GAME BACKGROUND
Armored Core is an eagerly anticipated title which has
finally hit the shelves. Acampaign game very similiar to
MechWarrior for the Super Nintendo where youplay the
role of a ‘gun-for-hire’ mech pilot.
AT A GLANCE
With a great FMV intro and absorbing gameplay,
Armored Core makes Mechwarrior2 (US PlayStation
game by Activision) like a Saturday walk in the park.
Theobjective is to take on missions to earn money. With
the money earned, you canupgrade your Mech by buying
better parts, better weapons and so on. With awell
equipped Mech, you can then take on bigger missions with
larger monetaryincentives. Enemy Mechs are difficult to
kill and winning each mission dependson how cunning you
are. This is a difficult game to get into especially whenone
is new to the controls. However, once you get used to it,
controlling yourMech is a breeze.
GAME OPTIONS
With Auto-Targetting as standard issue, it makes survival
of the game a biteasy on the stress level that this game
generates. When the enemy Mechs targetyou, they have
no remorse to kill and destroy you. As mentioned before,
youhave the option to upgrade your Mech weapons, parts
and assembly with themoney earned after each successful
mission. Even the logos, colour andcamoflauge on your
Mech can be changed and customised.
Thankfully, a save option is available so you can take your
time to completethe game. Other options are standard like
Key Config, Background Music andSound Effects.
GAME PLAY & COMMENTS
Overall a very well put-together package. In trying to
make Armored Core as‘realistic’ as possible, every thing
is taken into condition. For example, ifyou take on a
mission that pays 10,000 credits, and your Mech gets
damagedheavily in the course of battle, the amount of
money earned will be deductedagainst the repair cost of
your Mech. Assuming that you complete the missionthat
leaves you with an amount like 2,500 or less.
You must also pay attention to the E-Mail messages as
they offer good advicebefore you take on a mission.
Unfortunately it’s in Japanese and that may makethings
difficult.
You Mech controls very well. Character animation is
smooth. You can basicallymove anywhere you want either
to complete a mission or avoid enemy fire. Theability to
strafe left and right will prove to be the best way to avoid
enemyfire especially when things heat up.
Albeit the Mechs looking a bit blocky with a slight
pixelisation on close-updue to the lower polygon count, I
doubt if many people will bother too muchabout it as the
game is too intense and absorbing for most gamers to
notice.
GRAPHICS: 8.5
SOUNDS: 9.0
PLAYABILITY: 8.5
PRESENTATION: 9.5
REPLAY VALUE: 8.0
SCORE: 8.7
