Latest Posts

News: Gundam Extreme Versus 2 Initial Roster And Location Tests AnnouncedNews: Gundam Extreme Versus 2 Initial Roster And Location... As the rest of the world has Gundam Versus on the PS4, Japanese arcades are gearing up for the upcoming Gundam Versus Extreme 2. On May 12 and 13, stores in Tokyo and Osaka...

Read More

News: God Gundam and Master Gundam DLC Coming To Gundam Versus In JanuaryNews: God Gundam and Master Gundam DLC Coming To Gundam... It's been a long time coming, but God Gundam and Master Gundam are finally joining the Gundam Versus roster as the next DLC units in January. While we've had several melee...

Read More

News: Aegis Gundam, GM Sniper II White Dingo Ver. and More Coming To Gundam Versus This DecemberNews: Aegis Gundam, GM Sniper II White Dingo Ver. and... This December, even more suits are being added to the ever growing Gundam Versus lineup. The first is Aegis Gundam, last seen in Gundam SEED Destiny: Rengou VS ZAFT II Plus...

Read More

News: Atlas Gundam DLC Coming To Gundam VersusNews: Atlas Gundam DLC Coming To Gundam Versus If you were hoping for more Gundam Thunderbolt units, there's good news! Atlas Gundam will be joining the Gundam Versus roster as DLC in late November. This will more than...

Read More

News: Gundam Versus To Add Phantom Gundam As DLC UnitNews: Gundam Versus To Add Phantom Gundam As DLC Unit As we await the upcoming Western release of Gundam Versus on September 29 on top of unreleased units such as Pale Rider and Gundam Guison Rebake, Phantom Gundam has been...

Read More

News: Armored Core 5 in Famitsu

Posted on : 13-01-2010 | By : | In : News

Hardware: ,

3

The latest issue of Famitsu, as promised, has a very nice feature on the the upcoming Armored Core 5. Apart from the confirmation the game is coming to PS3 and 360, the other surprising elements are how it confirms the return to the older style gameplay seen in the earlier games. In that, the original Armored Core was influenced by VOTOMS. The mecha were mass produced and featured hardpoints for weapons and other equipment. The difference was that the mecha in Armored Core were around 10 to 15 metres in height. In Armored Core 5, the mecha are now much smaller and at around 5 metres tall. This is roughly the same height as an armored trooper from VOTOMS.

In addition to the size change, the game will apparently feature longer missions than before with more complex environments (this most probably being a follow on from Demon’s Souls level design). Apparently, according to rumours on a few Japanese blogs, the Xbox game Metal Wolf Chaos was also used as a functional benchmark early on in development, which would make sense as the main mecha in that game is around the same height and the environments are quite pyrotechnic. At present Armored Core 5 is at 20% completion, however the game has been in production already for almost 2 years, so we’re not sure with what that percentage exactly corresponds to.

Update: Famitsu online has also run a piece on AC5 too, it also talks about a new “Overed Weapon” function – similar to the Overboost in a way – but it acts as a performance modifier on your weapons. This may tie into the transforming AC head we saw in the trailer in some way.

Update 2: Over at 1up Kevin Gifford has translated a lot more of Nabeshima’s comments about AC5, separately there’s also talk that AC5 will feature “more realistic parts designs” so the mecha will feel more believable.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterest

Comments (3)

The 2 year development lead up to this game makes complete sense. I had been theorizing for a while now that the barrage of PSP releases by From Software was designed specifically to facilitate Armored Core 5. Typically, From Software has done engine overhauls every 2-3 games in the series. So after AC For Answer, I was expecting them to take Armored Core to the next level on modern systems.

You’re right on the PSP games being a form of extended PR, I’m just glad they’ve taken their time with this instalment. As normally AC games have about a year or so between releases, which doesn’t leave much in the way of actual development time.

I also thought more on why it’s only “20%” completed and that could refer to the game scripting/art creation aspect. As the tech could have been developed by a smaller team in the meantime. In any case, rumours started around the time of ACFA’s release that there were already working on the a new PS3/360 game.

Apparently, some of the Demon’s Souls code team have been working on AC5 for a while already, which is interesting in lieu of the online setup that game uses.

Interestingly, I’ve seen a bit of AC in the Demon’s Souls gameplay I’ve experienced, partially in the idea that part of the difficulty is learning how to control resources, moreso than most other RPGs these days. And the control system is unique for a third-person action game, so that takes some learning.

But that online stuff, appearing in an AC game, might well push it to a new level. Think about it, like AC3’s ability to bring in allies in exchange for some of your pay. Bringing in human allies could make the game a blast, or even setting up special Co-op or Competative Missions, or hell, even a full blown Online Arena mode. The possiblities are near endless.
Especially the possibility of another Player’s AC entering your mission to try and stop you from succeeding…

Write a comment