Armored Core 4: pretty mechs, nice tunnels, drab outdoors?

by Nick Doerr @ on Feb 15th 2007 4:00PM

The other day, while many people were out buying roses, chocolates, dinners, movies... or in more extreme cases donuts and beer (ahem), the good folk over at IGN got to have a hands-on with the upcoming Armored Core 4 game. They said good, they said not as good, but overall it was a pleasant preview. Let's highlight:

Tuning the mech is mandatory, but not overbearing or overly tedious.
Action is fast and furious, unlike many mech games based on realistic, slow bulky robot battles.
The controls are streamlined and easy to get the hang of.
Laser swords.
Different mission objectives range from defeating a certain obstacle in a certain amount of time, conserving ammo, or just blowing everything up on the map.
Most unlocking of upgrades is more mandatory for the online mode, so you can better differentiate your mech from other people.
Outdoor levels can appear drab or empty, but indoor levels are nicely done.
Destructable environments are present, but not everywhere. Kind of sad that some buildings can be destroyed but others can't.
Online modes will include deathmatch and 8-person team deathmatches.
You can trade parts with people you meet online.
No voice chat for PS3.
360 and PS3 builds will look identical, so no need to compare!