Support NeoGAF

[Bebpo]

Armored Core 4 illustrated walkthrough of an early chapter 2 mission!

Your mission is to eliminate a giant laser beam thingy that's not being friendly from the inside.

Your starting view. You see blinding sunlight and air blur from dropping down and you're like "wtf is going on!?.

Then you look down and go "oh shit the giant laser canon is below me and little sattelite lasers on the outside are shooting at me!" (note I had to pause obviously to take this since I can't really look down and take a picture with 2 hands at the same time. Pausing the game darkens the picture/colors).

I land on the top of the canon and take in my view.

I look down at the huuuuge canon I'm going to be jumping down.

The bottom.

I head through one of the tunnels and come out to a room filled with sunlight coming in through glass ceilings. Meanwhile a bunch of enemies are sliding around with sparks shooting out of their feet as they try to kill me. I stand and take a picture while losing life.

Retreating I go through another chamber and shoot out the glass cielings to reveal dozens of helicopters (all destroyable) flying around outside. The outside has a grainy military video-cam filter to it. The helis start shooting me. (the bar is the refresh rate on my tv >_<)

Standing still and taking pictures during levels is not such a great idea. I am now dead ;_;

 

[g23]

is it out? Hows it control?

 

[Aeon712]

Look pretty, any chance of getting a gameplay vid? Wanna see if it really plays as well as the trailers make it out to be don't want another Gundam on my hands.

 

[Bebpo]

Look pretty, any chance of getting a gameplay vid? Wanna see if it really plays as well as the trailers make it out to be don't want another Gundam on my hands.

It plays as well as the trailers. It plays like AC but with ZoE speed and better graphics + 8 player online (which I haven't tried).

Control is very smooth and fast and nice. Nothing like the stiff/slow/horrible Gundam.

I could do a vid this weekend but it would be 480i since that's all I can capture at. Also I don't think I can capture 60fps which the game is sorta (it fluctuates a lot and drops a ton but at least I haven't seen screen tearing yet).

 

[mr_nothin]

OMG TAKE MORE PICTURES AND VIDEOS TOO
I WANT THIS GAME NOW

Spoiler

I need a ZOE fix

 

[Fun Factor]

more.... MORE

 

[CountZeroInt]

God the colors on that mech make me want a next gen Virtual On

Still a Sega fanboy at heart

 

[Tiktaalik]

I want this game.

 

[rollingstart]

gets some video going!

im downloading some HD video from gamevideos that is over a gig, but I think its a gameplay video of AC4, ill take any info or anything from this game.

 

[Kintaro]

I want this. My inner Armored Core whore demands it!

 

[EGM92]

Bebpo thanks for the shots


Now do you enjoy being a brightly colored mech for the hell of it or do you like giving the enemy a nice bright mech that stands out to shoot at?

 

[Bebpo]

Ok, here are some pros & cons

Pros:
+Game looks really good. The levels use all sorts of filters like in those early shots to give them a cool artsy look. Some of the effects are great like the heat distortion in the desert. Animation is very good.
+Music is good.
+Game controls very nicely.
+Missions are nice and quick.
+Game is fun when you aren't dying horribly
+Lots of weapons/parts/other items to buy.
+Online is quick and easy to get working. I was in a 4 on 4 game in under 30 secs.
+You can take your 1p mech online
+When you beat certain missions you get "blueprints for cool mechs" but to make them you have to already have the parts or have enough money to make them.

Cons:
-Difficulty ramps up really fast and gets to the point where each stage is "I'm going to snap my ****ing controller in half".
-Because of this you're forced to keep replaying older levels for money to buy parts.
-You never get parts from beating levels so you have to BUY everything at HIGH prices.
-Parts are really expensive and you don't get much money per mission.
-You can't earn money in online for your 1p game.
-When you die (which happens over and over again) there is no "retry" option. So you have to go back to the mission screen, choose the mission, and load it again just to die 30 secs later after 1 min+ of loading. VERY annoying.
-With so many enemies at once, it's hard to lock onto a single one (aka if it's mission objective or laser that kills you in 1 hit)
-You can't stay locked onto enemies all that well (I hear this is an AC general flaw, not AC4 specific)
-Online is cute, but it's no Chromehounds because all it is, is short 1-5 min burts of action in a small arena. Shoot, dodge, shoot, shoot, game ends. No longterm goals, no interesting playtypes. Maybe it's fun to take your custom mech against a friend or two, but AC4 is a single player game with multiplayer tacked on.
-Did I mention you die A LOT?


Nice game, but as someone who hasn't played AC since AC1 the difficulty level is not-fun difficult by the 3rd chapter. I hear this is possibly because when the game started and you got to pick from ~10 different types of frames I picked the small and mobile one that was well-rounded in stats so my armor sucks. I may need to restart the game with a heavy mech and see if maybe it's not so goddamn annoyingly difficult. I actually wouldn't mind the difficulty since the stages are so short if I could just quickly retry...but I can't and seeing NOW LOADING for a min every 1-2 mins makes you really angry. From what I hear this is basically how AC is, so AC fans should be excited as its AC + high-speed + great graphics. People who never got into AC and it's "you gotta customize like crazy or you'll die!" gameplay, are probably just going to get pissed off. From Software needs to get ACE3 out ASAP on this engine. ACE is the perfect mech game for non-hardcore mech lovers as you don't customize much (just level up existing parts) and you just get lots of money each mission and use them to buy totally unique mechs. Chromehounds is for the slow sim-lovers, AC is for the fast sim-lovers, ACE is for everyone else. Hopefully that's their next mech game for summer/fall 2007.


And yes I like my mechs brightly colored

 

[Crackerman16]

Umm... this is out in Japan already??
When is it coming out in NA?

 

[Bebpo]

Umm... this is out in Japan already??
When is it coming out in NA?

March for PS3/X360.

 

[Crackerman16]

March for PS3/X360.

Cool beans. Thanks for the info and SSs (screenies were a bit blurry, but w/e).

 

[Bebpo]

Oh and one thing that's nice about PS3 file sharing is if I'm at the breaking point (of breaking the game not myself), I can just get a Japanese save file with a billion dollars and then buy lots of parts and make lots of cool make to take on the various levels AC is not my forte and I'll have no problem taking the easy way out here!

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

At least it looks slightly better than Gundam, which isn't saying much. Hopefully for its sake it's fun.

 

[Crackerman16]

At least it looks slightly better than Gundam, which isn't saying much. Hopefully for its sake it's fun.

360 troll confirmed! jk

 

[Bebpo]

At least it looks slightly better than Gundam, which isn't saying much. Hopefully for its sake it's fun.

It's coming to X360 day and date with PS3, you don't have to downplay the visuals


The game is very good looking in motion. Looks like Chromehounds with more detailed environments and effects/filters. Which makes sense since it's like Chromehounds engine v1.5

 

[Amir0x]

I heard there is terrible framerate issues though. Is this true?

 

[Crackerman16]

Japan almost always get the cool games first... ; ;

 

[Bebpo]

I heard there is terrible framerate issues though. Is this true?

No. I've only experienced one time when the framerate turned into EDF3 and that was when I blew up a huge train at the end of mission and the explosion put everything into slow motion.

Framerate fluctuates between 60-30 most of the time with drops below 30 sometimes if a lot is going on. Feels pretty smooth for the most part and the framerate has yet to bug me besides that one part I just mentioned. Heck, holding between 60-30 puts it at a better framerate than most next-gen games so far

 

[BlueTsunami]

Cool! Thanks Bepbo!

Hows the Aliasing and Textures and stuff? Can't really tell from the camera shots but the Mech looks nicely modeled and the game looks solid.

 

[Bebpo]

This level is in the desert at sunset and has the coolest wavy sahara desert effect I've ever seen in a game. Really awesome in motion.

Admiring the canyon view off a bridge...

...when holy shit! Mechs come jumping out of nowhere!

Cool! Thanks Bepbo!

Hows the Aliasing and Textures and stuff? Can't really tell from the camera shots but the Mech looks nicely modeled and the game looks solid.

There's some jaggies if you sit still, but in motion it doesn't look jaggy. Then again I don't think PGR3 looks jaggy in motion either. In fact, I can't think of a single next-gen game where the aliasing has bothered me in motion. At 480 sure it's annoying, but at 720p Aliasing isn't a big issue IMO.

Textures are good.

 

[RuGalz]

Framerate fluctuates between 60-30 most of the time with drops below 30 sometimes if a lot is going on. Feels pretty smooth for the most part and the framerate has yet to bug me besides that one part I just mentioned. Heck, holding between 60-30 puts it at a better framerate than most next-gen games so far

Ugh, why not lock at 30 if it's gonna dip below 60fps more than 10-15% of the time... -.-

 

[Crackerman16]

So Bebpo, are you going to eventually write a review for AC4? Or at least give it a rating or something?

 

[BlueTsunami]

There's some jaggies if you sit still, but in motion it doesn't look jaggy. Then again I don't think PGR3 looks jaggy in motion either. In fact, I can't think of a single next-gen game where the aliasing has bothered me in motion. At 480 sure it's annoying, but at 720p Aliasing isn't a big issue IMO.

Textures are good.

Awesome. One of the things that has me excited about this game is definitely the filtering effects. That sunset shot you took looks ****ing amazing.

 

[Bebpo]

So Bebpo, are you going to eventually write a review for AC4? Or at least give it a rating or something?

Nah, I don't know how much I'm really going to play it. I suck pretty badly at AC it seems and I think I'm going to hit a wall real soon where I just can't get any further.

Plus I'd rather play Lost Planet and MGO this weekend than be frustrated at AC4

 

[Crackerman16]

Nah, I don't know how much I'm really going to play it. I suck pretty badly at AC it seems and I think I'm going to hit a wall real soon where I just can't get any further.

Plus I'd rather play Lost Planet and MGO this weekend than be frustrated at AC4

Oh ok. I just want to know if it's "just another AC game" but with better graphics and crap or if it's somewhat a "next-gen" quality title worth buying. I liked some of the AC games but they came out with way too many of them, too fast.

 

[Yo Gotti]

Is it always so dark ??

All the videos and pics I've seen are dark and hazy looking ! Does this effect work well in game ?

I want this game to be great !!

 

[Sinatar]

The color scheme of your Mecha makes it look like the official engine of destruction of the McDonalds corp. :lol

 

[DCharlie]

guys guys guys....

... wait for the superior DC version (of this thread)

I will provide 'teh hatorz' some solace with my review of truth!

 

[Crackerman16]

guys guys guys....

... wait for the superior DC version (of this thread)

I will provide 'teh hatorz' some solace with my review of truth!

LMAO. Where is your "superior" version? Bebpo's got a step up on ya this time! =P

 

[g23]

The lighting is just too damn awesome, makes it look CG

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Awesome. One of the things that has me excited about this game is definitely the filtering effects. That sunset shot you took looks ****ing amazing.

The lighting is just too damn awesome, makes it look CG

what

 

[BlueTsunami]

what

?

 

[xaosslug]

It plays as well as the trailers. It plays like AC but with ZoE speed and better graphics + 8 player online (which I haven't tried).

Control is very smooth and fast and nice. Nothing like the stiff/slow/horrible Gundam.

I could do a vid this weekend but it would be 480i since that's all I can capture at. Also I don't think I can capture 60fps which the game is sorta (it fluctuates a lot and drops a ton but at least I haven't seen screen tearing yet).

HOLY SHIT!

 

[nextwish]

Some more screenshots, taken at the recent Asia Game Show 2006 in Hong Kong. Lot's of playable booths with AC4

 

[XSamu]

OMG I just SOOOO want this game
360 release is when? (in europe)

 

[ChryZ]

Multiplayer or 8P online impressions would be most welcome!

 

[Morbid Angel]

I've never played AC before..which PS2 game was the best?

 

[neojubei]

It plays as well as the trailers. It plays like AC but with ZoE speed and better graphics + 8 player online (which I haven't tried).

Control is very smooth and fast and nice. Nothing like the stiff/slow/horrible Gundam.

I could do a vid this weekend but it would be 480i since that's all I can capture at. Also I don't think I can capture 60fps which the game is sorta (it fluctuates a lot and drops a ton but at least I haven't seen screen tearing yet).

like ZOE speed with better graphics. come to papa! Thank you i will order this game TODAY

 

[Dalauz]

I've never played AC before..which PS2 game was the best?

Nexus and Last Raven.
Nine Breaker is Skill boost mission pack (cool tho)

 

[drohne]

Online is cute, but it's no Chromehounds because all it is, is short 1-5 min burts of action in a small arena. Shoot, dodge, shoot, shoot, game ends. No longterm goals, no interesting playtypes. Maybe it's fun to take your custom mech against a friend or two, but AC4 is a single player game with multiplayer tacked on.

i'm still interested, in any case -- i always wanted to try multiplayer arena stuff in the older armored cores, and never had the opportunity.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

is the framerate as bad as ppl say?

 

[acousticvan]

What version of AM4 is it? is it for the PS3 or 360?

 

[Matix]

Kinda disappointed with the lacking Online-Play capabilities, but maybe it will be more fleshed out on the 360 (doubt it though).

Regardless though, I'm still looking forward to checking this out.

 

[Lyte Edge]

is the framerate as bad as ppl say?

Nope, seems pretty good so far. The game is fast and looks better than some initial impressions led me to believe. I'm not the best judge of this in some games, but it also appears to me that AC4 is running at 60fps (with the obvious drops). Seems like a good game to me...control is solid, lots of customization...I'm looking forward to seeing what can be done with everything.

I'd play more, but frankly I'm more into Lost Planet at the moment.

 

[dark10x]

Wow, that looks so much better than I had thought. DCharlie's shots were awful, and considered how awesome his shots typically are, I was surprised. The environments seem really nice and detailed and the filters sound awesome.

It's odd that they would allow for so much slowdown, but that's kinda how AC2 was (60 fps with heavy slowdown). One thing about that, do they drop frames (gameplay speed remains the same) or do they draw each one regardless of whether the engine is struggling (resulting in slow motion gameplay)?

Still, it's a shame they did not include an installation option. The loading issues and lack of retry completely kill my interest. I will not touch the game if that is true. Retry may not even have helped. PGR3 has a retry option, but it requires a full minute reload if you use it.

 

[Philthy]

A bit better sounding than what I've been reading elsewhere. I've only seen bad comments on the game until now.

I was hoping it would be a good addition to Chromehounds, with a better map and such, but it sounds like they didn't bother? How is the storyline for single player then?

Edit: And what the hell, every person who gives impressions seems to be playing Lost Planet as well.