Virtual On is oft-misunderstood as a series. The majority of people focus on the presence of big robots, rather than the game mechanics, that the franchise offers. Moreover, the game’s control interface, through that of a pair of TwinSticks, has caused consternation amongst many a gamer due to their apparent lack of inclusivity: players new to the title struggle with the steep learning curve these devices create, not forgetting to mention that the majority of people remain utterly baffled as to the game’s actual content, and how to manoeuvre within the game world.

Arcade games require practice, patience and training on the part of the player. Virtual On has a brutal learning curve, but the thoroughness of thought and skill that is expected from the player only helps to enrich the overall experience. Thing is, this could be said for any arcade game, and is very much a tenet of design within this part of the games industry.

Set a few years after the first incarnation, the game starts with the player being re-introduced to the mechanical avatar of Egyptian death, Jehuty. Along with it’s new virile pilot, Dingo Egret. What follows is a truly impressive and epic narrative, after all the first game wasn’t the only part of the saga. Admittedly, the plucky little hero from the first game game, Leo Steinbuck, makes an appearance, but the overall narrative tone is far more mature and developed now. There has even been an animated movie and TV series too. Unfortunately, there is just too much focus on the narrative, to the point where it detracts from the overall game.

The actual game itself has been improved noticeably, Jehuty can do a lot more now. The old “grab” function, with its new implementation, adds a lot of spice to regular combat, but some of the boss fights fall foul of this new function to the point of gimmickry. As such, in many of the numerous boss fights the player has to grab an object and use it as a “guard” against an ensuing attack. So instead of gauging the combat mechanic in a gradual process, we have to endure lengthy boss encounters where we cannot directly attack our foe. Admittedly it is a useful and innovative function, but over used.

Armored Core 3: Silent Line is the seventh game in the franchise. For the more cynical of you copious eye rolling is not to be unexpected. It is, however, utterly without valediction. Silent Line is an utterly superb game.

Set a few years after the events of the previous game, humanity has ventured up from beneath the ground and has re-settled upon the surface of a recovered Earth. With them has also come all their baggage, namely a bunch of cussed and childish corporations that insist upon repeating history until it kills them very dead. Alas, there is a lot more to all this. Anyone familiar with the older games will realise that humanity has a very long history, one that offers great technological treasures as well as terrors. Petty corporations aside, pretty much anyone that can control doomsday weapons will be in a position of power. Cue Silent Line.

Forcing balance can be a tricky thing with game design, especially when it comes to sequels. If you have already set a precedent on acquiring ever more powerful weapons in a game franchise, to deny that in a sequel would (most probably) irritate the hell out of your customers. In this particular case, From Software got it right.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, where mankind has retreated to the sanctuary of underground cities, humanity is still in the throws of petty corporate warfare. Disregarding the possibility of human extinction, the corporate schmucks decide to speed up the carnage by hiring mercenaries. This is where you come in. Your ride of choice is a fully customisable mechanical monstrosity, an avatar of destruction if you will. You goal is to take on missions and proceed to earn cash to buy more parts that can kill things quicker. In short, it is great cathartic fun.

The big changes in Armored Core 3 are several fold. The first big change is that the game is now four player. Matches can either be free for all or team based. When team based, the first side to destroy the opponent’s “Leader” wins. A system not all that different from Hitmaker’s (rather disappointing) Virtual On Force. In the missions part of the game this follows on somewhat. On some missions you are allowed to hire “consorts” to help you out, this can be extremely helpful on some missions.

Franchises can be double-edged swords when it comes to gaming. The Bond franchise, for instance, has produced one superb game and a plethora of utterly shocking ones. The Gundam franchise is also very similar in this respect too. There have been vast numbers of Gundam games released over the years, of which most have been total gaming travesties. Thankfully “Lost War Chronicles” is a refreshingly solid gaming experience.

“Lost War Chronicles” is a pseudo side-story to the original Gundam’s “One Year War”. Using a very similar, but a nonetheless graphically improved and speedier game engine to that of “Journey to Jaburo”, many will feel that this is merely a soulless cash in rather than anything of worthy repute.

It is probably one of the most solid Gundam and, consequently, mecha games of recent years. Whilst not as inclusive as Capcom’s popular arcade incarnation, there is considerably more depth available to the player in Bandai’s recent outing.

Gundam is a weird franchise when it comes to gaming. Weird in the way that the majority of official tie-in titles often fumble the ball, whereas the “gaiden” (or sidestory) titles are often superb.

The Saturn was the first console to hold host to one of the more renowned Gundam gaiden games; the Blue Destiny trilogy. Not playing as the main characters from the anime, you had to survive as grunts on the frontline in seriously underpowered hardware. As a consequence, the overall gaming experience was more gritty and intense. It was also one of the first Gundam games to implement a first person cockpit view properly (the PSone Gundam game doesn’t count, because that was rubbish).

The same development team behind the Blue Destiny trilogy then went onto create Rise From The Ashes on the Dreamcast. Again, it was similarly gritty and involved you on the frontline with your mechanical balls against the wall. The interesting addition in the Dreamcast version was the ability to control wingmen and give them very specific orders (all this could be done on the fly too). Then things went dead. With the advent of the PS2, Bandai financed a bunch of underpar “canon” Gundam games, which completely lacked the edgy realism and tactical vivacity of their “gaiden” brethren. That was, of course, until Bandai announced Zeonic Front.

Way back in the gloomy depths of 1998, Banpresto decided to release their own third person action game. Utilising their mecha anime intellectual property licenses from the highly successful Super Robot Taisen series of games, it was called Real Robots Final Attack and was released on the PlayStation. It is also important to note that nobody bought it.

Around about the same time, From Software were in the process of releasing their second Armored Core game, called Armored Core Project Phantasma. The already large number of Armored Core fans pondered that a From Software version of Real Robots Final Attack would have been an amazing game. It took Banpresto almost eight years to figure this out (and now From Software are on their twelfth Armored Core, game in case anyone was wondering).

Another Century’s Episode (or simply ACE) is what Real Robots Final Attack should have been; more importantly the holy union between Banpresto and From Software is now a wondrous reality.

Sequels are all fine and dandy, but cashing in on a sequel just seems a tad cheeky surely. Armored Core 2 Another Age falls into this slightly capitalist category. Set directly after the events of Armored Core 2, the Nerves Concord is undergoing drastic changes and the purpose of the Ravens is becoming less and less clear, now that the warring corporate factions have exhausted their resources. More importantly, we are back on Earth now, or what is left of it. Armored Core 2 is a bad game. Armored Core 2 Another Age is, therefore, an equally bad game. On the surface, this is true to a certain extent.

However, for all the game’s faults, Armored Core 2 Another Age has a few surprising tricks up its mechanical sleeve. Armored Core 2 Another Age is a mission based game through and through.

The Arena has gone, but in its place are double the number of missions(about a 100). Mission selection is done by navigating a world map. The further you progress through the game the more parts of the map, and consequently more missions, you unlock. Another big development for the series is that of the game’s difficulty. It is hard, damn hard.

Cast your mind back to the halcyon days of the PlayStation 2′s release. There are no “killer app” launch titles, and Sony executives are in the process of having a hissy fit. The PS2 desperately needed something that the PR leeches could market, unluckily for From Software they got their timing wrong.

Historically, the Armored Core franchise has received a very small, yet dedicated, following in the West. This is mostly a byproduct with the way Westerners view big robots. In that, unlike Japan, we haven’t had almost thirty years of big robot pop-culture rammed down our gullets. It goes over heads. Naturally, in Japan anything linked to big robots is equated with the Second Coming. Armored Core is primarily aimed at the Japanese market, simply because they actually want to control 20 metre tall anthropomorphic bipedal robots. Abroad? It is a very different story altogether.

So from the off, Sony’s PR machine picked the wrong game. To make matters worse, the final game sucked. Whether it is was all the pressure from Sony that rushed the development cycle, or the PS2′s crazy architecture, or even just plain bad luck. The final product was particularly sub-par.

Back in the day, many a Gundam game had the player pilot the RX-78-2, and consequently steer the neurotic Amuro Rey, through a treacherous future of civil war and political intrigue. This stuff sold, by the bucket load. They were generally pretty abysmal games, however. Thankfully, somebody at Bandai decided to correct matters.

This epiphany in Gundam gaming came in the form of Gundam Gaiden (aka “The Blue Destiny”). There were a total of three games released for the Sega Saturn that enabled the player to control a bog standard Federation “GM” mobile suit. A far cry from the uber-powerful eponymous Gundam. In short, the player was a grunt, and had to work their way through a series of particularly tough campaigns. Each “game” was merely a chapter in the overall plot as well, and also saw the player being awarded with progressively more powerful mobile suits as they progressed. The Gundam Gaiden trilogy of games is very much respected by many a mecha gamer, so you can imagine the fervour when Bandai announced a successor for this superb series of games on the (then) new Dreamcast console.

Despite the obvious graphical improvements, the biggest modification to the series was how you could directly control the actions of your wingmen. Admittedly the game’s focus was predominantly action based, but the real time tactics element added a whole new dimension to the, already very solid, gameplay.