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I had never played this game or any Armored Core game before this week, and I wanted to give a quick review of it. Here are the highlights:
- Significantly more fun then I was expecting, I thought it was going to be a "oh this is neat, this is where the series started but it's too old to play well" but its actually extremely fluid and engaging.
- The missions are a treat. I was expecting them to be same-y but actually there is a ton of variation in theme, terrain, enemy types, mission length, etc. There are missions that are like a duel that take a minute. Others have you defend a train from fighter jets. Or explore ruins that can collapse on you. Or assault a space station!
- The voice acting is very endearing.
- I like that losing a mission doesn't mean game over 99% of the time. In fact, on my play through I just completed I only succeeded at 70% of the missions I attempted.
- At the same time, failing and succeeding doesn't feel entirely binary. Regardless of if you complete or fail a mission you always have to pay for the ammo you expended and repairs for your armor (HP). The cost is significant enough that I often left a mission feeling like I succeeded poorly and that reflected on my paycheck. I enjoy mechanics like this.
- It is a very hard game at the start until you get a handle on the controls. It's a fun thing to gain mastery of, but I can imagine a lot of people get turned off by it quickly.
OK_
