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For the third time we have a new installment in the Armored Core series. There have been few mech oriented combat titles on the PlayStation, but the fan base that has centered around Armored Core has stayed rather large. While FromSoftware is saving the actual sequel to the game, Armored Core 2, for the PlayStation 2, the developers have continued to bring out various expansion packs of sorts that provide new missions, mech parts to work with and more foes to go up against. The previous “expansion” disc, Project Phantasma, was enough of a success here in the US that Agetec decided to bring over the latest one, Master of Arena. Unfamiliar with the Armored Core series? Let me enlighten you. Starting out with a basic mech consisting of the weakest weapons and parts available, you are then offered job contracts that will allow you to earn money, then giving the ability to upgrade the mech. There are literally an unlimited amount of combinations that can be strung together, and even then it is possible to customize the mech even more through the addition of an emblem (logo) to the mech, and tweaking the coloring or pattern. A nice idea that FromSoftware implemented in Master of Arena is that the creations made in previous Armored Core titles can be transferred to Master of Arena and be used. If somehow your mech was either deleted (as I did) or you have not tried the previous games, the game will provide you with a default mech that is both weak and lacking the abilities to make missions that should not be so difficult, quite hard.
Since Master of Arena is running off of the same engine that the previous Armored Cores ran off of, it looks no different from its predecessors. It does not look particularly state of the art , but the frame rate is nicely stable, the models have an extremely cool look to them in both their structure and animation and there is a good variety in environmental texturing so that the missions do not become overly repetitive. There is a slight problem with not being able to see far in front of the mech in confined areas, but usually it is something so minor that it isn’t noticed during actual gameplay. For Armored Core fanatics the addition of 27 new parts that can be added to their robot creations should get them excited .And this is not including the more than 180 parts that have already been built up in the game since the original. There is more than enough included in Master of Arena to keep detail freaks tweaking and changing their mechs for a long time to come. Other than the new parts, the new features for Master of Arena include 10 new battle stages that can be utilized during multiplayer matches. Multiplayer can either be done through a two player split screen on a single TV, or by linking together two TVs, two PlayStation machines and two copies of Master of Arena with a link cable. The latter mentioned is of course the preferred method, but the former also works well from the matches that we battled. In fact, there is so much that FromSoftware has thrown into Master of Arena that it had to be split into two separate discs. Fans of Armored Core will get a kick out of Master of Arena, but if you got enough from first game or didn’t like the series to begin with, this is not going to transform you into an Armored Core fanatic overnight. Suffice to say, however, FromSoftware has packed so much into this expansion that it fills two entire discs, meaning those who do want this one are guaranteed to get their moneys worth.
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