The fundamental concept of For Answer is to take control of a mech – buying new weapons and other upgrades when appropriate – then use it to blow up a whole bunch of stuff. However, there is a story in there amongst all the destruction. Set somewhere in the future, the surface of the Earth has become inhospitable. Instead, humans live in floating cities far above the city. On the surface below, various corporations and other factions are waging a war for what’s left of the Earth’s resources – and that’s where the player comes in. Taking up the role as a Lynx (aka a pilot), players jump into the seats of giant mechs – known in the game as NEXTs (aka AC – Armored Core) – and sell their services to the highest bidder (usually one of the corporations) in order to gain credits which can be used to stock up on the latest and greatest weaponry. The story isn’t terribly interesting – nor is it made terribly easy to follow – and is only used as an excuse for giant robots to shoot each other.
Unlike life, size is rarely a factor in For Answer.
At any given time, players will have a couple of different missions that they can attempt from several of the various different corporations in the game. Versus matches against other Lynx pilots – one-on-one battles to the junkyard – are also available, with the objective being to defeat the other 30 Lynx pilots in individual battles and take the number one ranking. Missions aren’t terribly varied – defeat this enemy, beat this oversized boss (those ones are fun), defend this convoy, etc – and usually always end up requiring players to blow up everything in sight. Of course, this is somewhat understandable given that it is, after all, what you would expect a giant mech to do. Still, some additional variety of some sort would have been appreciated.
Combat is quite fun. NEXTs can seem almost indestructible, especially early on in the game. NEXTs can have two active weapons at any time – one on each arm – along with a secondary weapon on each arm. This allows for some heavy artillery and destruction. The controls are solid and easy enough to come to grips with. One button to deploy each arm’s weapon, a button to change the active weapon on each arm, and various boost buttons used to manoeuvre the NEXT. The boost buttons are key, because without them, mechs are sitting ducks in some of the more challenging missions in the game. They allow the mechs to fly, dodge and even move at light speed for a short period of time. The speed at which the game plays can make the experience quite intense.
On the downside, there’s no button to allow the NEXT to complete a quick 180 degree turn, and, even worse, the sensitivity of the analog stick can’t be adjusted. Given that the auto-targeting is twitchy at best and that the camera leaves a lot to be desired, it can be incredibly easy to lose your target in the heat of battle, then spend the next few seconds waiting for your mech to turn around – all while your opposition mech reigns in missiles from a distance. This is one department where the series is seriously showing its age, and will need to see some significant improvement in the future.
More numbers than a maths book. Get used to it.
Likewise, the game’s visuals are nothing to write home about. The NEXTs themselves are well detailed and look quite impressive, but the environments are utterly bland and devoid of any sort of interesting landmarks. Obviously, the game is trying to be a barren wasteland, but some abandoned vehicles or something of interest would have been nice. In addition, enemies and buildings explode in a brief puff of smoke, leaving no wreckage behind. It all adds up to make the environments feel oh so empty. Some additional details here and there would have been really appreciated – it’s not like the game is pushing the Xbox 360/PS3 to the limit or anything. The sound is even worse. The effects are bland and distorted – ten missiles being delivered into a mech should sound epic, not boring.
Fans of the series will be delighted to know that mechs are just as customisable as they were in past games. Newbies will probably feel completely overwhelmed and rather intimidated at first, as they wonder exactly what a stabiliser is. However, with some experimentation here and there, it doesn’t take long to come to grips with the system. Players can adjust the components on their mech as they see fit, allowing them to create an endless number of different combinations – be it a slow, but massively armoured platform of destruction, or a more mobile fighter capable of launching a quick attack on the opposition before they know what hit them. There are countless variants in between, thanks to a seemingly endless armoury of weapons, mech blueprints and other parts essential to the construction of a NEXT. Fun times with weapons indeed.
Uh... A bigger gun may be required.
Because of the number of customisations at the player’s disposal, there’s an opportunity for a bit of replay value for those who get into the game. However, chances are they won’t be able to battle/team-up with anybody online as, while the game has network functionality, it is an abandoned and unconsidered feature due to the small player base. We weren’t able to find many people online in the numerous times we tried – a bit of a shame really. As a result, players are forced to play the single player campaign, and it just really isn’t long or varied enough to justify actually buying the game.
Armored Core: For Answer has its moments – controlling a nimble NEXT as it lays waste to scores of little weaker robots is a great feeling. Defeating other powerful Lynx pilots can also be incredibly satisfying. The number of customisation possibilities for the mechs are mind-boggling. However, there are plenty of negatives – the game is lacking in new features, has an outdated camera, unappealing visuals and, thanks to its lack of popularity, it doesn’t have a whole lot of replay potential. And with that in mind, it’s hard to recommend Armored Core: For Answer to anybody but existing fans of the series.
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