Summary ACFF International Review

Pros:
everything except the cons, really

Cons:
the complete and total lack of missions
repetitive music
the loading times are long in some parts of the game

Reviewer's Comments

This review is for the Japanese International version of the game.


Graphics:
The quality of everything that appears onscreen, including the background, characters, objects, and movements.
My Score: Stunning
My Comment: Some slight slowdown can be seen when the action gets high, but that's how it's always been in Armored Core games so it comes as no suprise and I will not lower the score because of it.
It actually looks better than it's PlayStation 2 counterparts with better shadows and more different kinds of blur effects (most blur effects are only seen in replays though because they would make the game hard to play otherwise), simply amazing!
It should however be noted that the graphics only have to show small arenas with just the player and one enemy on screen and not large mission levels filled with enemies like the other Armored Core games.

Sound:
The background music, sound effects, character voices, and other audio cues.
My Score: Professional
My Comment: Everything sounds as good as it's PlayStation 2 counterparts quality wise but the repetitive music lowers the score one step, yes, the repetitiveness of some of the music featured in the menues is bad enough to lower the score a whole step all on it's own!

Control:
The accuracy and responsiveness of the controls.
My Score: Pinpoint
My Comment: I was worried that because of the lacking amout of buttons on PlayStation Portable compared to the PlayStation Dual Shock controller there would be issues with how the controls worked, thankfully there were no issues at all because of the automatic adjustments of looking up/looking down and thus no functions were left out, also ACFFI plays better than any other PSP game I've played so far, it's almost as good as using an actual Dual Shock controller. Well done, FromSoftware!
Also the controls are customizable like in all other Armored Core games, just so you know.

Gameplay:
The action and excitement conveyed by the game.
My Score: Boring
My Comment: As fun as it is to play Armored Core games the complete lack of missions sadly makes the game plain boring after a while. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game but the main part is severely lacking in all ways but one, the Arena matches. But an Arena mode alone is just not good enough to make good long lasting gameplay, with it's small and limited arena levels compared to big and varied mission levels you'll quickly grow tired of fighting one enemy AC over and over no matter how diverse the AC's themselves are. But like I said, don't get me wrong, the gameplay itself when piloting your AC is still amazing though the objective gets repetitive and boring.
Also all parts are unlocked to use and tune for free by default, there's no Shop, no Credits and no unlockable parts in this game, and you can have five different ACs at the same time in your garage instead of the normal three.

Replay:
Describes the lifespan and durability of the game over time.
My Score: Addictive
My Comment: Like I mentioned in my comment on the gameplay, the actual gameplay part gets boring very fast, but thankfully this is an Armored Core game so all hope is not lost, there is still other things you can and will come back to even when you're not fighting in the Arena anymore.
For one thing building the ACs can be just as rewarding as actually playing with them, sometimes even more rewarding.
For another thing there's the Emblem editor where you can spend a lot of time drawing emblems either for your ACs or just for plain fun. They may be limited to 128x128 pixels but that's still enough to make some cool drawings, and it's fairly easy to use too.
Then there's the multiplayer mode for when you want to play against a friend (or foe), but that requires that both of you first have one separate PSP each and then also once separate copy of the game each (I do not know if you can play against others if they are using different versions of the game.).

Overall:
How the game ranks when compared to other titles.
My Score: A Must Have
My Comment: Even with the lack of missions it ranks well compared to the other Armored Core games because this is the only portable one there is and thus gains a strong edge over the rest dispite it's one major flaw.
It is by no doubt a must have for all Armored Core fans, but for all those who have stayed away from the series' other 10+ titles this one will not win you over.
A word of advice, make sure you get the International version of the game, otherwise you won't be able to pilot the AC manually and you'll be limited to using the AI mode where you "program" the AC to battle for you while you just sit back and watch.
The Extreme Battle version may also include manual controls, I have read online that it does, but I have not played it myself so I have no way of knowing if it's true and can thus not say for sure that it does.


I would like to add that I love Armored Core and have been a fan of the series ever since the first Armored Core came out on PlayStation back in 1997 (the first game is still my favorite by the way), and to have a portable Armored Core game - for me personally - is just awesome and I absolutely love it dispite it's lack of missions.