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All Games -- Armored Core 4
Release Date: 27-Mar-2007
Developed By: FromSoftware
Published By: Sega
ESRB: Teen
Official Website
Where to buy
Armored Core 4 will be the first Armored Core game to be fully online, making use of the 360's Xbox Live and the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network. Up to eight players can compete online in various multiplayer matches ranging from team battles to all-out battle royales.
Background
Set sometime in the future, Armored Core 4 restarts the series' storyline from square one. Overpopulation has led to widespread food and resource shortages. Wars begin to break out and six corporations emerge from the fray to form a new world order. People have taken to living in colonies under a system called the "Pax Economica". The Pax is a mixture of socialism and slavery, with each and every person being loyal to one of the corporations.
The game's story begins five years after the Pax has been established.
The six corporations have recently been revealed by From Software on their website. The ACs featured on each corporation's page are the starter ACs of that particular corportation.
* Global Armaments America - An American corporation. Its starter AC is Geoheart, a boxy brown AC.
* Rosenthal - Possibly a German corporation. Its starter AC is the white AC seen in the game's first few trailers.
* Rayleonard - Possibly an English or French corporation. Its starter AC is Vaalea, a dark grey AC with sharp spikey parts. The Rayleonard AC is featured heavily on From's Armored Core 4 website and in the "God is Force" trailer.
* Bernard and Felix Foundation - Possibly an East European corporation. Its starter AC is Pointblank, an advanced looking light grey AC.
* Leone Meccanica - Possibly an Italian corporation. Its starter AC is a sleek grey-green AC.
* Eqbal - Possibly a Russian corporation. Its starter AC is a lightweight red AC with rather smooth and round parts.
Gameplay
* As Naotoshi Zin mentioned in early interviews, the damage system has been reworked to allow greater precision. Damage to different parts of the AC now have unique effects. Damage to arm parts reduces accuracy, damage to leg parts reduces mobility, and as in previous versions of the game, damage to the head part causes a significantly greater reduction of AP points. Parts such as weapons and extensions cannot be specifically damaged.
* Multiplayer is divided into team play or deathmatch modes. 4 to 8 battle matches are available. Unlike previous installments of the series, split-screen versus battles cannot be saved or reviewed as replays.
* Environment effects and details are now highly reactive to AC battles. For example, ACs make movement trails in the sand, explosive projectiles leave craters in the ground, buildings are destructible (unlike previous AC games), and an unlockable artic stage can be terraformed by heat-based weaponry.
* Although the number of missions in Armored Core 4 is lower than what fans of the series have grown accustomed to, all missions can be played again on a 'Hard' difficulty once the game is completed. This adds a new layer of gameplay to the missions, with additional enemies and/or more difficult objectives.
* AP points are significantly higher than before, reaching as high as 50,000. Conversely, weapons deal much more damage to level the playing field.
On-screen Display
* The traditional lockbox has been removed, so ACs now lock onto whatever targets are available onscreen.
* ECM levels are now shown just below the map screen at the right.
* A status window is overlaid on the left edge of the screen that constantly updates the condition of the player's AC with specific text-based data.
* The amount of damage done to the players AC is shown below the AP points which is colored red.
AC Configuration
* All arm/shoulder parts are now put into a single "weapons" class, allowing for any weapon to be equipped to either arm. Separate buttons are assigned for left weapons and right weapons respectively, and can be used simultaneously. Shoulder buttons are used to switch to rear-mounted weapons. Despite the wide range of new weapons, players can expect old favorites like the KARASAWA and the MOONLIGHT to emerge as unlockable weapon parts.
* Radiators have been removed from the game, eliminating the gameplay mechanic of heat. Instead of overheating, boosters simply stop working when overused. Boosters now only consume energy when the AC is in flight.
* A new part category has been added called stabilizers. These have marginal impact on stats and assist in the weight balance of the AC while adding aesthetic value. If players do not wish to manually stabilize their ACs, they can opt for an automatic stabilization.
* All Cores are now equipped with an energy shield. The primal core is equipped with an energy shield like the one being used by the Aerial Pulverizer in Armored Core Last Raven. Shields have a separate energy bar seen to right of the AP points that slowly regnerates over time. However, shields are ineffective against certain weapon projectiles. The Primal Core's shield can only defend the players AC from missiles.
Miscellaneous
* Unlike previous Armored Core games, players will choose a AC design shown at the start of the game.
* Players can now save their AC setups as designs to be used or traded (as mentioned above). In-game designs can be unlocked for use after defeating opponents in the Arena (now called the Simulator).
* It's now possible to add decals using emblems and an in-garage placement system. A variety of decals can be unlocked from the Simulator mode, and players can design their own decals as well.
* Weapons can now also be painted just like how the parts of an AC can be painted.
* The garage now contains more and has different categories. This categories are(staring from the top going down)weapon, where the player can buy and add weapons to his/her AC, assemble, where the player can buy parts from head to the legs and equip it to their AC(weapons can only be bought and equipped at the weapons category), paint, where the player can change the color of their AC(including the weapons) into any color they want, simulator, the place where the player can fight different AI's and obtain parts or new decals, test, where the player can test their AC's if it is good enough for a mission or where the players can train, tutorial, where the new players can learn how to play Armor Core 4 and the last is Design, the place where player's can edit or add decals to their own AC.
View Reviews
| Game Features | |
| HDTV | 720p |
| Surround Sound | Yes |
| Live | Yes |
| Multiplayers | 8 |
Armored Core 4
Release Date: 27-Mar-2007
Developed By: FromSoftware
Published By: Sega
ESRB: Teen
Official Website
Where to buy
Armored Core 4 will be the first Armored Core game to be fully online, making use of the 360's Xbox Live and the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network. Up to eight players can compete online in various multiplayer matches ranging from team battles to all-out battle royales.
Background
Set sometime in the future, Armored Core 4 restarts the series' storyline from square one. Overpopulation has led to widespread food and resource shortages. Wars begin to break out and six corporations emerge from the fray to form a new world order. People have taken to living in colonies under a system called the "Pax Economica". The Pax is a mixture of socialism and slavery, with each and every person being loyal to one of the corporations.
The game's story begins five years after the Pax has been established.
The six corporations have recently been revealed by From Software on their website. The ACs featured on each corporation's page are the starter ACs of that particular corportation.
* Global Armaments America - An American corporation. Its starter AC is Geoheart, a boxy brown AC.
* Rosenthal - Possibly a German corporation. Its starter AC is the white AC seen in the game's first few trailers.
* Rayleonard - Possibly an English or French corporation. Its starter AC is Vaalea, a dark grey AC with sharp spikey parts. The Rayleonard AC is featured heavily on From's Armored Core 4 website and in the "God is Force" trailer.
* Bernard and Felix Foundation - Possibly an East European corporation. Its starter AC is Pointblank, an advanced looking light grey AC.
* Leone Meccanica - Possibly an Italian corporation. Its starter AC is a sleek grey-green AC.
* Eqbal - Possibly a Russian corporation. Its starter AC is a lightweight red AC with rather smooth and round parts.
Gameplay
* As Naotoshi Zin mentioned in early interviews, the damage system has been reworked to allow greater precision. Damage to different parts of the AC now have unique effects. Damage to arm parts reduces accuracy, damage to leg parts reduces mobility, and as in previous versions of the game, damage to the head part causes a significantly greater reduction of AP points. Parts such as weapons and extensions cannot be specifically damaged.
* Multiplayer is divided into team play or deathmatch modes. 4 to 8 battle matches are available. Unlike previous installments of the series, split-screen versus battles cannot be saved or reviewed as replays.
* Environment effects and details are now highly reactive to AC battles. For example, ACs make movement trails in the sand, explosive projectiles leave craters in the ground, buildings are destructible (unlike previous AC games), and an unlockable artic stage can be terraformed by heat-based weaponry.
* Although the number of missions in Armored Core 4 is lower than what fans of the series have grown accustomed to, all missions can be played again on a 'Hard' difficulty once the game is completed. This adds a new layer of gameplay to the missions, with additional enemies and/or more difficult objectives.
* AP points are significantly higher than before, reaching as high as 50,000. Conversely, weapons deal much more damage to level the playing field.
On-screen Display
* The traditional lockbox has been removed, so ACs now lock onto whatever targets are available onscreen.
* ECM levels are now shown just below the map screen at the right.
* A status window is overlaid on the left edge of the screen that constantly updates the condition of the player's AC with specific text-based data.
* The amount of damage done to the players AC is shown below the AP points which is colored red.
AC Configuration
* All arm/shoulder parts are now put into a single "weapons" class, allowing for any weapon to be equipped to either arm. Separate buttons are assigned for left weapons and right weapons respectively, and can be used simultaneously. Shoulder buttons are used to switch to rear-mounted weapons. Despite the wide range of new weapons, players can expect old favorites like the KARASAWA and the MOONLIGHT to emerge as unlockable weapon parts.
* Radiators have been removed from the game, eliminating the gameplay mechanic of heat. Instead of overheating, boosters simply stop working when overused. Boosters now only consume energy when the AC is in flight.
* A new part category has been added called stabilizers. These have marginal impact on stats and assist in the weight balance of the AC while adding aesthetic value. If players do not wish to manually stabilize their ACs, they can opt for an automatic stabilization.
* All Cores are now equipped with an energy shield. The primal core is equipped with an energy shield like the one being used by the Aerial Pulverizer in Armored Core Last Raven. Shields have a separate energy bar seen to right of the AP points that slowly regnerates over time. However, shields are ineffective against certain weapon projectiles. The Primal Core's shield can only defend the players AC from missiles.
Miscellaneous
* Unlike previous Armored Core games, players will choose a AC design shown at the start of the game.
* Players can now save their AC setups as designs to be used or traded (as mentioned above). In-game designs can be unlocked for use after defeating opponents in the Arena (now called the Simulator).
* It's now possible to add decals using emblems and an in-garage placement system. A variety of decals can be unlocked from the Simulator mode, and players can design their own decals as well.
* Weapons can now also be painted just like how the parts of an AC can be painted.
* The garage now contains more and has different categories. This categories are(staring from the top going down)weapon, where the player can buy and add weapons to his/her AC, assemble, where the player can buy parts from head to the legs and equip it to their AC(weapons can only be bought and equipped at the weapons category), paint, where the player can change the color of their AC(including the weapons) into any color they want, simulator, the place where the player can fight different AI's and obtain parts or new decals, test, where the player can test their AC's if it is good enough for a mission or where the players can train, tutorial, where the new players can learn how to play Armor Core 4 and the last is Design, the place where player's can edit or add decals to their own AC.