Armored Core: Nexus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Armored Core: Nexus | |
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| Developer(s) | From Software |
| Publisher(s) | Agetec |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Release date(s) | September 26, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Action, Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Input | DualShock 2 |
Armored Core: Nexus is a mecha video game in the Armored Core series.
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
Years have passed since the incident at the Silent Line, but the battle between the Corporations continues unabated. Now a new corporation has entered the scene. Navis, nowhere near the size of the other corporations, has complete control over a new resource. The other corporations obviously won't sit back and let that stand, so they set up contracts with Ravens through Raven's Ark. A paid mercenary known as a Raven, you are tossed into the ordeals of the corporate powers in your Armored Core battle mecha. All want control of this new resource, but as a raven, you only care about the money that the corperations pay you to carry out their bidding and have concern as to the outcome. The situation is heated as is and will only get worse, but could something more dangerous and sinister be lying in wait? Be prepared, Raven.
[edit] Background
- Raven’s Ark - The successor to Global Cortex in the region in which the game takes place. Like its previous incarnations, the Ark (as its known in shorthand), is a neutral "mediation" organization responsible for setting up contracts between Ravens and the Corporations. The Ark has one primary stipulation: Ravens shall not directly accept a contract from a client without going through the Ark first.
- Mirage - The largest and most powerful of the corporations. Despite their impressive strength, Mirage is still expanding into the region and is meeting with fierce opposition from Navis, a smaller corporation already heavily entrenched in the region. Mirage has its eye on Navis' unique assets and is not above starting a war to acquire them.
- Crest - The second largest corporation behind Mirage. Crest is also working its way into the region but seems to be too concerned with self-defence and preservation than to stick its nose in the escalating conflict between Mirage and Navis, at least not too often. If push comes to shove though, Crest has an army of private AC pilots led by the intimidating Raven pilot known as Genobee ready to step into the fray.
- Kisaragi - One of the smaller corporations. Kisaragi is a technical innovator always on the look out to acquire new resources and refurbish lost technologies to help their advancement. Kisaragi remains a primarily selfish and opportunistic player, offering aid in one hand and striking out with the other when the time is right. They have a small alliance with Navis for the time being.
- Navis - A new corporation formed very recently. Navis has a monopoly on a new resource and control over the region of the world where this resource can be found. Their all out refusal to divulge any information on this resource or share it with the other corporations have lead to rivalries and even conflicts with the other corporations. Mirage is proving to be Navis’ chief rival.
- USE - A local weapons and MT manufacturer. USE tries not to involve itself in the current conflict and continues to remain neutral and focus only on MT research and development.
- Organization for Administrating Enterprise (OAE) - A bureaucratic organization designed to police the corporations and keep them all in check. The organization is quite ineffective and is often bullied into complying with the wishes of the larger corporations. Mirage constantly uses the OAE to its own advantage.
[edit] Ravens
- Genobee - The most powerful Raven in the Arena who works exclusively for Crest Industries. He is quite cold and enigmatic and speaks in an almost robotic monotone voice. He pilots the all black AC called "Dual Face" which appears to exhibit abilities that no other AC has been known to possess. He commands the loyalty of other Crest exclusive Ravens.
- Jack-O - A revolutionary Raven seeking to restructure the entire Ark administrative system. He is rarely seen in Nexus, but has a larger role in its sequel Last Raven. He pilots the AC Foxeye.
- Evangel - A newly inducted Raven who becomes something of a friendly rival for the player over the course of the game. The AC he pilots, Oracle, is featured on the game’s box art and heavily in its opening movie. He has a significantly larger role in the sequel to Nexus, Last Raven.
- Ammo - A rival to the player at the beginning of the game. He pilots the AC Birth Bomb.
[edit] Gameplay
Armored Core: Nexus takes the Armored Core 3 game engine and improves upon it in an extensive upgrade. The changes to the core system of the game are so drastic that players are unable to import game data from the previous game, Silent Line: Armored Core or any other prior title.
The special feature known as "OP-INTENSIFY" has been taken out of the game, taking with it the useful yet debated performance enhancements such as "mobile cannon fire" while using Bi-pedal, Reverse-Joint, Hover, and Quad Legs. The "blade beam" aspect of OP-INTENSIFY was kept intact and granted to all blades by default.
Removed features from gameplay are the clone weaponry as well as the weapon breaking previously available in Silent Line Armored Core. Many parts have been removed in transition as well. No longer are inside generator jamming rockets, inside ecm rockets, extension emergancy energy coolers, extension stealth, back ammo magazines, or any howitzer weapon available to you. This all interestingly cuts down the clutter and keeps a moderate feel of balance to gameplay with the introduction and statistical rebalance of parts overall.
New weaponry includes railgun energy cannons, extension solid and energy rifle ammo magazines, linear rifle, new hanger weaponry, and even side anti-missile field extensions.
New ammo clip system changes up gameplay. Certain weaponry, mainly handguns, machineguns, and shotguns, now have limits to how many rounds they can fire off before they must reload a full ammo clip. This enhances balance somewhat in an attempt to curb up close CQ damaging racing tactics for players interested in Player VS Player gameplay.
New features like Hanger Cores, the heat management system, part tuning add new style to gameplay. Hanger Cores give players the option to take additional small weaponry like an extra hand gun or laser blade into combat, which can be deployed when the player drops their primary left or right arm weapon. Parts can be tuned now by paying tune up costs, so you can enhance certain features of key AC parts like the Head, Core, Arms, Legs, Boosters, Generator and Radiator. The new heat mechanic will effect your part selection and overall build severely, making your combined selection of Generator, Radiator, and Booster a big key to success in combat.
The game is broken down into two discs, EVOLUTION and REVOLUTION. The EVOLUTION disc featured all new content in which the story of Armored Core: Nexus is played out. Much like Armored Core 2: Another Age most of the game's arena battled played out in story-based missions, however a "Free Arena" is unlockable upon completion of the Evolution game's storyline. The REVOLUTION disc takes a look back at previous Armored Core titles, primarily the PlayStation era titles; Armored Core, Project Phantasma and Master of Arena. Completing missions in REVOLUTION unlock extra parts for a player's AC which are based on parts that appeared in previous AC games, including custom parts featured on the AC of Project Phatasma's main antagonist, Stinger, now available to the player for the first time ever.
[edit] Pre-Release Information
Prior to the release of Armored Core: Nexus, FROM SOFTWARE had initialy decided to use the same engine and physics as that of Silent Line. This changed as the project proceeded closer to finalization and due to it there are early images of the UA hanger core with the solid linear cannon EO still and many unlockable parts named in format of those in Silent Line Armored Core as well as their stats being meant for that style of gameplay. Parts were named differently and part ideas were even scrapped from being obtainable for the players. One part featured in several promotional pictures for the game, the head part KHD-GMAX, was removed from the inventory of equipable parts prior to the game's Japanese release. The head part makes a reappearance on a special AC created by Kisaragi, which the player can fight in several missions (there are 3 versions of the MT overall and each has a different version of the head). A glitch exists that allows the player to acquire the KHD-GMAX on early releases of the game, but it is incredibly complicated and makes the game unstable and prone to crashing. The owner of a Japanese website was able to acquire the KHD-GMAX, proving it was meant to exist at one point as an equipible part with proper statistics. This shows how hectic the game's production really must be. Players can view similar concepts if they unlock the concept art on the Revolution disc.
