Armored Core 4

Armored Core 4 is a video game for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the 12th installment of From Software's Armored Core series, despite being titled Armored Core 4. Armored Core 4 is set in the future, where a great war has left the nations of Earth devastated and their respective governments taken over by corporations. The game features a system for personalized customization of the player's mech and an online mode where players can battle each other over the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. The game is similar to the MechWarrior series and is the spiritual sibling to From Software's other mecha-based game, Chromehounds.

Plot

The world experienced a period of rapid population growth, which put a strain on global food and energy supplies. As populations increased, so did the gap between the wealthy and the poor, and so did the unrest within the population at large. Eventually, violence began to erupt and the governments quickly lost control of their populations as their cities were consumed by terrorism and anarchy. People began turning to corporations, complete with private armies, to keep them safe from the chaos.
In the midst of the meltdown, the world's six most powerful corporate conglomerates decided to do away with national governments and install their own brand of rule and law. They launched a full scale war on the nations of the world, which came to be known as the Nation Dismantlement War.
Using advanced Armored Core technology, the corporations decimated the forces of the nations and declared victory in less than a month. With the old nations of the world effectively toppled, the corporations set out to work on a new system of government.
The corporations dubbed their new order as the "Pax Economica" ("Economic [or Corporate] Peace", Latin), a system where loyalty and service to the corporations guaranteed food and survival. Under the Pax, however, people were forced into corporate-run colonies and essentially became slaves serving wealthy corporate masters.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Armored Core 4 is divided among several modes, where the player can build an AC unit for combat and test its abilites.

* Assemble - In this section, you build your AC from the current pool of available parts. This works differently than in previous installments of Armored Core, in that there is no longer a Shop area of any kind. Instead, all the parts that are currently available to you are listed in the garage, whether you own them or not. Parts you do not own are marked "DATA ONLY". By pressing square (PS3) or X (Xbox360) with a part selected, you can view a screen that shows the cost of the part and the amount of money you currently have. You can then Buy the part if you don't own it, Sell it if you do, or hide it, so that it is not displayed in the normal parts list when building your AC.

* Weapons - This is just a shortcut to the Weapons section of Assemble.

* Paint - As the name implies, this section is for changing the color of your AC. You can change the color of any and all elements, except for boosters, generator, and FCS.

* Simulation - To use Simulation you must first obtain one or more Data Packs. These are given as rewards for clearing chapters. Simulation is essentially Armored Core 4's version of the Arena found in many previous Armored Core games. A single data pack contains simulation data for one or more enemy Nexts. When you defeat a Next in a Data Pack, you are given a monetary reward, with an additional monetary award for defeating all the Nexts in a given Data Pack. Other rewards are also available, and include items such as parts for your AC, Memory for tuning, and even new Data Packs. One thing to note about Simulation mode is that you don't need to buy the parts in your schematic to use it. A schematic made entirely out of unpurchased, "DATA ONLY" parts can be used in Simulation without penalty. You will still have to buy the parts to use them in a normal mission. There is no penalty for losing in Simulation mode, and no cost for repairs or ammunition if you win.

* Test - Launches an AC test simulation. As with the Simulation mode, you do not need to actually purchase the parts in a schematic to use it in a test simulation. By default, there are no enemies in the simulation. You can add enemies from the pause menu by choosing Select Targets and then choosing the targets you'd like. Targets available include a squad of MTs, a small group of Normals, or a single Next. Only one type of target can be active at a time, and changing target types restarts the test.

* Tutorial - Selecting this option launches the tutorial from the start of the game.

* Schematics - This category is in essence your library of various AC designs. You can have up to 5 different sections to keep certain designs separate if desired. There are also pages for Enemy designs that are acquired by beating them in the Simulator, Company Standard designs, and one reserved for other players designs that have been traded to you via online.

New Features

Armored Core 4 has more new features than previous AC games although some of those found in previous AC games were removed. The lockbox normally found from the first AC game up to Last Raven was removed from the HUD. AC's will now automatically lock on enemies when in range. The controls for the game have been reworked from the ground up to provide easier and more efficient play. Also, the environment is now affected by AC battles. For example, an AC moving on sand or on the ground will leave footprints. Buildings and landmarks can be destroyed. Weapons possess terraforming effects, most notably in an unlockable Arctic battle stage. Battlefields are now considerably larger, but relatively barren of details like previous AC games. The player can now fight on water unlike past AC games where you would fall straight to the bottom if contact was made (that is, the player was not given a chance to try to recover). Other changes made from past AC games include that all weapons now do more damage, the heat and overheating game mechanics have now been removed, and boosting along the ground no longer consumes energy, but merely causes your energy bar to regenerate more slowly. A quick boost function was also added which causes almost instantaneous bursts of speed.