From Software had the presence of mind to include fully customizable controls, right down to assigning independent functions to the different directions of the analog nub, but even with some fiddling they never felt right. The series frequently receives criticism for its awkward controls, and the situation is not alleviated when it's crammed down onto a platform that has two less buttons and one less analog stick. Which I guess is Armored Core in a nutshell, come to think of it.Īside from a reputation for being one the only robot porn games in town, Armored Core has earned another, less flattering flattering distinction: complex controls. To me it felt more like I was being paid to star in a robot snuff film. In one mission my job was simply to let some guys shoot at me until they got the data they needed. More often I was protecting targets, retrieving data or attacking corporate headquarters. Despite the fact that I had spent a dozen hours on so many bite-sized assignments, I could probably count on one hand the amount of times that my objective was to destroy all enemies. I'd start the next mission, just to see what it would be like, and then finding myself unable to turn the system off and get back to work. I will admit that there a few times I "forgot what time I clocked out" and found myself slinking back into work a little late, but that had little to do with mission length and a lot to do with mission variety. After 12 hours of gameplay, my clear file helpfully informed me that I had only witnessed 45% of the content. The pick-up-and-play nature of the game in no way takes away from the fact that the game still has some serious meat on its bones. Missions rarely last longer than 5 minutes and the majority of my time was spent obsessively tinkering with my AC. I completed the entire game in a series of 30-minute bursts of play ( Armored Core 3 for lunch AGAIN?) and never felt like I hadn't accomplished something. The single most impressive aspect of the game is how well all of this works on the PSP. There is also an arena that exists alongside the regular mission mode where the player can pit his or her AC in one-on-one battles against AI controlled ACs for even more cash money millions. Missions are seldom offered more than once, meaning if the player accepts mission A, then they forever give up the opportunity to try missions B and C. Depending on the assignments taken, the influence of the various corporations fluctuates, affecting prices in the store and availability of various parts. The player takes the role of Raven-defined in the dictionary as a dude with a big ol' robot-who does freelance missions for three competing mega-corporations and uses the cash from successful operations to further customize his or her Armored Core (AC)-said big ol' robot. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Armored Core 3 Portable has been the most fulfilling experience I've had on my PlayStation Portable to date. Given that Armored Core 3 was originally released on the PlayStation 2 and designed entirely to be a console experience, I was surprised at how, well, portable the game turned out. It seems like the release of Armored Core 3 Portable to the PlayStation Network store-all pretty and budget-priced and everything-was specifically chosen to take advantage of my newfound curiosity, and it worked. I've long known that From Software, developer of the deliciously grim King's Field series, was behind the mech-sim series Armored Core, but it wasn't until they released the amazing Demon's Souls that I formed an interest in venturing outside of their swords-and-sorcery catalog. WTF The game has more functions than the system has buttons! LOW Being sliced apart by beam swords for relying too heavily on my trusty flamethrower. HIGH Melting scores of enemy Armored Cores with my trusty flamethrower.
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