Armored Core
Armored Core is a mecha-based video game series for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2.
Storyline
Each game's story revolves around a group of AC-piloting mercenaries known as the Ravens, who take on any mission regardless of who requests it or the circumstances involved.
Armored Core
In the presumably distant future, the vast majority of Earth's population is wiped out by a cataclysmic war known as the Great Destruction. The harsh conditions that result force the few remaining survivors to live underground for fifty years, during which corporations come to power. The two largest corporations, Chrome and Murakumo Millennium, constantly battle each other for supremacy, causing significant strife among the populace. However, the competition provides endless opportunities for the Ravens, mercenaries who exist independently of the corporations.
Armored Core: Project Phantasma
A Raven operating out of Isaac City receives an unusual request. Not only is the request both vague and cryptic, stating simply: "Infiltrate the underground urban complex, Amber Crown,", but it also bypasses normal channels of communication and is sent directly to the Raven in question. No sender name or corporate affiliation is mentioned, but the monetary reward promised is staggering. Given the amount, the mission will obviously be dangerous, but Ravens aren't the type to shy away from any challenge. With his interest piqued, the Raven climbs into his favorite AC and heads toward Amber Crown.
Armored Core: Master of Arena
Behind the scenes in Isaac City, two corporations are embroiled in a vicious fight for control and supremacy. During one of the most violent encounters, a large number of innocent civilians are caught up in the chaos and perish. One survivor, a young man, loses his entire family. A few months later, the embittered survivor decides to take action and exact revenge. His target is the pilot of an AC known as "Nine-Ball", the AC around which events on that tragic day played out. In order to discover more and track down his quarry, the young man seeks out recruitment with the Ravens' Nest. And so, another Raven enters the fold…
Armored Core 2
Sixty-seven years after the events of the first game, the largest corporation on Earth, Zio Matrix, acquires plans for a research project on Mars, dating back before the Great Destruction. Using these plans, Zio sends a research team to Mars to begin the Terraforming Project, which causes the Martian surface and atmosphere to approximate that of Earth. Other corporations quickly learn of the project and quickly follow Zio, bringing with them the competitive environment that existed on Earth.
Armored Core 2: Another Age
Five years after the coup attempt lead by Leos Klein the Earth government struggles to realize one of its original objectives, relocating people from the underground cities to the Earth's surface. These plans are hopelessly delayed due to the fact that the government has had to shift its focus from resettlement to military buildup. A necessary move in the government's eyes, needed to keep the both the corporations and the situation on Mars in check. After facing various setbacks, the corporations that once held sway on Mars are in positions of diminished influence. This does not sit well with them and each is secretly rebuilding their personal armies in order to contend with the government's growing might. Tensions between the corporations and government are at a breaking point. With all of the government's efforts currently focused elsewhere, resentment toward the institution from the general populace is at an all time high. Tired of being neglected, people living in the underground cities have taken matters into their own hands and incidents of armed revolt are a daily occurrence.
Armored Core 3
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Armored Core 3 depicts a sub-terranian society called "Layered". Layered is ruled by an AI simply known as "The Controller", and it dictates nearly everything that goes on in this world. The two major corporations, Mirage and Crest Industries, vie for dominance and control over Layered's land and assets. All is not right with The Controller however, and odd things are happening that might even go so far as to suggest that the logic system is failing...
Silent Line: Armored Core
Following the destruction of the machine run society of Layered, mankind has slowly begun the process of returning to the surface and repopulating the face of the globe. All is well with mankind, or so the corporations would lead you to believe.
Reconnasiance teams are sent out all over the world to search the land and determine what has changed, and one area eludes scouting. Whenever a reconnasiance plane attempts to fly over this area, it is mysteriously brought down in an instant. The line, quite litteraly, goes silent.
Silent Line: Armored Core thrusts you once again into the Global Cortex organization where a number of missions take place that will deal with this so-called "Silent Line". What is bringing down these planes? What lies behind the Silent Line that is of so much importance? Can you survive destruction?
Armored Core: Nexus
Years have passed since the incident at the Silent Line, but the battle between the Coporations continues unabated. Now a new corporation has entered the scene, Navis. While no where near the size of the other corporations, Navis does have one thing that the other corporations want, complete control over a new reasource. Of course, the other corporations won't stand for that. Into this volatile situation you and your AC are thrust into. All want control of this new reasource, but who cares about the politics, you want just one thing, money. The situation is bad and will only get worse, but is something more sinister lying in wait?
Armored Core: Nexus features are string of new features to the Armored Core world such as part tuning and OP-I has been completly removed from the game. A completly new heat system has been added. Nexus features 400 new parts and over 150 missions on two separate discs title "Evolution" and "Revolution". "Revolution" features remakes of previous missions from Armored Cores of past while "Evolution" features the game itself.
The Future is now......Join the Revolution
Armored Core: Nine Breaker
During a rare lull in the usually incessant infighting between corporate giants, the world is experiencing its first taste of relative peace in many years. This is not to say that the corporations have discontinued plotting or carrying out attacks against one another, but the occurrence of such acts are much less frequent.
With the exception of one clandestine organization, the world as a whole is grateful for the recent climate change. The organization in question does not advocate a return to the days of wanton violence and destruction, but is concerned that the sudden shift from a constant "conflict ready" state to one of seeming peace will cause many to let their guards down. Specifically, they do not want the Ravens who will man the front lines in the event of a future emergency to grow complacent.
In an effort to prevent this from happening, the organization has recruited some of the world's top AC pilots to take part in a rigorous training program. The goal of the program is twofold: further hone the skills of the best, and ensure a sufficient and capable force is at hand should the need for their services arise.
Armored Core: Formula Front
Armored Core: Last Raven
Armored Core 4
Gameplay
The player controls a giant robot called an Armored Core, or AC for short. The game is primarily a third-person shooter.
The key feature of all Armored Core games is that the player can build and customise their robots themselves. Robot parts can be bought from or sold to the Shop. As the game progresses, the player can earn credits which can be used to buy new parts.
Armored Core
The game starts with the player engaging in a test to become part of the "Raven's Nest". It simply involves destroying two Muscle Tracers, or MTs, before being destroyed oneself. Upon passing this test, the player receives mission requests from corporations and other groups. Missions generally pay higher as difficulty increases. Depending on which missions are chosen, the story progresses differently. The player can also read mail from various senders, and observe the rankings, which are based on mission success rates.
Armored Core 2
Similar to the first game, the player starts off with a basic AC and is expected to complete a trail mission which consists of destroying several MTs. Completing the mission will register the player's character with Nerves Concord, a "mediation" firm much like the Raven's Nest of the Playstation era games. From that point on the player is relayed missions by their Nerves Concord manager and completing these missions will advance the game's storyline. There is a new option, the Arena, which allows Ravens to compete against each other in battle. Arena victories win the player credits, and in some cases, powerful AC parts.
Armored Core 2: Another Age
The expansion to Armored Core 2 runs on the same game engine as its predicessor but features a number of changes in the way the game is played. There is no trial mission in Another Age that kicks the game off, the player is simply thrown into the world with their AC and their frist job offer right there waiting for them. The Arena, which played a significant role in Armored Core 2 has been removed, but a fair number of the game's missions involve one-on-one combat with other Ravens in a setup not unlike Amored Core 2's Arena. Another Age had no expressed plot, it was more a portrait of the life of a mercenary, always bouncing about from place to place and not getting tied down to any one perticular cause. Occasionally reoccuring elements would pop up from time to time as the game progressed, but there was no defined storyline to the game. While there was no storyline there was over 100 seperate mission that made up the mass of the game, the largest Armored Core title to date, and each mission played out in a specific area of the world map screen that would reappear in following AC titles down the road. Another Age was also noted for its cameo apperances, past enemies from pervious Armored Core games Stinger and Nineball appeared as bosses in several special missions that are unlocked once you clear all 100 of the game's missions.
Armored Core 3
Like Armored Core and Armored Core 2, you are given a trial mission to see if you are talented enough to join the mercenary group dubbed Global Cortex. New features within Armored Core 3 include consorts (additional allies that can be obtained to assist you in a mission), detachable weapons (thereby lessening your total weight and increasing speed), and a new Core classification; Exceed Orbit (EO) which sacrifices the power of Overboost and allows you to store a new built-in weapon on your Core.
Silent Line: Armored Core
Silent Line continued Armored Core 3's storyline and development and introduced serveral new features as well. As your AC took damage in missions, your AC's weaponry did as well and if certain parts took too much damage they would break completely and you be unusable for the rest of the mission. Broken parts are restored after the mission is completed so they are not lost completely. "Clone" weapons were also introduced, these were copies of existing weaponry with altered colors and statistics like lessened weight or increased ammo. Both concepts did not appear to go over well with players and were removed in the next AC game, Armored Core: Nexus.
Armored Core: Nexus
Armored Core: Nexus took Armored Core 3's game engine and improved upon it in an extensive upgrade. The update to the core system of the game was so drastic that players were unable to import game data from the previous game, Silent Line: Armored Core, in spite of the fact that the game operated on the same engine. Gone from Silent Line were the clone parts and part breaking, while new features like Hanger Cores, the heat management system, part tuning and an improved graphics engine were added to the game. Hanger Cores allowed players to take on additional small weaponry like an extra hand gun or laser blade which can be deployed when the player drops their primary weapon. Parts could also be tuned now, by paying Credits a player could augment certain features of key AC parts like the Head, Core, Arms, Legs, Boosters, Generator and Radiator. Players needed to also be wary of the heat produced by their AC now, and if their AC overheated, normally through boosting too much, then their Radiator would begin to drain Generator and affect the AC's performance. The game was broken down into two discs, EVOLUTION and REVOLUTION. The EVOLUTION disc featured all new content in which the story of Armored Core: Nexus played out. Much like Armored Core 2: Another Age most of the game's arena battled played out in story-based missions, however a "Free Arena" was unlockable upon completion of the game's storyline. The REVOLUTION disc took a look back at previous Armored Core titles, primarily the Playstation era titles; Armored Core, Project Phantasma and Master of Arena. Completing missions on REVOLUTION unlocked extra parts for a player's AC which were based on parts that appeared in previous AC games, including custom parts featured on the AC of Project Phatasma's main antagonist, Stinger.
Armored Core: Nine Breaker
Armored Core: Fomula Front
Armored Core: Formula Front turns the AC world completely on its head in terms of gameplay. The concept of the "Raven", a mercenary who pilots an Armored Core on missions for profit is completely done away with and the player instead assumes an "Architect". An Architect is a person who builds, programs and battles with a modified Armored Core known as a "UAC" or an Unmanned Armored Core. UACs are AI controled Armored Cores which compete exclusivly in battling tournaments. UACs battle independant of the Architect's control, the Architect can influence how the UAC fights by customizing various part combinations and loading various program functions into the UAC's AI. The North American version of the PSP game has since been modified to allow players the option of actually piloting their UAC in battle instead of letting the AI fight for you. Formula Front is the first Armored Core game to be released on multiple platforms, originally on the Playstation Portible and later on the Playstation 2.
Armored Core: Last Raven
Armored Core 4
Anatomy of an AC
The structure of an AC is standardised and modular, consisting of a number of parts which are fitted together in the AC Garage. Radiators, inside parts, extension parts, and hovering legs are found only in Armored Core 2 and subsequent games.
Required Parts
An AC must have all of these parts in order to function, or it will be declared incomplete.
Head
Contains visual sensors. May also contain radar and computing equipment. Some heads are better armored than others, but at the cost of lacking extra sensor equipment.
Core
The 'armored core' from which the robot and the game series take their name. The human pilot sits inside the core, which is the 'torso' of the robot.
Cores come in different weights to suit different styles of robot; the lighter ones are less well protected but more suitable for more mobile ACs. Similarly, there are highly defensive heavyweight cores.
Cores contain a number of slots into which Optional Parts can be placed to improve its operation. Also, some cores have built-in anti-missile systems.
Since Armored Core: Nexus there have been three types of core:
- Overboost Core - Introduced in Armored Core 2, this core contains a high powered booster system that operates in combination with the external or leg based booster of an AC. When activated, it allows the player's AC to move at amazingly high speeds, but can only be used to move forward, left, right, or diagonally left or right at a forward angle, backward movement is impossible. While it offers a tremendous amount of extra speed, Overboosting both drains energy very quickly and causes a massive increase in the core's heat level when initially used. These two factors heavily limit the amount of time an Overboost function can be used.
- Exceed Orbit Core - Introduced in Armored Core 3, this core contains one or more orbital pods that can be deployed to hover above the AC and retracted at will. They possess energy weapons or shell weapons (depending on the model you purchase) and will automatically target and shoot enemies. The rate of fire, power, and field of vision for EO pods varies from model to model. Unlike other energy weapons, the ammunition supplies of Exceed Orbit pods gradually regenerate over time when not in use. Two important factors that limit Exceed Orbit usage are the small amounts of added heat that occur whenever an EO pod is deployed, as well as the energy drain from the pod firing. EO Cores with solid ammo do not suffer from an energy drain while firing.
- Hanger Unit - Introduced in Armored Core: Nexus, any core with this unit can hold one spare piece of equipment for each hand. Only small devices can be stored inside this unit, for example, a hand gun or an energy shield generator. Some cores are equiped with both Overboost and Hanger functions.
Arms
There are two types of arms; normal arms capable of holding weapons, and weapon arms that are weapons.
Normal arms have various differing attributes; the most important are the weight and defensive qualities, which are usually related - heavier arms are better armored. Other attributes are recoil control, which keeps the arm steady whilst firing, and reaction speed, which determines how quickly the robot can swing a laserblade.
Weapon arms sometimes possess two different firing modes, and are more powerful than ordinary weapons because they can be fired from two arms at once. However, they are greatly lacking in defense compared to normal arms. Weapon arms can be useful in keeping the weight of an AC down, as they are lighter than having separate arms and weapons.
Legs
The legs support the AC on the ground and determine how it moves, and are usually the part by which an AC is classified. There are several different kinds of legs:
- Humanoid - classic bipedal humanoid-style. Comes in many different weights, speeds and strengths. Humanoid ACs are limited in that they must kneel down to use many of the back-unit weapons (except for missiles and rockets). This takes time and also leaves them unable to move whilst firing.
- Reverse-Joint - also bipedal, these legs resemble those of a bird. Reverse-jointed ACs tend to be faster than standard humanoid models whilst still having a reasonable carrying capacity; they can also jump higher. However, they have the same problem with back weapons as standard bipeds. They are also generally less well-armoured.
- Four-Leg - quadrupedal, in the manner of an insect. Four-legged ACs tend to be quite fast and have the ability to fire back weapons whilst moving on the ground. However they generally cannot support heavy weights, are less well-armored than bipeds, and have a high energy usage. In the latest games, the quadrupedal legs now walk. In the earlier games these legs appeared to hover or roll.
- Tank Tracks - slow and heavy, but very well protected and can support massive loads. Tank ACs can fire any weapon even if moving or airborne. As these kind of legs don't have any real leg joints, Tank ACs cannot jump, and instead use an inbuilt booster to thrust upward.
- Hover - does not touch the ground. Hover ACs are the fastest and most maneuverable of all robots and can travel over water, which obviously gives them a huge advantage on aquatic missions. They are, however, generally the least well-armored and can only support very light loads. They suffer the same limitations as bipeds with regards to back-unit weapons. Like Tank ACs, Hover ACs cannot jump and have inbuilt boosters instead.
FCS
The FCS or Fire Control System is the targeting computer, and controls weapon targeting and missile lock-ons. There are several different kinds, which vary on serveral attributes such as lock-on speed, maximum lock-on range, maximum lock-on number, or shape and size of lock-on area, suitable for different styles of weapons.
- FCS designed for use with missiles normally have a long vertical lock box, lock on very quickly with missiles and have a very long detection range.
- FCS designed for rifle, pistol or shotgun weapons normally have a wide horizontal lock box, lock on very slowly with missiles and have a fairly short detection range.
- Standard FCS don't show any perticular prefrence when it comes to lock time, have an even square lock box and a ballanced lock on distance.
Booster
Boosters enable an AC to move quickly, and to fly. They come in different strengths and efficiencies. Tank and Hover ACs have inbuilt boosters. In Armored Core: Nexus players have to be cautious when equiping and using Boosters because they now not only drain energy but produce heat too, which can hamper the preformance of the player's AC if it overheats.
Generator
Supplies power to the AC. Power is an important consideration in the Armored Core games - the generator can only generate energy at a certain rate, and if the AC uses energy at a faster rate, the charge held by the generator is depleted. If the energy produced by the generator is depleted past the generator's red zone it immediately shuts off all other high-energy dependent functions and recharges. The time it takes to recharge varries from generator to generator but one fact is constant, an AC is at its most vulnerable point when its generator is recharging. Recharging ACs cannot use their boosters or energy weaponry until the generator has completely recharged, and in battle up to a minute without weapons or mobility can end of costing a heavy price.
Radiator
ACs can get very hot, and when overheated they become damaged. Radiators attempt to release this heat, with varying efficiency. A Radiator normally bleeds off accumulated heat and returns the AC to normal, but if the AC is overheated at a faster rate than the Radiator can bleed off heat then the AC's armour will begin to take damage until the Radiator can restore the Core to an optimal temperature. Heat is produced by taking hits various types of weaponry, by the external inviroment and in Armored Core: Nexus by the AC's own Boosters. In Nexus the heat system was completely reworked. Now heat does not do damage to an AC, but when an AC becomes overheated the Radiator begins sucking massive amounts of energy from the AC's Generator to cool down the Core which can quickly deplete its energy supply and leave it vulerable if the Radiator is not very effifeint.
Non-Essential Parts
These parts can be left off if the player desires; however, an AC will have difficulty progressing far into the game without a weapon of some kind.
Inside
An internal compartment from which a variety of devices can be released, including bombs, mines, decoys and radar-jammers.
Extension
Extensions come in pairs and are mounted on the sides of the shoulders. They are miscellaneous, usually non-offensive devices, and can be anything from extra boosters to stealth devices. A common extension is an anti-missile system.
In Armored Core 3, several emergency energy units were sold - these were usually 3 uses, and would quickly refill the energy of an AC in about 5 seconds. Emergency heat sinks were also introduced that allowed a quick cooling burst to bleed off potentially damamging head if an AC got too hot. In Armored Core: Nexus, additional booster and relation missiles also become available but the radar jamming equipment was removed.
Back Unit
There are two points on the back where weapons or devices may be mounted. These include:
- Missile launchers
- Rocket launchers
- Projectile weapons
- Orbit cannons
- Extra ammunition supplies
- Radars
Some weapons and devices take up both Back Unit slots.
Projectile weapons must be fired over the shoulder, so there is usually a delay in activating the weapon for it to unfold or align itself. Bipedal and Hovering ACs have insufficient stability to use a projectile weapon whilst standing or moving, so it is more common to see missile and rocket launchers on these robots. In earlier games AC pilots who unlocked the Human PLUS modifications or gained the black market Optional Part OP-INTENSIFY were able to deploy projectile back weapons while moving but such features have been removed from more recent games like Armored Core: Nexus, Nine Breaker and Last Raven.
Arm Unit R
This is the right arm weapon, and for most ACs it is their primary offense. There are a large number of different weapons, including rifles, machine guns, handguns, bazookas, shotguns, grenade rifles, laser guns and various energy weapons.
In AC3 parrying blades are available - these are short-range blades used to counter a laserblade strike and deal heavy damage.
The most powerful weapons in the games (with the possible exception of the WA-FINGER in Project Phantasma and Master of Arena) are the Karasawa series. Armored Core has the Karasawa, the Karasawa Mk. II in Armored Core 2, and Armored Core 3 saw the MGW Karasawa. In Armored Core: Nexus, this weapon is called the WH04HL-KRSW.
Arm Unit L
The left arm is traditionally used for melee weapons, typically the laserblade, which is a short-range blade of energy which can cause great damage to an opponent.
One can also equip hand-held energy shields which can absorb damage from weapons and laserblades. Since Armored Core 3 there have been a few ranged weapons designed for the left arm, such as howitzers. Armored Core: Nexus brings a much larger selection of left arm weapons, including copies of various right arm weapons, although the reacton time to fire these is far slower when compared to weapons held by the right arm.
Optional Parts
These are parts which can be plugged into slots in the core to enhance the AC's performance. They have a variety of effects, such as increasing damage resistance to certain weapons, or increasing the generator capacity.
Different cores have different numbers of slots for optional parts, and generally more powerful optional parts cost more slots, while those only applied to certain situations are less slot-costly.
In Armored Core 3 and Silent Line: Armored Core a special unlockable Optional Part exists known as OP-INTENSIFY, or OP-I for short. This part, awarded to you upon your completion of Armored Core 3's storyline, allows you to use new features on you AC like the Human PLUS enchancements of the pervious AC games. The part automaticaly takes up every single Optional Part slot provided in your equiped Core so no other Optional Parts can be used while the OP-I is equiped. Replaying past missions and completing specific tasks unlocks new features and powers up your AC with all new abillities. These abillities are:
- "Blade wave" projection
- Enhanced energy blade range
- Enhanced radar abillites
- All radar abillities added reguardless of equipment
- Firing back cannons while moving
- Enhanced cooling
- Enhanced boosters
- Enhanced missile interception
- Enhanced turning abillities
- Enhanced targeting abillities
The OP-INTENSIFY and Human PLUS were removed from later AC games like Nexus, Nine Breaker and Last Raven, yet enemies like Nexus' Genobee still exhibited PLUS-like preformance levels and abillities in combat.
Armored Core games
PlayStation
- Armored Core
- Armored Core: Project Phantasma
- Armored Core: Master of Arena
PlayStation 2
- Armored Core 2
- Armored Core 2: Another Age
- Armored Core 3
- Silent Line: Armored Core
- Armored Core: Nexus
- Armored Core: Nine Breaker
- Armored Core: Formula Front (Not yet released in the U.S.)
- Armored Core: Last Raven (Not yet released in the U.S.)
Playstation 3
- Armored Core 4 (In development)
PlayStation Portable
- Armored Core: Formula Front Exteme Battle (Coming October 18th 2005)
- Armored Core: Formula Front International (Re-released of the modified U.S. version, Japan only.)
Mobile Phone
- Armored Core: Mobile Mission (Japan only)
- Armored Core: Mobile 2 (Japan only)
- Armored Core: Mobile Online (Japan only)