Xbox 360 Critic Reviews

Armored Core takes an important turn in its conception, offering a cohesive online world in which the player action influences the conquest of the eight regions the Armored Core V is divided into. This idea works very well, and the game also offers lots of customization options for the robots.

A solid and intricate Armored Core with the best online offering yet, lacking only the visual sheen to make the energy and pace of its combat shine. It's still an acquired taste, but once you've whetted your appetite, it's hard to resist.

Even if you're aggravated early on, don't take this game at face value. From Software has developed some of this generation's most interesting games, and obtuse or not, Armored Core V is one of them.

If you've ever played and enjoyed an Armored Core game before, you have to buy V now. No questions asked. It's the best the series has ever seen and the online mode is balanced and deep, providing legs it desperately needs to contain a community. Even if you've never played an AC game before, now is the time to try. We're entering the golden age of mechs trying to blow each other up.

A brilliant game that is nonetheless difficult to recommend to everyone, then. But those with an eye for detail and a fair amount of patience will be rewarded with a deep, engaging and entirely idiosyncratic experience. Just don't go in expecting your hand to be held at any point.

The novel integration of singleplayer and multiplayer is a brilliant feature in its own right, but it's yet to be seen how region-locking of the servers will factor into this automaton's staying power.

For you guys who love to collect gear and customize/create avatars, particularly mechas? Again, this is worth a look. Everyone else, you may want to give this a pass for now and wait to catch it at a discount.

A niche game: complex and very demanding, it will award the player willing to patiently master each aspect. We would have liked a better technical production and a more involving story, though.

The developers stayed true to 100% Mech customization, with over 500 parts that seem to offer infinite possibilities. Unfortunately, the singleplayer experience suffers from most work clearly having gone into the multiplayer aspects. With those, however, Armored Core V offers an extensive Mech MMO.

Overall, Armored Core V is definitely a game worth checking out, especially if you have any love for mech themed video games. Again, it's remarkably more similar to Chromehounds than the last couple Armored Core games on consoles, but there's enough of an Armored Core element here that it won't completely turn away loyal fans of the series.