Armored Core: For Answer Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've seen the Armored Core series before and heard bad things about Armored Core 4, but I wanted to give Armored Core 4A a try anyway since it sounded like they made your mechs more configurable and the gameplay more fun. I can't compare to the previous ones since I haven't seen them, but my hunch is they succeeded.
The game is fun and supports a variety of play styles (missiles or guns? Heavy or light?) with a wide variety of parts. There are even quite a bit of blades for melee combat and some ECM and counter-ECM gear. Configuration is fun and a huge part of the game.
The game features many large enemies such as naval vessels and quite a few huge arms forts. These forts are gargantuan in size and really fun to fight since they give you something to unleash loads of ordinance on that doesn't dodge out of the way rapidly and can blow you away with its immense firepower.
Although this is apparently a staple of the series, I didn't like the fact that I was limited to firing only three weapons at a time (left, right, and shoulder mounted weapons). You can swap between your arm weapons and back mounted weapons, but you can't fire your arm and back weapons simultaneously. This made me feel that perhaps the people who designed these awesome robots never thought of the idea that someone might want to actually fire everything.
I guess my last mech game was MechWarrior so I'm spoiled that way. Another staple of the MechWarrior series missing in Armored Core is the first person cockpit view. It seems like it'd be very easy to add (just move the camera forward a bit and hide your mech. Maybe add a crosshair), but you're limited to a third person view.
The parts have reams and reams of statistics associated with them, so designing a mech is not exactly simple, but this added to the richness of the game for me. I would have liked to have more money to spend early on so I'd have a little more variety in the parts I could stick on my mech when going up against a tricky mission.
Bottom line: Good game, lets you blow stuff up, supports a variety of styles of play, and seems to be an improvement from what I've seen of the series. I recommend this if you're into mechs or things that go boom.

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Massive development and aerial pollution have been harming the planet. People recognize how little time is left until the end of the world. Thanks to their massive amount of military strength, The League corporations are in control of the planet's infrastructure and their people are living in the air to avoid the contamination. The ORCA, forced to live on the surface of the polluted planet, organized the resistance and have amassed a formidable arsenal. As a mercenary armed with cutting edge military robot technology, choose your side and defeat the other factions by taking on GIANT Mechanical weapons.

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Vanquish Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let me get right down to it, there is a lot more to Vanquish if gamers actually take the time and give it a fair chance and see it for what it truly is...A huge, daring leap in this genre of gaming; which has succeeded beyond my expectations.
In this Call Of Duty and Halo obsessed multiplayer age of gaming, a lot of stuff is starting to get really dull when it comes to the shooter genre. All the multiplayer obsessed gamers have forgotten where games originated from. Games used to be about a great SINGLE PLAYER experience where you could sit back and enjoy everything without being cursed at and being called a "noob" when you mess up.
Some people are hating on this game because it has no multiplayer. Just because a game is a shooter does not mean it needs multiplayer to be successful at providing a stellar gaming experience. I look at this game and praise the creators for going outside the "standard" for modern day shooters. I also compare this game to titles such as Devil May Cry, Ikaruga, or any type of score keeping game. It encourages the (determined) gamers out there to replay the campaign over and over again to challenge themselves and see how great they can be and achieve the highest scores. If you have ever played Ikaruga (a top down space shooter) you will understand what I'm talking about. There are bullets flying everywhere, intricate level design, sharp graphics, a level of strategy involved, big badass bosses to kill, and knowing that you are going to die a few times (or a ton of times) to finally become proficient at winning.
Vanquish is not a toy that you play with once and toss aside. It is meant to be played again and again to fully appreciate its beauty. If you consider yourself a hardcore gamer looking for a great challenge and looking to return to the roots of gaming, you will agree with alot of the views I have on this excellent game. That being said, I will get to the main points on why Vanquish is a must play title.
STORY
If Vanquish has a flaw, it is the story. It is your typical good vs evil with some mediocre characters that you do not really connect to, but some of the stuff they say is quite funny or rather cliche depending on your view. The game knows it is over the top and doesn't take anything too seriously so it sort of makes sense. I could care less about a solid Triple A story so this flaw does not bother me at all. If you are going into Vanquish looking for a deep story; just go play Heavy Rain...Vanquish is an action junkie's game.
GRAPHICS/SOUND
WOW...this has got to be the prettiest game I have seen in 2010, everything is so crisp. Your character's suit has so much detail and moving parts I literally spent about 2 minutes just moving the camera around looking at every little detail. Environments look amazing too, there would be a lot to look at, but take your eyes off the action too long and you're dead. Your robot enemies all look superb. They move how you would expect robots to move, just picture one of the latest Transformer movies and that will tell you exactly how detailed they are; ranging from the smallest to the biggest of the robots they are all great. Your enemies look even better when they are being blown up, explosions are fantastic and the larger enemies' explosions are like the 4th of July; all kinds of colors and sparks fly in the air and slowly dim to nothingness, leaving only a tattered broken shell of what they were. If you love big explosions and bursting gunfire you will love Vanquish, every sound is crisp and never sounds out of place.
GAMEPLAY- Most important part of a game to me.
This game is not about hiding behind cover and taking pot shots at your foes. Cover is best used for seconds at a time to either recover your health or plan your next attack. Stay behind cover too long and it will eventually be destroyed by a bigass robot. Slow motion or "bullet time" has always seemed cliche in games that just tack it on as an after thought, but it actually works in Vanquish. When everything is going so fast all the time, it is excellent to slow down time and line up those headshots with the sniper rifle or vault over some cover, slow down time in mid-air and blast a robot in the face with a shotgun, that is the definition of badass right there. When you are near death, time will slow automatically and this gives you a chance to retreat and let your health regenerate as well as give you time to think about your next move. Vanquish is all about speed and elegant flow of combat. The speed comes in the form of your suit's boosting ability. You can boost all over the battlefield for a limited amount of time before your suit overheats. This ability really gives a whole new dimension of gameplay and allows you to retreat quickly or go in guns a blazin'.
This game is actually not just a mindless shooter, but requires some strategy, if your going to boost up to that big robot and melee his ass across the battlefield, you better hope there are no other bots around because once you melee, your suit is overheated and you cannot boost away from danger. Some may say this is cheap, I say it just makes things more interesting and doesn't make you so powerful that every battle is easy. Weapons range from standard assault rifles, a shotgun, sniper rifle, missile launcher, grenades. There are a few unique weapons too, buy the game if you want to see them. You technically have one weapon, but here is the best part...It literally transforms into whatever weapon you select. Right before your eyes you see your shotgun morph into a sniper rifle or your assault rifle morph into a rocket launcher. The animations for these transformations are the coolest thing I have ever seen in a game and is great to see because I have grown tired of watching my character constantly swap guns off of his hip or back or see them appear from nowhere *cough* Grand Theft Auto...excuse me... Overall the gameplay is superb. And those looking for REPLAY VALUE: there are challenge missions that you unlock which are basically like Gears of War's Horde mode where waves of enemies come after you, the challenge is to kill them all as fast as you can with only one life...and they literally are a challenge because they get really hard on the later waves. Hardcore gamers rejoice!
CONTROLS
You can't have great gameplay without great controls and for the speed that Vanquish moves, you surprisingly never feel out of control. It may take a good half hour until you grasp the control scheme, but once you do, you will be killing robots left and right and feeling like a badass while you do it.
Vanquish is a title not to be missed, I really hope people do not overlook this game. This is a hardcore shooter/action fan's dream come true. Give Vanquish a thorough play-through and I dare you not to crack a smile when you feel like a god killing all those robots in such a stylish destructive force.
NEW: I bought the triple weapons pack for vanquish. The three new guns are awesome! They just add that much more to an already near-perfect third person shooter experience. The download is pretty cheap too.

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Directed by Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil series, VANQUISH is a sci-fi shooter that sees players take the role of Sam, a government agent kitted out with a futuristic battle suit. A versatile fighter with a huge arsenal of weaponry at his disposal, Sam also has an array of martial arts skills that he can use to take down his robot enemies.

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Transformers the Game Review

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(More customer reviews)Transformers The Game might seem like a perfect fusion of action-movie sci-fi fun with a Grand Theft Auto free-roam map style. Unfortunately, the game really needed a few more months in development before it could be called finished.
First, the good. The transformation sequences are really cool, as you leap from being a large fighting robot and land as a fast sports car. There are of course a number of different vehicles to choose from, depending on which character you are. You don't get to choose the character, though. You choose a side, good or bad, and then as the storyline progresses you play through as a variety of characters. The mission tree is very linear, and each stage has its own main character and goals.
The cut scenes are relatively short and help to move the story along. You can of course skip them if you want to launch right into destructive mayhem.
You would think with a "town" to explore that there'd be a lot to do and see. And in fact they do have the traditional hidden items for you to gather up from back alleys and such. However, the game is always driving you hard to go to the next spot and start the next mission. When you do, you have very short time limits to get a certain task done - destroy all of the ZZZZs, fight all of the YYYYs, move from point A to B. Sometimes the missions are a combination - move from A to B, destroy a bunch of ZZZZs, move from B to C, destroy a bunch of ZZZZs, and so on.
This is where the game gets extremely frustrating. Missions go on for long periods of time, with repetitive inane tasks, and if you get stuck on one part of the task, you go all the way back to the beginning. That wouldn't be bad if the game controls were responsive and the gameplay itself was sensical. However, the driving controls are just awful. Everyone I've shown the game to agrees on this. So you're trying to run blockades and get from A to B in .2 seconds, and the car slides a little - so you run into an immovable sign. Never mind that you were just pushing aside cop cars and military tanks as if they were fleas. This sign just won't let you past, the car won't reverse properly, and your time limit runs out. Restart.
There are all sorts of corners that you should be able to fit through, that your vehicle gets inexplicably stuck on. You have a great array of guns, but the enemies seem to need to get light poles thrown at them before their shields go down. Half the time you are pointed right at the enemy, but somehow the targetting reticule isn't quite there and your gigantic bus you're throwing misses them. Other times, you simply cannot target them - your robot locks into position either 90 degrees left or right of where you want to throw.
Once you finish a given mission, the "mission start spot" remains on the world map so that you can go back and replay it if you wish. However, many of these mission start spots are in key intersections in the street network - so when you're racing along trying to get to another mission, it jams you up and asks you to accept or decline the previous mission before you can continue. On the other hand, several times when you're trying to get to a green target spot, and clearly go through the green spot, the game doesn't recognize it until you back up, turn around and go into it again.
These issues are bad enough for adult gamers who often have built up great skill in driving and camera-work games but I imagine the target audience here is the younger set, the kids who actually play with Transformers. Parents who are buying this game for those younger kids are going to have to deal with the frustration of kids who repeatedly keep trying a mission, only to fail because - while cops have a street barricaded - traffic inexplicably keeps driving right through the barricade and getting in your way.
A great idea, and some of the cut scenes and transformations really are quite neat. However, gameplay needed to be tuned for another few months before it was ready for prime time.

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Transformers X360

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Armored Core 4 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Armored Core 4 - Circa 2007
(Special note: If you never played an Armored Core game before and don't care much for huge battling mechs with endless menus of customization drop this score down to a one star. Also if you have Xbox Live and want to try this game you can download a demo for it over XBL Marketplace)
GOOD:
- Armored Core finally comes Xbox ... well Xbox 360.
- Online Play with up to 8 Players online (at once) and be able to trade schematics (your mechs blue prints) online with other gamers.
- The Graphics in this title are pretty good and a step above the previous generation of Armored Core titles on PS2 with most levels having sweeping vistas and energy blades looking like glowing pillars of light. Although on a bit of a sour note the landscapes are as barren as ever with most levels taking place in abandoned cities and deserts.
- More of the same great Armored Core action that fans of the series have come to expect (sorry fans this title seems to not have Nine-Ball thought). Over all, like in every Armored Core title the missions are a mixed-bag with some pretty lame missions mixed in with the over the top missions (so you can never expect what will come next).
BAD:
- The Story is very confusing even to long time Armored Core fans. In this title companies own countries and well after that most people will quickly get lost as well as stop caring.
- The store-garage section of the game has been redesigned as well from previous Armored Core games. Now you build your mech from a pool of available parts and after equipping you have the option to buy said parts before leaving the store-garage menu and going back to the main game. In this way the Shop and garage is now one place, and the effect is that it's all pretty confusing for both Armored Core fans and people new to the franchise.
- The contrast in this game was odd sometimes, now for most missions you can see clearly, but in some missions it is so dark you can't see more then a few spaces in front of you, but in other levels it was so bright that your screen will look almost completely white.
IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- While in concept this game plays very much like Steel Battalion or Chromhounds the game play is much faster in pace.
- Tons of customization options for your mech, think of this game like the Grand Turismo of mech games. For those who have never have played this series before it can be pretty overwhelming.
- Paint your Mech (or any individual part/weapon) any color you want and have the option to have lots of different cameo styles too. On top of that you can even make your own patch/logo (using a bunch of clipart and such) and add this patch to any part of your mech as many times as you like (yes you can make your mech covered in logos and look like a Nascar if you wanted). Also, emblems or Patches that appeared in From Software's other mech game Chromehounds are also carried over into this game.
- Have up to five different mechs in your garage as well as schematics for lots of mech you have beaten in combat (during the single player game).
- With about 70 missions this Armored Core game is a bit shorted the previous ones, all missions have a normal and hard setting, unlock hard setting after you beaten the game.
- This game comes with two controller options and one custom option (setting up your own custom option is most likely your best bet).
- This Armored Core now has a totally redesigned HUD that has a minimalist look and takes up little space on your screen
- All mech come with an energy field called Primal Armor (or PA), which is a protective energy barrier that cuts down on damage taken, Over Boosting (think nitro's for mechs) or prolonged normal boosting can and will drain the effectiveness of this energy barrier (although it can and will recharge).
- The lockbox that is normally found in previous Armored Core games (which worked more like a gun sight) is now removed from the HUD all together; the game will now automatically try to lock on to enemies when in range. Holding down the lock button over an enemy (by default clicking in the Left analog) keeps the lock stuck on that target and makes a small window appear in the left corner of the screen with a zoomed up image of that target.
- You can now fight on water (hover just above the water line) unlike past AC games where you would fall straight to the bottom if contact were made with the water. If the player stops boosting, they will sink into the water but they are still able to get out to the surface if they boost. The only way to sink now is to let your mech go to far (underwater) and not boost out of the water. It should also be noted that in the games options you could set you mech to auto-boost over water so you don't have to hold the button and never have to worry about sinking.
- Boosting along the ground (slide boosting) no longer takes energy, now it will do the opposite and cause your energy bar to refill although more slowly the just standing still.
- Stabilizers have been added, these are parts that shift the balance of your mech (in a few areas), and they also serve to add an aesthetic looks to your mech.
GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Armored Core (PS1)
- Steel Battalion (Xbox)
- Chromhounds (360)
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This game is also on PS3
- Like I stated above if you have an Xbox-360 and Xbox Live (you don't even need a gold membership a sliver membership which is free will do) and want to try this game you can download the demo for it on Xbox Live Marketplace. It's a three missions long demo.
- The Moon Light Laser blade is in this title (but it's a hidden part)
- In this Xbox 360 version of the game you not only get achievements for beating chapters (6 in all) but also for beating certain mission on hard mode (usually the mission where you have to fight rival mechs) and for beating simulation packs which work as this games version of the Ranker Ladder that was found in previous Armored Core games.

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Armored Core 4 reinvigorates next-generation platforms with the classic action that defined mech games! This 10th anniversary edition of the hit games has an all-new storyline, new environments, and online capability.Engage Primal Armor the all-new defense shield that adjusts its strength according to specifi c battle conditions

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