First, the game begins by choosing from four different factions, each with a pre-built Mech for you to use. Factions seem to have their own particular style, so depending on who you pick you'll begin with a Light, Medium, or Heavy model. Myself, I went with a medium model, looking for something that was a bit balanced for my initial play through. It didn't take me long to start upgrading and switching out parts though, but for the most part I kept my robot in that medium field for the entire main campaign.

The storyline of For Answer isn't exactly what I would call newbie friendly. The basic premise is that the Earth is in pretty bad shape, so bad that most of the world has opted to live in the skies; above the waste and pollution that now litters the landscape. However, on Earth we still have our major power supplies situated, which in turn are constantly under attack by various forces fighting for control of these resources. These attacks are typically carried out by the giant mech forces of the game, called NEXTS, which for the most part seem to be mercenaries for hire. Depending on the faction you choose, you'll be greeted with different parts of the same tale, and the missions you take on will reflect these changes. They're not all that vastly different though, so while the game definitely encourages you to replay to see how each story pans out, I didn't find enough of a difference between each group to make every story feel all that compelling to discover.

There are a few different control schemes you can use, and while they all seem to work ok, I do wish the game had let me map the buttons the way I would want. For the simple control scheme, meant for beginners, you have to use two of the face buttons for your primary left and right weapons, which is ok until you need to alter your camera view to maintain a lock on with an opponent, which you can only do with the right stick. Obviously, if you test this out with your controller at home, you can see that it might get a little difficult to maintain a rate of fire while trying to alter your view, something that becomes problematic when you're facing off against NEXTS that feel far more maneuverable than you are, particularly the White Glint.

When you begin, you only have a few options as far as weapons go. As you perform missions for your faction, usually selecting from a group of three or four at a time, you'll gain money, which in turn you can use to buy parts. Depending on how well you rank in missions, you can unlock additional material to buy, or even pre-built models based on NEXTS you've defeated in combat. It's not until you reach the end of the story that you're able to really outfit your mech with some impressive gear though, but even then, a couple enemy NEXTS towards the end of the game have a ridiculous amount of armor and firepower at their disposal, even compared to the higher end weapons you can gain. Along with that, they're really nimble, and while I'm sure an experienced player will be better accustomed to use the boost to jump around from spot to spot, it's not something that I was ever able to get a solid hang of. Also, flying around often gets annoying, as I would sometimes have a hard time regaining my boost after letting off the button, often times not being able to fly until I hit the ground again. This wasn't a matter of running out of power, but the response time just felt so sluggish. It was particularly problematic when facing off against a couple of the huge Arms Forts, and I felt like I was dying more often than not because of the controls than my own personal skill.

That said there are some really neat aspects that I enjoyed in For Answer. For instance, the amount of customization available to you is pretty insane, especially when you have a large amount of the gear unlocked. Not only are you able to switch out four different weapon types, but you can also effect armor, different leg set ups (bi-pedal, tank like, etc), and overall body structure, allowing you to make any number of varieties with the parts you have available. There are certain restrictions in place, such as capacity, meaning how much of a load your current mech can handle, which is where the idea of Light, Medium, and Heavy models comes into play. It's not too restrictive however, and toying around with everything you can buy is a lot of fun. You can even alter paint styles and names, and with the co-op mode you're able to at least show off your designs with your friends.

Also, I really liked the destructible environment stuff, in particular the extremely massive Arms Forts you'll encounter, like the Spirit of Motherwill. While the environment isn't exactly pretty, you can pretty much trash any building structure you come into contact with, and the whole thing honestly reminded me of Earth Defense Force 2017. The Arms Forts are these huge robotic moving bases, usually with tons of weapon defenses in place, and various weak points that you'll need to destroy to take them down. There's some really impressive sizes here, and even if it's not the best looking game out there, it's hard to not be taken aback a bit by how big these things really are.

One more complaint I had with the game was how unbalanced certain weapons were, especially the blades. Blades basically allow your NEXTS to perform a melee attack, but I'm assuming since the game figures that it's hard to lock on with these, that they compensate by making the attack super-powerful when it lands. The problem with that is a lot of missions have you taking down large structures or Arms Forts, and it's really easy to do with the blades, since you can just stand in one place, swipe a few times, and be done with the mission. Granted, you can unequip them if you want, but it'd be better if they were a little more balanced, considering they actually look pretty cool when you're using them.

Basically, I enjoyed Armored Core: For Answer, at least for the most part. It's not without quite a few flaws, and I think it could do with a bit more of a tutorial explaining the basic mechanics of the game outside of the control tutorial it includes, but once you get used to modding your mech it starts to become more manageable and interesting. There are still control issues though, some sluggish response times, and the camera isn't always ideal. The auto lock system can frustrate you if multiple targets surround you as well, especially if you're trying to focus on one particular unit. However, I appreciate the realization of scale in the game, and the overall fun you get out of just blowing things away with the different weapons you can toy around with. I'm not sure if there's been enough improvements here to appease fans, but as a player that hasn't been immersed in the Armored Core universe for a bit, I had a pretty good time.