Growing Up With: Armored Core
A new Armored Core game has been announced and I couldn’t be more excited! In case you don’t know, Armored Core is a video game series about giant mechs, with big guns, shoulder mounted missiles, and even laser swords. There are several entries in the series and for some reason it didn’t get as popular as I think it should have gotten in the U.S. but with how successful From Software has gotten, I expect this latest entry to turn a lot of heads. However, I grew up with the series, playing almost every entry, and I remember it fondly.
What made this game stand out to me as a kid was two things. Number One, it was a fast paced robot shooter. Most of the game was fighting other giant mechs, flying around with boosters and blowing stuff up. This alone would have been enough to occupy my child self’s attention span for countless hours. The fast action was enough to rival even modern day games. The graphics, not so much…
But probably the more important feature Armored Core had to offer is, Number Two, you got to customize each piece of your mech the way you want. Change the arms, the legs, the head, the core and the weapons all with their own unique properties, traits, and looks. Need a fast paced mech that can zip around? You can build your mech like that. Need a heavy mech that takes a ton of damage? You can build your mech like that. You can even skip having legs and go for tank treads instead. This is something that I have always admired about From Software titles, the customization. Building your character (or mech in this case) and seeing what crazy combination you can make was always appealing to me and this game had it, even in Armored Core’s first entry.
The premise for most of the games is that you are a mercenary with your giant mech (they call the mechs armored cores, AC for short). You get hired to complete missions and get paid lots of money if you complete them. You then use that money to buy more parts for your mech so you can improve it and go on more difficult missions.
One mission in particular that I remember was where you had to go into a facility that was full of silos. The mission briefing warned you that if a stray bullet hits the silos it will cause them to explode and cause a chain reaction that will cause the entire building to become a giant nuclear explosion making you lose instantly. I carefully navigated my way through this mission, doing everything I could to make it to the end as quickly and safely as possible. It was almost over when my buddy stopped me and said “Wait! There is a secret on this level. Push square!” I, being a dumb kid and excited that we were about to discover a secret pushed square without thinking, failing to realize that square was the shoot button (I was a pretty dumb kid). Boom, the entire mission was a failure as my bullet pierced the silo ahead of me. My buddy couldn’t stop laughing as I silently turned off the Playstation and sulked for the rest of the day.
Despite the devilish tricks of my friends, I still greatly enjoyed the game and it had a multiplayer versus mode as well. Two real players going head to head in an arena style fight. Each player was able to build their mech the way they want and go toe to toe to test each players skills and mech build. It was unfortunate that I was actually awful at the game so I could never reclaim my revenge as a child. Maybe the new addition to the series will be the moment for vengeance… we will see.
