Armored Core

The Good
I didn't expect this to be as good as the MechWarrior series, as challenging a bunch of mates to a challenge over a LAN takes the cake any day, however I was surprised at the amount of depth included here.

The fact that you are playing for cash to buy some amazingly powerful gear for your mech, and that you can choose which missions to complete more then makes up for the lack of a true multiplayer session. Some of the upgrades are a real treat, just check out those rocket launchers. A few of them on the shoulders of your mech will really scare the hell out of the competition.

It's the ability to create your own mech, from the color scheme to the icon and of course the weapons, defense systems and other items of worth that are the key elements of the game, and that's what makes this a winner.

Of course, you have a 2 player mode, which makes for a nice few hours of gameplay to prove to your pal that in fact you do have the best mech in the galaxy. Graphically the game doesn't come close to any Mech game on the PC (or any of the current Mech games on console), but it's a solid presentation, and it wasn't at all bad in its day.

The Bad
The only things I would have liked to have seen is a 4 player mode, more missions (which would later come in the next two PSX titles, so that's ok) and a better soundtrack. The sounds of battle are all here, but here isn't any real music here, and I always look out for that to add some atmosphere to the game. Sadly, it really wasn't to my liking here at all.

The Bottom Line
Overall, not a bad Mech game at all for a console. Sure, it doesn't come close to any of the current games on either PC or console(s), but if you can find this in a bargain bin somewhere you can be sure that it is worth the money.