and it felt great. This all culminates in one of my favorite finales to an Armored Core game which has you face off against 9-Ball, then multiple 9-Balls at a time, and then a souped up 9-Ball all in a row. This sounds impossible and I didn't even think I'd be able to beat MoA, but I did, and it felt incredible. Maybe this is why people like the Souls games.
A Tier
Armored Core 2: Armored Core 2 is the first entry for the PS2 and it... really doesn't change much. Like it does feel a bit smoother than the PS1 games, especially jumping, and the 60fps framerate is a boon, but it mostly feels like a direct sequel to Master Of Arena. Hell, some of the missions are straight-up reused from previous games. However, while I was still hoping for a bit more from what's supposed to be the big next gen leap, what we got was still really great. AC2 feels like a game with the same heft and scope of the original Armored Core, just with a lot of the improvements and QoL additions of PP and MoA. The mission design is some of the most interesting so far with the PS2 allowing for more varied environments and in-depth cutscenes than ever before, the Arena keeps up the level of quality from MoA by having even more memorable and strange opponents to face off against, and the customization has been further fleshed-out with stuff like extensions, hover legs, and heat management.
The story is a bit of a slow-burn in this one, with the first half of the game mostly revolving around you doing various disconnected missions for corporations, albeit with a neat Mars aesthetic to keep it feeling somewhat fresh visually. But then the Frighteners appear, and things get a bit more interesting. Throughout the second half, you'll be having constant run-ins with these raven-hunting ACs, all building towards the reveal of their leader, Leos Klein. And continuing the trend of amazing Armored Core villains, Klein is not only another wonderfully hammy and threatening antagonist, he's also the first AC to ever defeat Nine-Ball (which means he may potentially be you from Master of Arena?!). It's such a cool twist, and the massive three-mission finale boasting multiple AC fights against Klein, an aerial battleship assault, and an atmospheric last stage on Phobos ends the game on a strong note... even if I was able to pretty easily beat Klein himself with enough pure missile spam.
I'd still say Master Of Arena is overall a more satisfying package, but Armored Core 2 is a solid second place so far. AC2 starts slow, can feel pretty derivative, and still has a few rough spots with its objective signposting, but it still feels like a more refined version of the previous games with a lot of strong missions and arena battles of its own. It's a very iterative sequel, but it does show Fromsoft figuring out what Armored Core does best and really leaning on those strengths.
A Tier
Armored Core 2: Another Age: Compared to Project Phantasma and Master Of Arena, Another Age is more blatantly an expansion pack to AC2. There's no story nor is there an Arena, it's just a collection of 100 missions for you to do at your leisure. As a result, I hope you'll excuse me for not beating this one. This is just too many missions and I have zero motivation to do them all, even knowing that the true ending brings back the final bosses of the PS1 games which is admittedly a pretty cool throwback. It also doesn't help that the quality of the missions wasn't that great either from what I've played. After three games worth of missions that feel purposeful and varied, Another Age goes back to the AC1 formula of plopping you in a arena with a bunch of enemies and having you kill them all for many of its missions. Hell, many of these missions utilize the exact same arenas just with different enemy arrangements and it gets repetitive fast. I'm sure there are plenty of genuinely great missions I probably haven't gotten to yet, but I'd rather play an Armored Core game with 30 missions that are all great than have to wade through the filler. It's a textbook example of quantity over quality, and while Armored Core at its weakest is still pretty fun, I can't say it kept my attention.
I also think it's worth noting that Another Age kinda feels like the end of an era for the series. Gen 1 & 2 are pretty closely connected in terms of their story, aesthetics, soundtrack, and especially the overall tone, which still generally has a sense of fun to it. Gen 3 marks the series' first big reboot and a permanent shift towards much darker territory, so for all its flaws, I do appreciate Another Age being a farewell to the early days of the Armored Core series, nostalgic throwbacks and all.
C Tier
Armored Core 3: Armored Core 3 is yet another pretty iterative sequel, not really changing too much aside from QoL improvements. If anything, it's even more iterative than AC2 since it basically reboots the series and copies the story setup wholesale, and the few changes that were made are a bit hit-or-miss with me. So let me get through my issues with AC3 first. The economy feels a lot stricter especially in the early-game, I found myself losing money in missions a lot more often which forced me to grind out arena battles a lot at first. The arena itself while still fun also has less interesting opponents than the ones in MoA and AC2. The story is even more of a slow-burn than the one in AC2 with an even less exciting payoff than the introduction of the Frighteners, and the AI Controller plot just didn't have me as invested as everything involving Leos Klein. I also kinda prefer the more futuristic Martian aesthetics of AC2, they felt a lot slicker and more unique to me, but that's more of a minor subjective thing.
Where AC3 does excel, however, is in its general feeling of refinement across the board. Controls feel even smoother than before, with aerial combat in particular feeling infinitely better and more viable. The mission structure combines that of pretty much all the previous games, so you need to do missions to rank up in the arena, and the missions themselves are segmented into different locations like in Another Age. With 49 total missions, this is also the biggest numbered AC game to date, but it has a much stronger overall quality than AC1 and Another Age especially as it goes on. The emphasis on Raven teamups is pretty unique too. Usually it feels like you're alone and that any Raven "partner" will inevitably turn on you, but you're constantly getting to fight alongside other Ravens and can even hire cohorts on certain missions which is a neat change of pace. The difficulty curve is also the best in the series so far, AC3 does a great job at easing you in unlike AC1 and AC2 and there's an impressive lack of difficulty spikes. I also like the orchestral-techno soundtrack, it gives me some serious Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity vibes, and there are plenty of nice additions like left-handed projectiles and the garage and shop being in the same part of the menu.
So overall, I did find Armored Core 3 to be yet another really fun Armored Core game, a big step in the right direction after Another Age with the most polish out of any game in the series. However, overall, I was kinda surprised to realize that I think I prefer AC2. Even with AC3's mechanical improvements, I found AC2 to have tighter pacing, a more interesting story, and a better Arena. At this point, I do hope that Fromsoft will start to shake things up a bit more soon because these numbered Armored Core games, while still really good, are starting to feel pretty samey.
B Tier
Silent Line: Armored Core: Silent Line was the Armored Core game I was looking forward to the most, everything I've heard about it looks right up my alley. Basically Armored Core 3 but with a tighter campaign with more developed missions and nearly double the customization parts? Sounds great! But did Silent Line actually live up to the hype for me? Hell, yeah.
Silent Line is pretty much an improved followup to Armored Core 3, improving on all of its issues and enhancing everything it did right. The way the arena and campaign are structured is pretty much identical, as is the core movement, but everything is just executed slightly better this time around. The campaign is the obvious standout, of course. It is a bit shorter than AC3's campaign but it's a lot tighter in its pacing, with every single mission feeling memorable, developed, creative, and interesting. Silent Line doesn't even suffer from the slow start that other Armored Core games have as its early missions will already have you boarding a submarine, crushing cars to distract the enemy, putting out fires, and trying to differentiate enemies from friendlies without your radar. Most of the missions have multiple moving parts to them and surprise AC battles, and they only get more complex, challenging, and exciting as the game goes on. If I had any gripes, there may be a few too many "protect X" missions, but that's really it. And even then, these are easily the most unique and engaging protection missions to date. Silent Line's mission design is far and away the best in the series so far, leaps and bounds over any prior entry as far as I'm concerned.
I also think the Arena is a solid improvement in a lot of areas. While it still isn't quite as lovably gimmicky as the AC2 Arena, it is a lot more challenging with some of the smartest AC AI to date and the addition of destructible arms forcing you to play a lot more tactically. Silent Line's Arena can't really be brute-forced as easily as the previous arenas, and I think that's for the better. I also think customization and the general economy is the best it's ever been. While the earlier missions may still be a bit tough to profit off of, this game showers you with secret parts that you can find through exploration and completing objectives along with the fact that you can carry over your AC3 mech. The shop also really opens up boasting over 400 parts to try out including a full suite of left-arm projectiles which gives you so many build options. Even the story is a solid improvement with an intriguing mystery plotline about what lies on the surface that culminates in a far better final boss than AC3's and a pretty sweet reveal to cap off the game. The fact that Silent Line takes place above ground this time almost means the environments are way more interesting than the ones in AC3, and the game has this noir-esque foggy atmosphere that really helps it stand out. And of course, best of all, Silent Line's soundtrack is the best one so far as well with a ton of really catchy, moody, and bopping tracks like Scrambling Film, Rise In Arms, and Monkey Likes Daddy.
So yeah, Silent Line: Armored Core is incredible. It's hands down my favorite one so far and it's not even close. While it may seem overly similar to AC3 on the surface and I suppose it is, but everything about it is immaculately well-executed. Between the stellar mission design, engaging Arena, strong atmosphere, immense replay value, and overwhelming customization, Silent Line ticks pretty much all of the Armored Core boxes. If this is the last game with the tank control scheme, I couldn't imagine a better way for it to go out.
S Tier
Armored Core Nexus: What the hell did they do?!
Man, I was so excited for Nexus since I knew Fromsoft was finally going to add dual-analog controls, and to give credit where it's due, they're great! The original tank controls have grown on me, but there truly is no denying how much more fluid and natural the analog controls feel and it makes me wish all the previous games used them. However, Nexus makes a lot more changes than just the controls, and most of them are really bad. I'm not even going to talk about the heat changes because that's the least of this game's problems. At the very least, you can circumvent the heat with the right build, though it still doesn't bode well for PvP where the optimal strategy is now just making the opponent overheat. Where Nexus really drops the ball is in terms of its UI and its mission design, so let's start with the UI.
AC customization has been royally fucked in Nexus. You can't sell your starting parts which is already pretty stupid, but then I learned that using parts causes them to deprecate in sell price. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA. The brilliance of Armored Core is that parts sell for the same price that you buy them for, which allows you to freely experiment with customizing your mech at any point. Having parts decrease in price when you try them out kills that sense of experimentation, because now I feel more encouraged to look up the optimal builds to save money rather than mess around on my own. There's a lot of smaller issues with the menu too, though. The shop now looks identical to the garage which means sifting through parts takes a lot longer, you can't load a file from the system menu so you'll have to go back to the title screen if you want to save-scum, the map with all the missions is now completely confusing to navigate, and briefings are incredibly short and not voiced which leaves me feeling like I have way less information going into a mission. I've also seen the criticism that Nexus doesn't really have any branching paths, and failing missions doesn't affect the story in any meaningful way but.. uhh... more on that in a bit.
As for the mission design, Armored Core Nexus feels like such a massive regression from not just the stellar missions of Silent Line, but all the games outside of AC1. Now, most of the missions in Nexus are pretty much just "defeat X enemies", and they're all incredibly short and repetitive. And to top it all off, the Arena as we know it is gone! Instead, Arena missions are peppered throughout the campaign and give you absolutely no freedom in terms of when and how you want to fight each AC. It's a real shame because Nexus does have some cool ideas and features. The story is weirdly light-hearted for an Armored Core game, with brighter environments and a catchy rock soundtrack, only for the phenomenal ending to hit you with the entire world being blown up as you struggle and fail to stop it. This is why I actually kinda like that you have so little agency in Nexus's story. For once, you aren't the most important Raven out there, you are just an average Raven. You are not better than anyone else. Any missions you don't pick will be taken up by other Ravens, and you couldn't even stop the world from ending. It's such a unique direction to take an Armored Core game and I kinda vibe with it. Of course, Nexus is also known for having an entire second disc filled with remade missions from prior games, along with an archive filled with unlockable movies, concept art, and music. This is obviously really cool, and it makes Nexus almost feel like an anniversary game even though it actually isn't.
Armored Core Nexus definitely rivals Another Age in terms of being my least favorite so far, sadly. I do appreciate that Nexus isn't just a selection of missions and actually has a pretty neat story and vibe, along with the Revolution disc, but mechanically I do think Another Age is way better. It's such a shame to have my favorite Armored Core game to date followed up by such a massive drop in quality, but I can only hope that Fromsoft learned from their mistakes with the next game.
C Tier
Armored Core: Last Raven: Well, I still don't really have a way to play PS3 games, so I'm gonna have to end my Armored Core marathon here for now (shame, For Answer looks really good). If you're familiar with this series, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Last Raven was the Armored Core game I was dreading the most. This is infamously the hardest game in the series, and it's the first game that Hidetaka Miyazaki worked on. And while I have been managing pretty well with the series' difficulty so far, I was worried Last Raven would be a step too far for me.
So here's the thing, I adore Last Raven in terms of its atmosphere and presentation. This game probably has the most developed story out of any Armored Core game to date, with an ingenious premise to boot. Coming off the heels of Nexus' ending, the world is in tatters, every single Raven now has a bounty placed on them, and a war between the Ravens and the corporation is going to wage in 24 hours. It feels like the ultimate culmination of this series' premise, the sense of paranoia that defined AC1 coming to a head as now, truly nowhere is safe. Every single other Raven on the planet is after your head, and depending on the alliances you choose to make, you may end up being the last one remaining. This game is so freaking bleak and I adore it. All the ACs you face have OP-Intensify to show how truly desperate they are to survive. The garage slowly falls apart as the story goes on. And the soundtrack, holy crap the soundtrack. I've heard many say Last Raven has the weakest OST in the series but I couldn't disagree more. Its harsh, abrasive, industrial sound fits the vibe of this game perfectly. It still does have a lot of bangers like Fallin Device, Vague Smoke, and Jean, but the later tracks get increasingly more tense, unhinged, and stress-inducing and it does so much to heighten the mood. No joke, this is on par with Silent Line as one of my favorite OSTs in the series to date.
But then there's the gameplay, and this is where I was a bit more skeptical. Coming off the heels of Nexus, I wondered if Last Raven would actually improve on anything and it mostly did. The UI is generally a lot snappier and more well laid-out, I'd even argue this is the best shop/garage in the series so far. Tuning your parts is more intuitive, you can load from the menu once again, there are proper briefings, and there's even an arena. The mission design is also a lot better, not fully back to the scope of Silent Line's, but they are a lot more inventive and layered. There are still a few frustrating holdovers, particularly the fact that price deprication is still a thing, but for the first few missions, I was having a lot of fun. The addition of branching paths each with different levels of difficulty also allow you to modulate your experience in a way that I find to be pretty cool. But no matter which path you take, you will eventually have to run into an AC, and this is where I started to understand why Last Raven is considered so hard.
So, as I said, all the ACs in this game are on OP-Intensify meaning they're basically cheating. They're way faster and more aggressive than anything you've ever fought in previous games, and each and every one of them is a massive difficulty wall, especially whichever one you fight first. It also doesn't help that parts can now be permanently destroyed, not just your arms temporarily like in Silent Line. And also explosions damage you so blades suck. It says a lot that Last Raven is the game where I finally learned how to properly bunny hop, and even then, I just wasn't enjoying myself with any of these fights. Last Raven is so much fun when you're doing standard missions, but whenever one of those souped-up cheating ACs show up, my enjoyment grinds to a complete halt. So now I'm really split because there's a lot about Last Raven that I love, but I genuinely don't think I can beat it. I've tried, I've been bashing my head at a bunch of these ACs nonstop, but there's only so much sadism I can take. I respect Last Raven to hell and back, but it's not for me.
It's always a shame when my playthrough of a series ends on a bit of a downer note, as both the Gen 3.5 games left me feeling a bit disappointed. But unlike with Nexus, I still appreciate what Last Raven was going for, and I'd still rank it on the higher end of AC games. Mechanically, it's inarguably one of if not the best Armored Core game so far, and I still think the atmosphere is top-notch. I truly wish it could've been my favorite AC game because it had all the pieces, but the fact is that there is a level of difficulty and brutality that is too much for me to handle. I was hoping that maybe playing through Armored Core would encourage me to give the Souls games a shot, but while I did end up liking AC as a series a lot, I still can't say I feel compelling to try out a Soulslike yet.
B Tier
So overall, I did really enjoy my time with the Armored Core games. Despite their obvious jank, I had such a blast with the Gen 1-3 games and it was exciting to see Fromsoft slowly improve and refine the formula, culminating in Silent Line being so damn good. There truly is a lot to love here, from the banging soundtracks, to the deep customization, to the addictive arena battles, to the dark atmosphere, to those truly special missions that will always stick with you. While it is a shame that Gen 3.5 didn't fully land for me, I'm still glad I gave this series a shot and that I can definitively say that I'm a fan of at least one of From Software's franchises.
Here's my ranking:
- Silent Line: Armored Core
- Armored Core: Master Of Arena
- Armored Core 2
- Armored Core: Last Raven
- Armored Core 3
- Armored Core: Project Phantasma
- Armored Core
- Armored Core: Another Age
- Armored Core Nexus
Well, time to move on to other things while I wait for the ability to play For Answer.
