OVERVIEW
As you all know Armored Core 4 came out in
the USA on March 21st... Since then for the
most part I have been playing it and
enjoying it immensely this is a game that
has been a long time coming and I welcome
it.
For Armored Core fans, and to a slightly
lesser extent Chromehounds fans, it is easy
to catch onto, though some interfaces have
changed, with a little determination you can
get into the swing of things. However, it
does take some getting used to for new
players.
STORYLINE
The storyline is pretty decent, while not on
par with Ace Combat 4 & 5, Halo and Halo 2
Lost Planet and Gears of War. It is still
not overly bad and gets the job done
GAMEPLAY
The game itself is typical Armored core as
far as enemies and surprises. The missions
are fun (If not a tad touch easy to
accomplish (Though not as easy to get an S
ranking especially when you play hard mode),
you still have area boundaries that you can
exit and fail the mission, including
Altitude (Yes, you can boost out of the
combat area)
You no longer have a Targeting reticle but
instead your Fire Control System locks onto
a target and directs your fire there This
has it's pros and cons...
Pro: you can more easily lock onto an
enemy...
Con: If there are multiple enemies it
sometimes does not allow you to lock onto
what you want... The only time this is a
real problem in multiplayer is when dealing
with missiles which you can also lock onto
(this makes the game irritating and
challenging, but to me it is just a minor
quirk). Other than that it is for the most
part a matter of skill of the pilot and the
type of Mecha you build.
CONTROLS
Control setup is also VERY top notch
allowing for FULL Customization (Either pick
Custom A or Custom B Control configurations)
This allows you to set up your own control
scheme that fits you... However you must
also pay attention to default control
readouts in the manual so you know which
buttons originally did what so that you can
translate that to your current controls
scheme for button combos that allow things
like quick turns and the discarding of empty
weapons.
Also note that you can even modify your
movement controls (Thumbstick controls) and
this is how you invert your Y Axis (I.E.
Down on the stick is look up and up on your
control stick is look down).
Getting these controls down is important
since you can use every button on your
controller in combat with the exception of
the start, back and center XBOX Button and
with full controller customization this
allows a configuration you are comfortable
with.
ONLINE
But as usual the real fun happens when you
get enough parts and build your Killer Mecha
to fight another person with in multi player
on XBOX live. In previous versions this was
only achieved by 2 player split screen or
system link, so the whole online play thing
is new to the series.
In Multiplayer you can either do Player or
Ranked Matches (I have not really dabbled in
Ranked Matches so I am not certain how they
work) The multi player matches (At Least in
Non Ranked Matches) are limited though 1 on
1, 4 player Team battle 8 player team battle
4 player battle royale and 8 player battle
royale matches are often fast paced since
there are no respawns. Typical matches are
around 5 minutes or less though I have seen
some last longer... There have also been
some issues about weapons balance.
Lobbies are also mildly buggy, sometimes
dropping people (sound familiar Mechassault
Players?). However if someone does begin to
drop the room does not launch (This can be
frustrating but also on the bright side it
means if Quad (for example) is in our room
if a lot of us play armored core and drops
we don't have to shut down the game it just
returns us to the lobby (Now don't get me
wrong sometimes it takes a while to do this
and sometimes it drops players easily while
sitting in the lobby) However I think some
of those bugs will be worked out in the
future
Another good note (at least in Player Match
Lobbies) Most players are relatively laid
back and friendly. There are a few assholes
but the majority I have met I am very
impressed with as far as overall attitude
and friendliness
However I consider this just the start
considering that new updates (Called
regulations files) seem to keep coming.
Currently we are on regulations ver 1.35.
Right now the regulations seem to be working
to balance the weapons for fairer game play,
but new regulations or perhaps download
content could allow for more game types and
perhaps fix some of the annoying (yet
acceptable) problems that I have listed...
The game is not even a month old yet so It
deserves a chance
I am not certain when the Next field report
will be but rest assured my Master Forgers,
fellow Metal Commanders and all House
members I have high hopes about our future
deployment to the world of Armored Core 4
Apr 7, 2007
Texas Raider
Metal Commander: Iron
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