Armored Core: Nexus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Armored Core: Nexus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | From Software |
| Publisher(s) | Agetec |
| Aspect ratio | 480i (SDTV) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date | JP March 18, 2004 NA September 28, 2004 EU April 13, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Action, Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen |
| Input methods | 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.
[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 only one primary stipulation: no Raven can 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 led 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. USE focuses 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 much 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. He is eventually expulsed from the Ravens for directly accepting contracts from the Corporations without first going through the Ark. 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 which he later changes around and renames it End Bomb. His AC is eventually destroyed by another Raven (not the protagonist), and he is killed.
- Agraya - Another AC pilot working exclusively for Crest, not much is known about her. She is not registered with The Ark and seems to have some sort of relationship with Genobee. Whether it is a romance, sibling or friendship relation is unknown. She pilots the AC Red Star.
[edit] Gameplay
Armored Core: Nexus improves upon the Armored Core 3 game engine. The changes to the core system of the game are considerable, and so 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 emergency energy coolers, extension stealth, back ammo magazines, or any howitzer weapon available to the player.
New weaponry includes railgun energy cannons, extension solid and energy rifle ammo magazines, linear rifle, new hanger weaponry, and side anti-missile field extensions.
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.
Miscellaneous added 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.
The game is broken down into two discs, EVOLUTION and REVOLUTION. The EVOLUTION disc features 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 Phantasma's main antagonist, Stinger, now available to the player for the first time ever.
In the last mission, you get to face an old enemy from the original Armored Core series; albeit in different form: Nine Ball. However, it was later revealed that 'Nine Ball' was a prototype Pulveriser, shown in Last Raven. In the Japanese version of Nexus, the name read: '???' Where Nine Ball came from was either from error, or because the translators thought it would be cool to feature the old enemy.
|
|||||
