From Software’s Armored Core 4 attempts to update the series for next generation consoles while grasping for a wider audience than they have enjoyed in the past. For the most part, the Armored Core franchise was for series fanatics only. The myriad of possible configurations of your mech, and what was often a very clumsy assembly interface, meant that only the most obsessive gamers would take pleasure in building and testing the ultimate fighting machine. Perhaps by simplifying the mech building process, the developers will alienate long time fans of the series.
In Armored Core 4, how you configure your AC is entirely up to you and your custom schematics can be saved and shared with friends. Available weapon hard points include: both arms, two locations on the back, two emergency side arms, and a defensive shoulder mounted weapon. The primary weapon types are wide-ranging including rifles, shotguns, Gatling guns, energy weapons, bazookas, rockets, missiles and energy blades for close quarters combat. With such a wide variety of weapons and many places to mount them, an AC can be suited to handle a variety of situations. Alternately, the gamer can construct a portfolio of schematics to build very specialized mechs. The assembly of your AC does not stop with the weapons. Body parts are customizable for optimum performance and aesthetic considerations. The head, core, arms and legs can be changed out for stronger or lighter pieces. To round out the performance aspects of the machine, the stabilizer, generator, boosters and FCS (computer) can be altered. When purchasing new parts for your AC, you’ll have to factor weight and energy consumption into your decisions. Your assembled machine may require some fine tuning to ensure it reaches its potential performance capabilities. The developers have provided a test area for you to run your AC through its paces, and make sure you have it dialed in properly. From Software recognized that the effort required to build a great mech may require more work than the casual gamer is willing to do. They have included an auto tune feature to make life a little easier for non Armored Core fans and gamers that want to quickly jump into the action.
Putting all the pieces together is the last step for some, or the first step for most AC fans. To make the schematic truly your own, you have to apply a custom paint scheme and a few decals. You can get as creative as you like here. Paint is fully customizable from stock color sets to user defined colors, and can be applied individually to every weapon, arm, joint, whatever. There are even a variety of camouflage patterns that can be applied to the paint. A lot of the fun for Armored Core and Xbox Live fans will be the ability to show off and share their creations with other players.
When you first fire up Armored Core 4, you’ll be treated to a great looking movie showing the mechs in action. The intro teases that there are some great graphics ahead. After that, the visual aspects of the game are a mixed bag. The game’s graphics show that developers can often get so focused one aspect, they lose sight of the big picture (literally in this case). The mechs themselves look incredible, but the environs in which the AC operates are horrendous. After all the effort you put it in customizing the look of your AC, you’ll be rewarded with an in-game machine that is as beautiful as it is deadly. The lighting effects from your mech’s boosters are particularly good with the eye-catching illumination of the area surrounding your AC. The action flows smoothly without any substantial or frequent display issues or stutters.
