Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is about to come out, but what are the other games in the Armored Core series? Here are the best Armored Core games you can play to see what the games are all about.
The Armored Core Series
If you thought that FromSoftware made nothing else than Souls-like games, then you’d be surprised to know that the famous game company has had another flagship title with multiple titles made up until the early 2010s. Armored Core is a decades-old video game franchise that revolves around fighting with mechs called "Armored Cores." Typically, the games are set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, and you are a mercenary who fights for the highest bidder.
As a merc, your only concern is to make your clients happy. Destroy rebel soldiers, reconnoiter enemy bases, or even chase after trains or other precious cargo. If you manage to complete a mission, you earn money. What do you need money for? Generally, two things: maintenance costs (including ammunition), and new parts for your mech. Do your missions well, and you’ll be rolling in shiny new parts and taking out enemies with ease. Do poorly, and it's game over.
As of 2013, there have been 5 numbered Armored Core titles, with each of them having their own spin-offs, totaling to 16 games across the entire series. Armored Core 1 and 2 are set in their own continuity, while Armored Core 3, 4, and 5 are set in separate continuities. The sixth numbered entry in the series, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, is coming out on August 25, 2023, likely starting yet another continuity. So if you wanted to get yourself acquainted with the series before playing, we here at Game8 have put together a list of the best Armored Core games to play before Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon comes out.
The Best Armored Core Games
5. Armored Core (1997)
This title is where the series began. Armored Core for the PlayStation 1 is set in the distant future, where an event called the "Great Destruction" has forced humanity into living underground. Huge corporations fight for supremacy, and you’re a merc called a "Raven" who pilots a huge mech called an Armored Core. Do missions for these corporations, and you will be rewarded with money to upgrade your mech with.
Armored Core will give you a good glimpse into the core mechanics that remain for most of the series, especially with how you build your own mech. The game and how it controls will force you to be more deliberate with your actions. Since AC didn’t have dual analog stick support until well into its PS2 era, controlling the game meant using the D-pad, the left analog stick, and the shoulder buttons to move your bot and the camera, while the face buttons are for shooting, boosting, and switching weapons. If you hope to control your mech somewhat decently and survive, you’ll have to learn how to get used to these controls. This is why there are many memes and jokes about claw-style grips and the infamous "Armored Core grip."
Because of these complicated controls and the games’ unforgiving enemies, you’ll not only have to plan out how you’ll tackle a mission in advance, but configure your robot correctly. One mission may allow you to fire willy-nilly at targets like mechs, cars, and even trains. But another one will task you with destroying small robots in a factory full of generators that will explode if hit with a stray round. Another mission puts you up against another Armored Core piloted by a fellow Raven who will be much more skilled than the enemies you’ve been facing, putting to the test everything you’ve learned up to that point.
If you’re curious about the series’ roots and want to get a solid grasp of the games’ core concepts, you can’t go wrong with Armored Core 1.
4. Armored Core 4 (2006)
Up to Armored Core Nexus (a spin-off of AC3), the control scheme of the games doesn’t change all that much, even with the introduction of dual analog stick controls on the PlayStation 2. It wasn't until Armored Core 4 on the PS3, however, that the series shifted away from the tactical and deliberate gameplay of the previous games to a speedier and action-focused approach.
This installment is still set on Earth, with six massive corporations duking it out with advanced mechs called Armored Core NEXTs, piloted by Lynxes instead of Ravens. But what sets AC4 from the rest of the series was how it handled gameplay - your Armored Core NEXT controls much more easily, with twin analog stick support, allowing for faster, closer engagements. It also became easier to shoot targets, as this game did away with the lock-on target box used by previous AC titles.
However, older parts of the Armored Core fanbase decried AC4 as a "dumbing down" of the series’ core gameplay, since all you have to do is get more powerful parts and zoom across the battlefield while shooting everything that gets in your way. Undoubtedly, AC4 is much more accessible compared to ACs 1 to 3, so new players will have an easier time getting to grips with it. But, as you’ll soon find out, AC4’s biggest contribution to the series is that it laid down the groundwork for one of the better titles we have on this list.
3. Armored Core 3 (2002)
Armored Core 3 came out in the middle of the series’ run on the PlayStation 2. It features better graphics and mechanics than Armored Core 2, while still maintaining the controls of the original.
In this game, the surface of the Earth has been devastated by a brutal war, so humanity has resorted to living underground under the watchful eye of the Controller - an AI who handles all aspects of life in the underground human colonies called the "Layered." Under the Controller are the various corporations running specific industries within the Layered, and they want to hire you, a Raven under the employment of the mercenary firm Global Cortex, to do their dirty work.
One of the nice things about this game is how it handles missions. While you’re on specific missions, you could end up getting called in to take on another mission in a location nearby. This is a good opportunity to earn yourself some extra money while injecting some realism into the game. There are also the Orbital Cores - energy weapon turrets you can mount on the shoulder of your AC. These can replenish ammo, but will eat away at your booster energy if you fire them. You can also drop weapons on the fly now, which decreases your weight while increasing your maneuverability - a factor that may decide the outcome of a battle with another Armored Core.
If you want the best game that still uses AC’s old control scheme (or are just too used to it), AC3 is the peak Armored Core experience.
2. Armored Core: For Answer (2008)
What happens when you put together the speed and ease of control in Armored Core 4 with the tactical feel of the PS1 and PS2-era AC titles while having better missions, better enemies, and more parts for your mech? You get Armored Core: For Answer. Here, FromSoftware nailed both the storytelling and the enemy design, while taking full advantage of the speed afforded by 4.
Oh, did I already mention speed? Yeah, you’ll go very fast in this game.
For Answer is a spin-off set 5 years after the events of AC4, but you can play it without having any knowledge of the previous game. Most of humanity now lives in giant aerial fortresses called "Cradles," and the surviving companies of Earth have combined into the League of Ruling Companies. Still, war is waged on the surface of a polluted Earth between the League and a band of rebel Lynx pilots called ORCA. ORCA wants to bring the League down and help humanity leave Earth. Both factions have access to gigantic mechs called Arms Forts, which can be as large as entire cities. And yes, you will be tasked with taking some of these hulking fortresses down.
For Answer’s gameplay is nearly identical to Armored Core 4 except for a key aspect: speed. You will easily be going hundreds of kilometers per hour while going toe-to-toe with some of the series’ most formidable mechs, and dodging walls of missiles from the hulking Arms Forts. Each Arms Fort is its own mission since you’ll have to land on it and destroy its parts from within, one by one. You’ll have to figure out by yourself where to even begin with taking on these behemoths, just like how players would plan out taking on levels in older Armored Core titles.
For Answer is the best way to get into the series if you want to experience the breakneck speed and accessibility of the PS3-era Armored Core games. In fact, this would’ve been the best way to experience AC for a first-timer, if not for the top game on our list.
1. Armored Core Last Raven (2005)
Armored Core Last Raven is a spin-off of AC3, and the last of the PS2 era Armored Core titles. With improved controls and the game mechanics of Armored Core 3, I personally find AC Last Raven as the perfect compromise, making it the best game to play before checking out the rest of the Armored Core series. If there was only one AC game to play before playing Fires of Rubicon, it would have to be this one.
Fights are much more fast-paced, there are a lot of parts to buy right from the beginning (and you’ll have the money to buy them), there’s a testing ground where you can test out your AC designs, and there are multiple ways the story can go.
Last Raven is set after the events of AC3, Silent Line, and Nexus. Just like with For Answer, it’s fine to play Last Raven without any knowledge of the previous games. The remaining corporations of Earth have banded together into the Alliance, but they are opposed by a rogue Raven named Jack-O, who has formed his own rebel organization called Vertex. Vertex announces that they will commence their final attack against the Alliance in 24 hours, and you’re an independent Raven who happens to be looking for work.
It’s the controls that will really pull you in if you’re a newcomer. Life as an AC pilot has become much easier because you can use the right analog stick to move the camera just like in AC For Answer. No more struggling with the shoulder buttons to aim up and down; their functions now are to switch weapons, fire, and activate your AC’s booster. The classic lock-on box is still there, however, so you’ll still have to aim properly to hit enemies. For AC veterans, however, it can take getting used to after internalizing the old control style for so long.
The biggest appeal this game has for both newcomers and veterans is its multiple endings, which you achieve by doing the game’s missions in a specific order. Take only missions from Vertex, or only missions from the Alliance, or maybe just work with independent warlords - every decision can lead to one of six endings. This is by far the deepest branching narrative ever attempted in the series, which hasn’t been matched by titles since.
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