Maybe I’m just getting old, but gee whiz there are just too many good games and not enough hours in the day. Which is why more than six months after its release I’ve finally played Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. And let me tell you, it’s fantastic. I guess every reviewer on the face of the Earth has already come to that conclusion, but it’s not official until it’s on this blog. If my stamp of approval is all that it takes to convince you that Armored Core VI is worthy of your time, you can jump right to the bottom of this post and find catalog links to every available console version.
As a young lad I religiously watched Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and would dream of piloting my very own giant mech. The premise of gargantuan robot combat thrilled my young mind with epic battles, huge explosions, and heroic monologues. However, I never connected with a video game that could evoke those same emotions. Whether the controls were clunky, the graphics lacking, or the story uninspiring, it seemed that video games couldn’t capture that mecha magic. Little did I know, the Armored Core series had been making that magic happen since 1997.
Playing Armored Core VI was like living my childhood fantasies. The controls are so intuitive and responsive that after playing for just a few minutes they become second nature. The action is fast-paced, and the combat is intense but thoughtful. After the first couple missions you’ll feel like a real AC pilot. Sure, you can get obliterated in seconds by a barrage of enemy missiles, but once you master shooting, boosting, dodging, and weapon combinations, you'll dominate the battlefield. This is a From Software game after all, and sometimes you just have to get good.
There’s a ton of customization and player choice throughout the entire experience. With more than 300 parts to choose from including legs, arms, generators and boosters, you can build the mech of your dreams. Whether you want a sleek, fast, and light AC that will be a blur to your enemies, or a quad-leg behemoth loaded with heavy cannons and missile pods that can shrug off bullets like spit wads, the options are limitless. Personally, I built the most armored two leg monster I could and wielded dual gatling guns. Many of the arena enemies were melted in under a minute by my raw fire power. And if you really want to get in depth, you can customize every individual part’s paint and even make a pixel perfect emblem for your pilot.
The story was compelling and deceptively deep. Set on the distant planet Rubicon 3 after a great calamity known as the Fires of Ibis, the player assumes the identity of a fallen mercenary and is thrust into the middle of a conflict for control of the strange and valuable resource known as Coral. We never actually see any characters as all dialog is conveyed through comms and audio messages, but the voice acting and character development is superb. With three possible endings the last of which is only accessible after completing the first two, the game has plenty of replayability.
While your free time may be increasingly precious, I think you’ll find Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon a worthy pursuit. These giant robots are going to blow themselves up, you know.
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