Armored Core V Review - UGO

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Armored Core V Review - UGO Mar 22nd 2012, 19:38 To love Armored Core V is to love teamwork and online gaming.   Armored Core V's combat is flexible and fun. If you're the type of player that likes to get up close and melee, you can equip your AC with a laser sword and do some damage up close; if you prefer to run and gun, you can load your AC up with a few weapons and stay agile. Finding a team with a variety of attack styles was key to some of the end-game challenges. Only with the right combination of speed and firepower can you take down all comers – just be prepared to work together and figure out encounters, no matter how many times you need to die and restart from a checkpoint.   From Software (makers of other incredibly difficult games, like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls) aren't known for player coddling. Armored Core V throws you into the world with a few pointers, a steep learning curve and a bit of a nasty difficulty curve. After only a handful of story missions, I found myself struggling with taking down some of the game's bosses. At some points it becomes trial and error: fighting a boss, dying, retooling your AC's specs and setting out again, dying, retooling and eventually overcoming. If you're easily frustrated by setbacks, take a sedative before playing. Before the game's official retail launch, I played Armored Core 5 in effectively single player mode, and it proved a bit uninteresting. After only a couple story missions and a handful of order missions, I realized that I needed some help to survive. Following the game's release, when more players started appearing online, the game's world really sprung to life. It made me realize that Armored Core V is a single-player game in name only and that its features, functions and combat are really meant for multiple players. If you're not willing to fully embrace multiplayer, you're not going to really experience all that Armored Core V has to offer. The game is truly an integrated experience.   Armored Core V has an in-depth team system that allows 20 players to get together and form a group of freedom fighters, or tyrants, that's really up to how you see yourselves. Once together you can go on missions together or wade into the game's Conquest Mode, which sets your team against other players in an attempt to capture and hold one of eight regions in the world. In a way, Armored Core V feels a lot like a successor to From Software's other mech game, Chrome Hounds. That game, published by SEGA for the Xbox 360 in 2006 featured a mode called Neroimus War, where players joined factions and fought for territory in real-time. One thing I really enjoyed was being able to find players to go to battle with me at any time. If one of my teammates was online, I could easily invite them into my game to help me out; but even my friends weren't online, it was very easy to find a helping hand with the game's mercenary hiring system. Just throw out a beacon that you're hiring and you'll carve out some of the mission's earnings to whomever picked up the contract. The game's visuals aren't terribly impressive, but they are effective. You'll battle your way through post-apocalyptic urban environments, wasteland deserts, snow-covered canyons and plenty of other lifeless locations. Environments can be a bit plain at times, but they are varied, which will force you to alter combat tactics. For instance, you might put greater weight on shielding and firepower for levels where you are fully exposed, but choose speed and agility for densely packed urban environments that might require you to quickly scale buildings to avoid enemy snipers.   If you get easily overwhelmed with menus, stats and customization, Armored Core V may make your head spin a bit. The menus can be a bit confusing, and trying to figure out exactly what you're equipping to your AC can be a bit tricky. With enough time immersed in the world and with enough pointers from other players, you'll be fine. Don't be afraid to consult some message boards and listen to other players' experience with the game, because that might be the best way to ramp up quickly. Armored Core V is a fun game and a unique blended experience for online-inclined players. It can feel a bit overwhelming with information feedback and customization menus, but with enough time and dedication to figuring things out, players will find a rewarding experience and solid mech combat. Version Tested: Xbox 360 This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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