Armoured Core 2 (Armored Core 2 (PS2))

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Product:	Armored Core 2 (PS2)
Date:	25/05/01 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: game play, graphics r brill, great standard

Disadvantages: none

There's nothing quite like messing around in your own metallic battle-suit - Armored Core 2 is excellent.

Fire Armored Core 2 up and you'll be greeted with what has now become the PS2's trademark - an accomplished FMV intro which whets the appetite for (hopefully) an intense gaming experience. Fearsome Transformer-like Mechs (robot body suits) hurtle around the screen cutting loose with the big guns, laying waste to all and sundry, coming on like stern, iron harbinger's of Armageddon - it's great. So naturally, at this point I was resigned to the FMV being the high point of the disc. Happily, I was way out of line, as it goes.

There's a background story about how the planet Mars has been colonized, and various profit-driven corporations are seeking to dominate the planet, but you don't really need to worry about that. The important thing is that there's a bunch of metallic-coated psychopaths out there, and if someone wants to pay you to put the kibosh on them, then who are you to refuse?

First off, you need to prove your worth by wandering down a corridor, putting paid to a bunch of robotic galoots - succeed and you'll find yourself taken into the hallowed ranks of the Ravens, a bunch of mercenaries who go around tearing up the place and generally being very violent indeed. Fail, and perhaps you should resign yourself to the fact that video games just aren't your thing - this beginners level is almost insultingly easy. Don't worry, the actual missions are much more enjoyable.

As a Raven, you'll find yourself on a natty menu screen, from which you can check your e-mail, which develops the story and offers you useful info; save or load your game; start a new mission, enter an Arena for a little one-on-one action with another robotic mentalist; or perhaps most geekishly, certainly most necessary, visit the shop to purchase new and improved mech parts, and the garage to fit themSee, yo
u earn credits every time you complete a mission. And with these creds you can buy such essential components for destruction as a Long Range Sniper Rifle, or the thrillingly titled "EWG-BZ-B1100" - some sort of massively powerful rocket launcher. It's not just weapons that can be acquired here - you can buy yourself a new set of arms, legs, internal parts or even a new head. Then over at the garage you can check your specs, give your mech a new paint-job or even design a new emblem for it. You can assemble your new parts, then give your new mech a test run. There's even a very useful help option, should you be feeling slightly flummoxed. And, spoddy as it sounds, the constant additions to your mech can mean the difference between bloody victory or inglorious defeat. I even found myself checking the shop with a wistful eye for weapons I couldn't afford. Of course, to start off with I couldn't afford a new pair of underpants - which means it's time to go complete some missions.

Nice front end then, and a solid idea - continually improve your robot in a Gran-Tursimo-but-with-horrifyingly-powerful-weapon s stylee. Sounds good, but how does AC2 play? It plays better than I would ever have expected. Your mech is a fairly manoeuvrable chap - he stomps forward, he stomps backward, he strafes left and right. He can lunge forward with a sabre type weapon or pick his foes off with a range of sophisticated artillery. And better yet, with his rocket pack he can fly, at least until the pack's energy runs down, at which stage it'll need to be charged before it can be used again. While it lasts though, the pack can be used to move up to different levels, jump hazards, or simply move forward at greater speed.

Excellent stuff so far, but there's a problem left over from AC2's original release in Japan. While this version allows you to use the analogue stick to move (the Jap original, to much consternation, didn't), sa
dly your mech is still frustratingly slow to turn around. This is especially vexing in Arena mode, where your solitary enemy is flitting around like Speedy Gonzales while you find yourself trying to track the bugger down at roughly the pace of an old folks visit to Longstanton Spice Museum. It's problematic, but after a while you'll find yourself getting used to your mech's sluggish turning circle - and this one fault is a minor irritation, rather than a full blown game wrecker.

Graphically, I started off thinking that AC2 was nice, rather than stunning, but as you proceed through the missions the visuals just get better and better - the bots are detailed, the landscapes pretty, in a decaying urban nightmare kind of way, and the lighting effects are proof of just what the PS2 is capable of.

Second Opinion!
Armored Core 2 is initially a little underwhelming - while the PS2 has so far offered a number of shallow but instantly accessible arcade games, AC2 takes a little time to get to grips with. It's well worth persevering with though - the action will stimulate your brain as well as your trigger finger, and once you start working on your mech, you'll be completely hooked - The Real David Essex
There are two "action" modes - Arena mode offers gladiatorial style mech busting action, featuring a league table of 50 mechs, of which you are initially the weakest. Fortify your mech, beat up a rival, move up the rankings, earn some credits - it's smart. You can play against a buddy in Arena mode, either with a split screen or, if you and your mucker are really flush, a link up option. Naturally, you'll need another PS2, another telly, and another copy of the game, but exorbitant as that sounds, it's almost worth it - giving a mate the pasting of his life from a gigantic gleaming android of doom is one of life's underrated pleasures. Via memory card, you can load up your finest mech creations to open
a can of electric whup-ass on your buddy too.

It's the mission mode that really gave me a full on robot chubby, though. Here, tyrannical business organizations will offer various assignments to you, and like the mercenary get you are, you'll take that dirty cash regardless of who you're working for. Of course, dealing with gigantic, faceless, utterly merciless corporations has its downside too - you'll receive deeply ominous e-mails from time to time, the implication being that if you get on the wrong side of these corps you'll find yourself sleeping with the mechanical fishes before too long. Of more concern to the financially minded, all the ammo you expound on a mission costs money to replace, and any repairs that need to be made to your mech will also cost money. This is necessary expenditure, obviously - but if you fail the mission you'll get absolutely no do-re-mi from those canny big business blokes. It's possible to find yourself fouling up a mission and finding yourself in massive debt, which is perhaps too close to a real life experience to be fun.

The training level you experience at the start of the game is so basic that you could be excused for jumping to uncharitable conclusions about AC2, but from the first proper mission onwards you'll have to master your mech's movement, choose the right weapons to annihilate those pesky enemy varmints, and adopt some form of strategy to ensure you live to fight another day. In fact, the strategy angle, both in the missions and the construction of your mech, is one that I found myself greatly enjoying. The missions are also well thought out and imaginative, each one requiring a different approach. I always appreciate a game that shows a little thought as well as a lot of action, and AC2 does just that. The design of the game menus, the techno soundtrack, the masterful sound effects, the whole look and feel of AC2 aims to be cutting edge - it all feels so trendy y
ou almost expect Nathan Barley to be name checking it. But the game itself is utterly compulsive. Yessir, I like it.



Graphically speaking it's a babe, there are more high tech weapons to be found here than in George Dubya Bush's fevered Star Wars dreams, and the missions are varied and exciting. I wasn't too keen initially, but after a couple of plays I was hooked - Robot Wars fans, meanwhile, will surely be in Mech-slaying heaven. Armored Core 2 is a game you need to play.

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