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[Mmmkay]

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/764/764933p1.html

If you think all mech games involve painstakingly building your machine from the ground up to create the most dominant, slow moving, walking tank around, then you're only half right. While FromSoftware's latest mech game stays true to its roots with a huge number of customization options, the gameplay itself is fast and furious bringing a welcome sense of mechanized action to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Snail-like death machines be damned, Steel Battalion this is not.

...

The graphics in Armored Core 4 blend together some flashy lighting and great looking machines with some rather drab environments. Not every locale is dull, in fact a good number of the indoor environments look great, but many of the outdoor arenas are lacking detail and wind up looking empty. Still, the mechs themselves have some snazzy designs and the lighting effects that come from exploding rockets and futuristic lasers provide their fair share of wow moments. Each battlefield appears open, but has an outlined battle area which only shows up on your radar unless you cross it. The levels have a small amount of destructibility. Potholes appear where some explosions occur marring the landscape, some buildings can be destroyed (though not all), and various other structures and objects can be broken to be bits. While we only saw the PS3 version in motion, we were assured that the Xbox 360 build would look identical.

Although we haven't had the chance to try out the online game, we were able to get answers on a few details regarding how it will play. Like the graphics, the online modes won't differ between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. Both will feature deathmatch and team deathmatch with up to 8 players along with the option to trade parts with others you meet.

The only real difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, according to the producers, will be the presence of voice chat on the Xbox 360 version. PS3 owners, it appears, will be silenced. You'll be able to take any mech you have designed with all of the parts you unlock in the offline game into the online arena. Do not expect to dominate the online world before investing a significant amount of time building up your machine -- you have been warned.

The preview kinda sucks since it would have been nice to know if there were any changes during localization. I would like to have heard if the framerate was tidied up too, given the complaints about the Japanese version. Ah well, they've also got a bunch of screenshots and HD movies. (Since their hands on mentions only seeing the PS3 version I assume, despite their URLs, these are PS3 media)

 

[DenogginizerOS]

No voice chat for PS3 version is disappointing. The Chromehounds crew will likely guarantee that I play the X360 version.

 

[SleazyC]

Not sure which version I will buy personally. I think I'll wait for reviews to see if either runs better then the other.

 

[Diablohead]

360 for me since I have no ps3, i'm glad to hear team dm is there since I keep reading people saying "deathmatch only" so I was never sure.

 

[TTP]

It's depressing seeing how good this game looks in stills and how bad it is in action. I really tried to like it (the JPN version) but the frame rate was just too ****ed up for me to accept it. All you need is a couple of explosions (animated sprites no less) for the frame rate to collapse.

Oh, and the controls are meh and the auto targeting stupid.

Just my opinion. Bebpo/DCharlie dont kill me please

 

[Lyte Edge]

I sold my copy of the Japanese version off a little while back, too. I'm waiting to see how the U.S. version turns out, although I may just get the 360 version instead now.

 

[SonnyBoy]

No voice chat for PS3 version is disappointing. The Chromehounds crew will likely guarantee that I play the X360 version.

I'm definitely purchasing this game.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

No voice chat for PS3 version is disappointing. The Chromehounds crew will likely guarantee that I play the X360 version.

AW YEAH!!!!

(Just don't nobody switch to Sol Kar before I get there.)

 

[Mana Knight]

My interest in the game has went up. I loved Armored Core forever, but kind of stopped playing after the 2nd on PS2. I liked the way Cromehounds controller, but the single player was horrible and it was too slow. AC4 doesn't look to have those problems, so I'll buy it for PS3. I don't care about voicechat because I'm not playing this game online anyway (I don't care for online mech battles. I prefer offline).

 

[Kingpen]

Think I will just stick with Chromehounds, even if it is the old stick compared to the new....

Can't really get motivated to play this whole 'flying robots with swords and arms/hands that go mach 10 and the match is over after 2 minutes'.

I like the more tactical style and grounded gameplay of Chromehounds better....

 

[KTallguy]

This game is really fricking awesome. I really like the whole dystopian feel of the levels, the very sterile and no nonsense presentation, it really adds up to an interesting feeling when playing the game, like you're part of some f-ed up futuristic bombed out world. Some of the levels are really beautiful!

AC4 also has really awesome customization options. There's so much complicated jargon in the customization that it would turn a lot of people off, if they didn't have that auto mode when you didn't feel like mucking around with it . The ability to quickly design and paint your AC really floored me. I was amazed how fast I was able to get my AC looking cool.

The game controls really well too. It does have a learning curve, but once you hit that sweet spot, it's pretty easy to dodge incoming missiles and fire a silo back. There's some really awesome 1 on 1 sequences that challenged me in the beginning, but it felt great to finally blow the sob up

I'm disappointed about voice chat. Sony needs to give better tools to devs... either that or standardize it.

In summary, buying this day 1!

 

[baka kitsune]

No voice chat makes me sad. I only own a PS3 and I was thinking this game would support chat like Resistance does. ;__;

Still buying this game either way.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

...the gameplay itself is fast and furious bringing a welcome sense of mechanized action to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Snail-like death machines be damned, Steel Battalion this is not.

This is high comedy considering the speed of AC has always been a bitching point for game journalists. I never thought I'd see the day AC would be referred to as "fast and furious" outside of knowledgeable AC circles; but I guess it helps that Microsoft and company have aggressively marketed game featuring slow piles of shit robots for the past couple of years. :lol

Of course it would be like upgrading from a tricycle to a Ferrari.