Give a video game franchise enough time and eventually it stops being about attracting new fans and the focus switches to catering to the hardcore fanbase. It happened to the Dynasty Warriors series, it happened to pretty much any EA Sports series, and it happened to Armored Core. So with the release of Armored Core For Answer, the thirteenth game in the series, it’s no surprise that even with Ubisoft taking over as publishers, developers From Software have stuck with the two basic elements of an Armored Core game. Fast and crazy action and a ton of customization. As a result, it pretty much means that if you’re a fan, you’ll still like this game even if you did buy Armored Core 4 sometime over the course of the last twelve months. However, if you don’t like the franchise, then For Answer probably won’t change your mind.

When you first start the single player campaign, you’ll be asked who you want to align yourself with. There are three corporations you can sign with as well as the option to act as a mercenary. Depending on what you select, you’ll be given a basic AC design and weapons that fits with that particular corporation’s philosophy and expertise. International Union for example dabbles in energy efficient, high powered lasers while GA America is all about over the top, blow you to bits munitions. It might seem like very basic options right away, but after you complete a few missions and earn some cash, you’ll find that there are quite a number of parts to unlock and purchase.

This is actually where I found myself having the most fun since there’s almost no end to what you can create. Think of it as like a spectrum where on one end you have a very light and quick moving AC designed for precision strikes and on the other end is the ultra armed and armoured AC who can demolish a city in minutes. Just about everything between these two you can create and it’s a lot of fun experimenting with different formulas to find what works best for you. Along with buying and changing parts and weapons, you have a ton of ways to paint your AC and can add several different logos and decals to really personalize it. In this respect, the game almost feels like a sim-style mech game. But for me, this is where most of the fun ends.

After your AC is up and running, it’s time to choose your missions. Usually you have a minimum of three missions available to choose from. Their objectives are pretty typical ranging from destroying a specific target, to doing as much damage as you can to an enemy fleet with an allotted amount of time, to safely escorting a friendly convoy across a map. The problem here is that no matter who you chose to align with at the beginning of the story, you can pretty much work for any faction who has a mission posted. If I destroy a bunch of convoy trucks belonging to GA America in one mission, I can turn around and do a job for GA the very next. There’s no consequence for successfully doing mission for opposing factions which is so odd given what we’ve seen in games past like Grand Theft Auto II or Mercenaries. It’s especially weird considering there’s obvious animosity between certain organizations that’s depicted in the briefing cutscenes.

The briefings themselves are a nice bonus regarding the story of For Answer. They’re nicely stylized and feature a cool looking tactical display of the mission area, you, your allies, and your enemies. Again they fit right in with the feel and theme of each company. The GA speaker for example is commanding and authoritative like you would expect a major military based corporation to have. International Union on the other hand, features a more sophisticated and intelligent voice. Overall they’re very well done. Unfortunately this is pretty much the biggest glimpse of a story you get. The intro video has a short explanation as to the events up and including Armored Core 4. It’s all pretty typical stuff. The Earth’s surface is uninhabitable and people live in fortresses hovering in the sky. Okay maybe that’s not so typical, but the whole post-war apocalyptic thing…well it’s been done. Bottom line, you don’t feel like you’re working towards an important climactic event. Most of the time it’s like you’re just moving from mission to mission just for the sake of earning more money.

The missions are a little uninspired as well. The specific objectives are varied, but basically everything boils down to go here and destroy the enemy. It’s really repetitive and gets boring pretty quickly. The only times when things get interesting are when you have to face an enemy of the same class as you, or when you need to take down a fortress. When you start the game, your AC is classified as a NEXT. Facing other NEXTs are a challenge because every other enemy in the game is pretty much a pushover. Facing a NEXT pretty much puts things on even terms. The problem is every NEXT tends to do a lot of crazy boosts and fly all across the mission area and it makes it very difficult to get a lock on them. Normally I would welcome the challenge, but a majority of the battles have you spinning in circles just trying to get the enemy NEXTs in your sights, never mind a lock on.

Taking on a fortress or Arms Fort is an entirely different beast. These things are massive and they range from tank-like structures to naval warship to flying cruisers. The scale of these battles are very impressive. Some of the smaller ones will be accompanied by a fleet of battleships so you’ll have to cut through the enemy lines in order to reach your target. But the other, bigger Arms Forts sometimes encompass the entire level. There’s a good scope to everything. Unfortunately the graphical detailing and environments tend to reduce a lot of the fun you might have.

Visually For Answer is very underwhelming. It feels like you don’t see enough detail in your AC which can be especially disappointing since you’ll probably spend a lot of time working on customizing your mech. If I’m going to spend half an hour really individualizing my AC, I want to be able to see that in the game. The environments also suffer, but this is more due to a lack of spice. They’re too bland. Everywhere you fight is a desert or a barren wasteland or the middle of an ocean. Outside of some of the Arms Forts missions, all the environments are empty. It almost feels like you’re fighting in a giant room. It would have been much better to see some trees or bombed out ruins. Just something that gives the environments some personality. Some areas feature mountains or cliffs, but these are designed to be like walls. Usually they form a path that you have to follow so they don’t feel natural. Also on the visual side, there tends to be some slowdown. The framerate can drop when there is a lot of smoke and explosions happening all at once, especially if it’s right in your face.

Outside of the single player, a cool new set of additions are the multiplayer modes. Just about every mission has Partnerships which is basically online cooperative play. There were a few one-on-one specific missions but a high percentage of the missions allowed for co-op. When playing two player missions all rewards are split down the middle. There is also the more standard online competitive multiplayer which returns. Here you’ll find usual game modes like free-for-all and team deathmatch.

The hardest thing about judging a game like Armored Core is whether or not you’re a fan of the series. I know this might sound like a ridiculously obvious statement, but there are some games that change so little from sequel to sequel that if you weren’t a fan before, you probably won’t change your mind and that’s pretty much the case here. The good new of course is that if you are a fan, what you’d expect to find is here and it’s here in spades. There’s a ton of customizable parts and plenty of fast paced, crazy action. Unfortunately, the missions are often too similar and the look and detail of the mission environments are really underwhelming.

Overall Score: 6/10