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Armored Core: Nine Breaker PS2 Review - custom
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What is Armored Core: Nine Breaker? For those of you aren’t familiar with the Armored Core series, it has traditionally been known for its in-depth customization and elevated combats. Every robot has over 400 customizable parts, ranging from their core structure, weapon load out, and even exterior appearance. Not only can the basic colors of the mech warrior be adjusted, but the gamer can also create custom emblems and designs to give their combatants a fresh new look. In addition, the battle system is also commonly known due to the boost ability, allowing the bots to become airborne for short periods of time, adding a whole new dimension to battle. Nine Breaker is yet another addition to the Armored Core series, and it surely keeps the legacy ongoing. Technical Standpoint Nine Breaker has to be one of the more technically satisfying games for several reasons. First of all, the game has a strong usage of lighting effects and environmental awareness, so a battle in a cave feels nothing like firing missiles in a lush forest arena. The physics system has been implemented nicely, making the heavier robots feel clunky, while the lighter robots feel quite agile. The PS2’s hardware is constantly being pushed to the limit, so there are hardly any rough edges or frame rate drops to speak of. This title supports up to 4 gamers via a network adaptor, and even has support for a USB mouse to be used if you aren’t the biggest fan of the PS2 controller. Simply put, Nine Breaker has some impressive features that make the replay value longer lasting. Visual Aspect Visually speaking, Nine Breaker isn’t exactly perfect,
but it’s pretty darn close. The customizable mech
warriors have every adjustable part defined meticulously;
making such changes effect both performance and appearance.
All of the different weapons carry their own blasphemous
attributes, from the rapid bursting of a small machine gun
to the supernova-like rocket explosion. The smoked projectile
trails followed by an inferno of destruction are always
top notch, and of course the steady frame rates make the
special effects even more heartfelt. The environments are
also beautiful; hundreds of trees, walls, reflective pools,
and other topography changes all contribute to an added
sense for environment interactivity. Amidst the heat of
battle as your robot is blasting his turbo in attempt to
look for cover to remain protected from cruising missiles,
one can’t help but stop and admire the surroundings.
Audio Experience Nine Breaker doesn’t consist of the typical run of the mill sound effects, but instead it’s obvious that the developers had to put in some extra work here. The bots make memorable noises from the clanking of their feet against the ground to the thud of their head as you overboost into a wall. The sound effects correctly represent the weapon types, so smaller projectiles sound light and will clink against hard armor, while heavy missiles will leave your ears with something to rejoice about. The sound effects are on the ball for the most part, but unfortunately the soundtrack could use some tweaking. For instance, it’s very possible to spend hours at a time tweaking your Armored Cores, or AC’s as they are commonly referred to, but unfortunately the background music is nothing more than a looping techno-type beat that gets very annoying very quickly. Aside from this and a few other weak sound effects, the overall audio performance is still commendable. Let’s Get ready to Rumble! First and foremost, it is essential to become familiarized with the customization aspects of Nine Breaker if you plan on making it past the first few training levels. Aside form the pure aesthetic benefits, customizations also offer enhancements for armor points (health), weight, and energy drain. Building different types of bots will certainly come with a set of strengths and weaknesses. Heavier forces will move slower, but will be able to carry heavier weapons that can deal more damage. Likewise, lighter forces will generally have less health and won’t be able to carry some of the heavier weapons, but they will be able to move a lot faster and conserver boost energy better, making dodging missiles a lot easier. The game allows you to keep a garage of 3 AC characters so you won’t have to adjust customizations depending on the different types of battles. For the most part, it makes sense to have one mech prepared for training missions, one for heavy artillery battles, and one that can perform swift maneuvers. Aside from the basic customizations involving parts such as the head, core, and weapon packs, there are also finer parts of your arsenal that can be tuned. Depending on the type of setup, you will have at least 15 slots that can be filled with special attributes that will give you advantages such as faster missile lock-on capabilities and increased armor. There is a statistical menu that displays each robot’s strengths and weaknesses in a diagram to show which areas need improvement. To top off the customization area, you can design custom emblems using the in-game paint program or select from a set of default designs to choose from. In addition, every color imaginable can also be painted on to your mech, allowing for a seemingly endless amount of unique possibilities. Once you construct a basic mech warrior, it is finally time to being training. The training mode consists of all of the missions, while the single player campaign is strictly arena battling. The training grounds are divided into 3 basic categories: Attack, Defense, and Agility. These categories are then divided into sub-categories that make up at least 150 entirely different missions. Bronze, silver, and gold statuses can be earned depending on how efficiently each mission is completed, and doing well can unlock new weapons and armor features. The first of the training missions will allow the gamer to become familiarized with the control scheme, while the later missions will focus more on honing some of the more important battle skills, such as controlling the boost properly. Even the most skilled players will still have to assemble an elite warrior if they plan on obtaining all gold medals, and even some of the concluding missions don’t have much room for mistake for the bronze. Either way, the AC boot camp is the perfect place for newcomers to gain a strong feel for Nine Breaker, while the more experienced gamers can test out different setups and maybe learn a thing or two.
Once the customization and training processes are done with, the true core of Nine Breaker is finally ready for action. All of the progress in the single player campaign will be made in the Arena mode in either exhibition or ranked matches. The exhibition matches are basic gambling matches, where you will either win or lose money depending on the outcome of the battle. The exhibition matches can also earn you some new upgradeable parts to help you on your journey, but in order to complete the game you must achieve the top rank by completing sanctioned matches. On the other hand, these ranked matches won’t make any new parts available, but instead they will further your progress throughout the game. No matter what type of battle you select, the gameplay still flows out in the same manner. Every confrontation is going to be filled with intense action and generally they don’t last very long, but if each member is smart enough to use cover and dodging techniques some battles can last for several minutes. Controlling the AC feels just like any other third person control setup, except for the flying feature of course. Each robot has an auto-lock on feature that will snap on to enemies near the reticule. Although it does tend to get confused when several targets are on the screen making it nearly impossible to sustain a definite lock-on as the AI is easily distracted. The greatest part about the hardcore robot warfare is clearly their ability to fly. Getting a good feel for the flying mechanism can be a bit tricky at the start though because the boost can be used both to slide and to slide across the ground at fast speeds. Only be releasing the left analog stick will the robot be able to become airborne, and at this point it will be able to swerve in all directions. The ground boost is really only useful if you need to run away from the battle zone to catch your breath because being in air is much more effective at tricking incoming missiles to missing their mark. In time, everyone can develop a unique battle style depending on how they have customized and fine tuned their character, making Nine Breaker enjoyable no matter how many times you’ve played it.
The Future of Armored Core: Nine Breaker Nine Breaker is certainly a worthy addition to the Armored Core series even though it doesn’t offer a whole lot in terms of innovations. The seemingly infinite customization aspects and battle styles is enough to keep the most of avid of gamers content with the single player campaign for hours on end. In addition, the Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Leader modes are all basic yet entertaining multiplayer modes that are surely a great addition to the game. Even though Nine Breaker won’t go down in the books as a game that redefined the Armored Core series, it is still a great addition that offers a whole load of new challenges that newcomers and experienced players alike will be able to enjoy.
Conclusion In conclusion, Armored Core: Nine Breaker is a satisfactory
addition to the hit series. Whether you’re drawn in
by the customizable features or the robot warfare, Nine
Breaker is sure to touch the hearts of PS2 owners everywhere.
If you’ve never played an Armored Core game than you
must try out Nine Breaker, and although it isn’t entirely
innovative, gamers familiar with this genre should still
check it out simply because it’s filled with loads
of new features while still consisting of the core gameplay
that we’ve all grown to love.
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