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Developer: From Software
Publisher: Agetec Inc
Genre: Strategy
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 13 Sep 05
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- This latest AC continues to cater for hardcore fans, as casual gamers will be turned off by the absence of a story and online multiplayer support.
Overview
There are some games out there that just make a whole lot of sense to make, and this is not one of them. I'm talking about the Armored Core series, which has garnered a very select group of fans, all the while failing to cater for the mainstream. And yet they still keep coming out on the shelves whether we like them or not they are still being released. Now we get to look at the next Armored Core game, Armored Core: Nine Breakers for the PS2. So does this game turn around a slowly fading series? Read our full review to find out!
Gameplay
Now I know I have probably made some people upset with my previous comments, and I quite possibly could get a lot of hate mail in my e-mail after this review gets posted. But I must say that the Armored Core series in my opinion just has not lived up to any of its potential. And the mere fact that they keep coming out with these games and not improving enough really has me wondering if this streak of so-so games is ever going to end? So could Nine Breakers be the game to change my opinion?
The first gripe I had with Nine Breakers was that the game really didn't have a whole lot of modes to choose from. You have the training mode and the arena mode and that's it. I started out with the training mode, remembering that I had problems with some of the controls with the previous games. So I had my test in the tutorial mode and found that they really wanted to let you test your abilities before jumping into the arena mode. The tutorial mode definitely gives you plenty of different looks at the core action in the game and really allows you to get used to the games somewhat complex controls.
The only real gripe I had with the tutorial mode was that the menus were not labeled all that well, which made it somewhat hard to figure out exactly what you were doing in this mode or why. The biggest question I had for the tutorial mode was what was the point of doing this mode, as not only did it get a bit boring and monotonous, but the game really never gave you a reason of why you should even be taking part in this mode.
The arena mode is basically what you would consider a franchise mode in a sports game, as this is where you will definitely spend the majority of your time at. Basically the mode works like this, you have a list of opponents you can go and battle with your Mech, and basically the more you win the more points you get. This in turn can help your ranking and get you into some of the official matches. With that being said, the mode never really gives you any sort of storyline, nor does it try to do anything in the game to really make you overly interested in what is happening on screen.
Speaking of the action, the actual gameplay itself has really nothing to separates it from other Mech games on the market already. The gameplay is very straightforward and although there are quit a few arenas to do your combat in, the premise is the same in all, hide behind some of the obstacles, fly up and attack, and then repeat the process over and over again. The game does allow you to customize your Mech and upgrade it as well, but this is pretty confusing and the menu system in my opinion is much too hard to understand.
The thing that really bothered me the most about Nine Breaker is that it sounded as though the game was going to have multiplayer support, but really all you can do is System Link your PS2's together and play the game. This doesn't mean you can go online, which would have really helped the game in my opinion. So alas we have a game with decent combat capabilities that has a lack of a story and really one of the hardest menu systems to understand.
Graphics
In my opinion the visuals of a Mech Game can be very important because it is in this portion of the game that you really want to get that sense that you're huge and everything else is minuscule. That whole feeling of "ok, this is like two tanks colliding head on" is something that Nine Breakers never really grabbed a hold of. I would say that they weren't to far away from getting to that point but the game just never had enough juice to get there.
I would say that Nine Breaker does do a nice job in using a great color palette that truly helps this game stand out in some areas especially that of the Mech models. But what really hurt this game in my opinion were the arenas, which I thought could have been done in a lot better fashion. They seemed sort of bland and boring and just really did not have enough visual effectiveness (lack of detail) to really get the job done.
Fun Factor
I have to be honest with a lot of you, I actually really enjoy the whole Mech genre as a whole, and have always been a fan of how these games have combined action with strategy. With that being said, the storylines are also usually pretty good and Nine Breakers really didn't have a story at all. Not only that, there really wasn't any multiplayer in the game as well, and that really hurt the replay value as the arena mode only had so much fun in its tank.
Overall
Armored Core: Nine Breakers is a game that I feel could have done a whole lot better then what we were given in this game. The action in this game was just so-so and the lack of a story and multiplayer really just didn't help the cause. Unless you have to have every Armored Core game out there, then I would say that this at best would be a backup rental plan as there just isn't enough good in this game to really earn your hard earned cash.
- Gameplay
6.0 - Graphics
6.0 - Fun Factor
5.0 - Overall
6.0
