Hey all,
Let me just start off by saying that I am a big robot fan, just about anything that involves robots big or small is cool to me, so when I first picked up a copy of Armored Core on the PS1 I fell in love with it. Being able to create and customize your own AC (what the mechs were called) to such detail, to me it was Gran Turismo for giant robots.


The game that started it all.... fap fap fap fap fap

Sadly despite how much I love the franchise it has relegated itself to an ongoing series of expansions and sequels that apart from graphics do little to impress. This is most evident with the series’ latest release (in Australia anyways) Armored Core 4, I anticipated this game the way Jim Sterling anticipates the next Dynasty Warriors but when I bought it and played it my reaction was “yeah it’s pretty okay… I guess”.

Don’t get me wrong, the models were beautiful, the variety of AC parts was staggering and the have been some cool innovations since the first game but I just felt like something was off, the robot freak inside me wanted to adore this game but the gamer inside me knew that what I was dealing with was a pretty average game.

I love Armored Core dearly, but there’s been over 10 games released in the series and the latest games still feel like the first one on the PS1. Now I admit that some small changes have been made over the franchise but to me it seems that the only real focus on improvement has been in the look and detail of the AC designs.
Come on From Software, it’s time to make some changes.


The Environments
Make the environments feel alive
Let’s face it, the environments in the AC series have always been lacking. Granted the setting is a post apocalyptic wasteland but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some detail in the environments you’re stomping around in. I was disappointed in the environments in AC4 especially, this was supposed to be a ‘next-gen’ game and most of the levels are just bland tunnels or factories or deserts. There is no clutter, there are no people, there are no cars, trees, bushes, cows, burnt out AC’s, destroyed Nazi zeppelins, nothing!
These environments need to be fleshed and made to feel alive, or at least make the destroyed environments feel as if they were alive once, and that leads me to my next suggested change.


Awesome Mech, boring environment

Make everything destructible
When I battle an opponent in AC4 in a crowded city there are missiles, bullets, lazers, rockets and lazer swords flying in all directions. So why do the buildings in this city have not a single scratch on them. I remember playing Mechassault on the Xbox and getting a kick out of lobbing a barrage of missiles at an enemy, only to have the missiles miss and destroy the base of the tower behind him, causing the tower to collapse on top of my enemy and severely damaging him in the process.
Now why can’t the AC series do that?
Although it sounds mean, one of the fun parts of controlling a giant robot is collateral damage. I want to be able to start a fight in the middle of a skyscraper-filled, fully inhabited city and leave nothing standing by the time I’m done. THAT is what piloting a giant robot is all about, and it makes you feel like a badass too.

Give a proper sense of SCALE
Now this suggestion draws on points previously mentioned but I can not stress this enough, when playing a giant robot game I want to feel like I’m piloting a GIANT ROBOT. In these games you are supposed to feel like you are controlling a giant killing machine of a robot, devastating any enemy in your way through towns, factories, cities, and underwater complexes, instead you feel like you’re dragging an action figure through an indestructible, sterile, obstacle course.
Clutter, signs of life and destructible environments will all add to the feeling of scale but it’s the small details that make the difference. Such as slightly damaging buildings as you walk into them, being able to overboost through weaker buildings, leaving cracked footprints in the ground, people running for their lives at the sight of you, scorch marks from lazer fire and boosters, these details all add up to the feel of piloting a giant robot and the AC franchise sorely need that.


Combat
Bring AC’s closer together
At the moment most AC games involve keeping your distance, firing and dodging wildly until the opponent or opponents are no longer moving. Now I know that this is sort of a staple of the AC games, but so were tank-controls in the (pre RE4) resident evil series and we don’t miss them now do we? I suggest we lower the focus on long range weapons, by lengthening long range weapon reload times and adding a more effective chaff system for missiles, so combat can become more of a close range affair. After all so much effort goes into the design of the AC’s (by both the game designer and player) so it seems like a shame to not be able to see them up close.


You'd be lucky to get this close to an enemy in the original game

Add a grapple function
Now this may seem like a big jump for AC fans (some AC purists might think I’m batshit crazy) but hear me out. Since I want the ‘new’ AC game to have more focus on close range combat it makes sense to add a the ability to grapple and throw the opponent, AC’s may also be able to disarm an opponent with the right parts.

To best illustrate this idea just picture this situation;
A one on one battle in the middle of a city, the fight so far has damaged half of the city pretty badly and you’re currently taking cover behind a rapidly deteriorating building pinned down by you’re enemy’s cannon fire. Your AC has been equipped with very strong boosters so you wait for your opponent to reload, then he does you see your chance and dash towards him and grab him. From here you can choose to throw him into the ground leaving him vulnerable to attack, throw him into the nearest building which if it’s damaged enough may collapse on top of him, but since you have specially powerful boosters you turn on your overboost function while still holding on to your opponent. While overboosting while holding your opponent you can throw him extra far, slam him directly into a building or drag him along the ground (or building side) for continuous damage. You have to be quick to do make these choices though, as the opponent, when grappled, is able to hit the boost repeatedly button to try and break away from the grapple or alternatively hit the grapple button at the right time to counter and reverse certain moves. And keep in mind just as you can turn on overboost while grappled, he can do the same to turn the tables, and if you both have overboost on you both can steer your both fight to direct the other into obstacle of the ground.

Now for such a system to work AC parts would need a statistic to add to their current stats of Armor, Weight etc, this stat would be ‘Strength’, it would apply to arms and legs mostly and would determine the physical strength of that part for grappling purposes; the higher the Strength stat of an AC, the better chance it has of escaping grapples and countering.

Like I said this seems like a big change, and it is, but I think this in-your-face approach to the series would be a big improvement.


Controls
Okay here is one of the AC’s big problems in my eyes, the controls. I have three main changes to suggest.

Fix the movement controls
This is a problem area and playing AC4 on the 360 has made it so much ore obvious. The controls are just plain awkward, trying to boost, circle-strafe and shoot at the same time requires you to have a thumb on each stick, a finger on the trigger to boost, and a thumb on a face button to shoot. “Wait, what? But I don’t have three thumbs!” I hear you say, well that’s exactly the problem. In AC4 I tweaked my controls to set shooting to the LB and RB nudge buttons, I can turn and shoot at the same time now but I have to hold my controller in an awkward claw position to have fingers on both the triggers and nudge buttons. No sir, I don’t like it. So I suggest that we re-bind the quick dash button.
In the current AC4 game you hold one trigger to boost and press the other trigger for a quick dash in the direction. Freeing up one of these triggers to fire would make things a lot easier for players, and since you don’t need the use of the right stick to direct where you dash it that function could easily be set to the A (or X for sony folk) button.

Revamp the targeting system (again)
Targeting in AC4 is shit. There, I said it. There was no guide to what you were aiming at, the system would just pick targets for you and it was a mess.
This may sound odd but I really dug the old targeting system mechanic of the AC games before 4, you were given a reticule on the screen that represented your target range and whatever was in that square could be shot, I’d like to maybe return to that mechanic with the focus on targeting being on who was closest to the center of the reticule.
Whether that system would work or not I don’t know but targeting definitely needs to be more direct and flexible enough for everyone to enjoy and not be completely lost with.


General gameplay changes
Add a stronger focus to arena battles
Now the focus in AC games on arena battles goes up and down but I have always loved the concept of building a custom AC and going at it one-on-one with another pilot, and if the pilot is a real person with their own custom AC then all the better.
Sadly the arena mode (especially in AC4) seems tacked on as an afterthought, this mode need more focus, maybe a proper ‘Tournament Mode’ with it’s own side story? With AC rare parts as tournament prizes and a survival option, ‘Tournament Mode’ could become one of the game’s features instead of just a small bonus mode.

The game needs a real story
I understand the AC games have stories, but they are so poorly presented and badly voice-acted that you have no invested emotion in the game apart from how cool your AC looks. These games need a better story, one that is well presented through machinima and in game dialogue, I want to be able to care about the people I am fighting for or at least better understand what I am fighting for.

Add a proper physics engine
Since I want destructible environments then I really should just go the whole hog and insist on a proper physics engine be added too. Not much else needs to be said about this really, all the good games are doing it, it’s all about physics baby.

Make animations smoother
I know I am controlling a giant robot but do they have to move so awkwardly? If the animations were a bit smoother, maybe with a bit of anime styled movement exaggeration the AC’s would look a lot more impressive and deadly.

Replenishable Ammunition and weapon pickups
In past AC games, you start a mission with the weapons and ammo you are given and that’s it, if you run out you’re stuck to using your beam sword for the rest of the mission. If there were ammo caches available and weapons you could pick up and drop on the fly then missions would be less of a pain.


Multiplayer
I was excited as hell to play AC4 in multiplayer mode, unfortunately what was there was very stock standard; deathmatch and team deathmatch. What? Is that is?
With so many games involving multiplayer these days the AC series needs to make multiplayer that focuses on the fact that this is not like an ordinary FPS multiplayer match, AC’s multiplayer needs to stand out with modes that cater directly to the fact that you’re piloting giant custom-made machines of death.
Deathmatch needs to be held in huge environments with lots of opportunity for collateral damage such as a crowded city or the outer hull of a space station.
Also new game modes need to be added, deathmatch and team deathmatch are a start but how about objective based missions, online arena tournaments, assault and defend missions, co-op specific missions and survival modes.


One last point: FIX THE INTERFACE
My god! The interface is just so user-unfriendly and ugly, you’re meant to be in a society that can create stories-tall walking robots but nobody can create an efficient and attractive user-interface. Come on, it’s been well over 10 games now, it’s time to tighten up the UI.


Well there you have it, my opinions on how you could bring the Armored Core franchise out of the dark of B-rated games to A-grade title. Would it work? Hell if I know but to me these changes would work wonders for the series.


Armored Core: For Answer, a step in the right direction?

As a closing note sometime this year we’ll be recieveing From Software’s expansion upon AC4 called 'Armored Core: For Answer', according to the info released it features giant bosses, giant maps, transforming AC’s and online campaign co-op. These changes were on my list but since it seems they beat me to the punch I’ll leave them be, lets hope that For Answer is a step in the right direction for the series and that the AC series can become a game that more than everybody, not just robot fanboys such as myself can love.

Cheers