Title Armored Core 4 Date 04.08.2007 Genre Mech Platform Xbox 360 Developer From Software Publisher Sega Games

If there is one thing I love, its Mechs. Mechs blowing the living crap out of one another, specifically. And in that sense, this game delivers. Its fast paced, with deep customization options and awesome visuals. You can spend hours tinkering with your Mech, tweaking option after option, making sure that your EN Output is in line with the EN consumption of your weapons. Or you can go with a pre made build if you want to just blow stuff up. Either way, once you have found your ride, its time to fight. I hope you have cat-like reflexes; you'll need them in ways I can't even explain. With missiles and bullets flying all over the place, while at the same time, timing boosts to dodge and get an advantage over your opponent, the fights can be truly intense. All these great things come at a price, however. This game is NOT beginner friendly. This is my first Armored Core game, and if it wasn't for several friends that are long time fans of the series, I would have been lost for a good while.

Graphics
The graphics here are not the best you have ever seen, bet they work for the game real well, and that’s what counts. The effects from the several different weapons are all easily distinguishable. You can tell whether whatever just grazed you was an EN Weapon or a rocket. The way your Primal Armor crackles as it absorbs abuse looks nice and very believable. The way the water reflects sunlight, almost blinding you at times is amazing, but never enough to get in the way of the fighting. In HD, this game looks incredible, the picture is crisp and clear and utterly believable. On the flip side, I have also played it on a 13 inch TV. Let me warn you, if you don't have, at LEAST, a medium size TV, seeing what’s going on is next to impossible. You will just have to rely on seeing the red reticule that means you are locked on, fire, and hope for the best.

Sound
The sound is really well done in AC4. Everything sounds natural, like it belongs. Hearing your Mech slam on the ground after falling from the sky sounds like it should. Missiles exploding and rifles being shot sounds right. You can hear the sizzle of energy weapons and the roar of rockets soaring through the sky as if you were there. The music is also solid. There don't appear to be more than a handful of themes, but they are all very well written and fit with game perfectly. It would have been nice to add your own music though, since the game has such a limited soundtrack. The voice acting found in the single player is also very good, with the appropriate amount of emotion on the situation.

Story
I can't honestly say that the game's story is important. Its very vague and deals with Companies and Merc groups, without ever being very specific. I didn't really bother to follow it at all. I hope they make stories that matter in future games, but for now its not to be had. To be honest, however, do you really need a plot to give you an excuse to blow stuff up? I thought so.

Gameplay
The game play of AC4 is basically split into 2 groups. One is building your AC the other is actually fighting in it. I'm going to break it down for each of there 2 groups.

The building part is very in depth, to the point of drowning newcomers. I'm not going to get into it here, but you have options for just about every aspect of your Mech that you can think of, and some you probably wouldn't have. The problem with all this depth, is that there is nothing in the game of booklet to really help you sort through all the data provided to you. The manual just covers some basics and leaves you to figure out the rest. I had several experienced friends that taught me what it was all about, but most won't have that kind of help. I don't mean to say it’s impossible to learn, with a little fiddling, you will eventually get what it’s all about. I should also note that the menus while you are tuning are not very intuitive, but don't cause much hindrance once you learn them.

The fighting, as already stated is very fast paced, which again means that beginners have a steep hill to climb. The game forces you to keep an eye on many different things during a fight, and that can be completely overwhelming if you are new. Don't even bother with the multiplayer until you have played through the single player and have a good idea on how to handle your Mech and keep an eye on all the proper things. Also, how well you perform in fights is almost entirely dependent on how you equipped your machine. So if you had no clue what you were doing in the garage, then don't expect a lot of victories. I should note that the controls take some getting used to. The game gives you 2 sets to choose from and 2 where you can customize the controls. To save yourself a big headache, go with Set B, since it lets you aim and fire at the same time. Set A makes doing that more difficult.

Once you get good at both aspects of the game, it really becomes a blast to play. Mech games don't get much better than this!

Buy or Rent?
If you are new to the series, rent, definitely. There will be some that will not like this game, so try it out and see what you think. If you are an AC fan, just go buy it. There may have been some changes to the game play, but its still Armored Core. A very awesome game, but the lack of any useful instructions for its more in depth parts really adds unnecessary frustration.

Game Score

B+

Reviewed By: Contributed