Armored Core VI Review

 Allmind exists for all mercenaries

Fromsoftwares first 100% non souls since uh... Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village DX... You know what lets just say first Armored Core in 10 years. ACVI sees a return to the Gundam esque mecha battling that made the devs a household name before the Dark Souls boom. Not that I played any, at most a few minutes of AC4. This is actually my entry point for the series, and while I played similar games like Daemon X Machina, I will avoid comparisons.

In the simplest terms, ACVI is a mission based mecha action game. Controlling a custom built robot as you dash around, watching your ammo and remaining health while blowing up foes challenging and insignificant. It controls like a dream, giving your mech a weight relative to it's equipment load that makes decisions on build and playstyle quiet engaging. It's a game where you can spend just as long in the mech assembly screen as in the action and that's by no means a bad thing. Especially on the first playthrough where there's clearly intent to push you to redo your build to counter specific bosses and challenges.

Of the missions themselves, there's a lot to like. It makes smart use of it's maps and never overuses them where a new one would be more impactful. The boss fights, while absolutely a challenge on par with anything Souls, are a highlight and pit you either against enemy ACs who are literally built the same as you, same rules and all, or against alternative machines with their own strengths and weaknesses. The story carries it all with an engaging, if relatively minimal, tale about a mysterious energy source and the various powers at play attempting to see themselves in control of things on Rubicon.

Honestly, Armored Core VI is a very easy game to recommend. The main appeal is a simple one, do you like Mecha anime? Do you mind a challenging game? If the answer to both of those is yes, you should be playing this yesterday. The movement alone is god-tier and when you add in all the smaller details, little animations or movements to make it really feel like an anime mecha. There's no better game to live out your favourite Gundam fantasies. 

If you're not into mecha, I would look toward arcadey mission based games like Ace Combat or maybe even the more weighty spectacle fighters like Devil May Cry 3 or Remnant From the Ashes. It's not quite as freeform in it's combat as say, Bayonetta, but it's absolute an action shooter experience with a heavy focus on movement and dodging.

Or heck, just go look up a quick and dirty mission on youtube. It's very much a game that looks how it plays. Always nice when that works out this well.

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