Deeth95

This port along with the other two titles on PSP suffer terrible control schemes. The lack of a second stick makes the controls a mess and the game way harder than it should be. I HIGHLY recommend this be played this on ppsspp with vanlasers true analogs hack to return some of the PS2 controls. They really do make that much of a difference. The hack will even work on a modified PS Vita, I've played it myself that way. I've beaten this game many times now and played all the branching missions this game has to offer. The level of customization in this game is ridiculous, even more than the PS2 version. Yes. This game is difficult. In fact this PSP port is even harder than the PS2 version. Your 3rd person camera behaves differently and leaves you with blind spots depending where your ac is at on screen, no matter the FCS the sight lock is smaller, and bosses attack more often. It's a game that feels like you know how the mechanics and formula is already. This game tests all of your experiences if you've played the previous games. It's a challenging yet rewarding game. Some missions however, come at you really hard even really early into the game. Human plus isn't in this game for the player unless you go the emulation route. Despite the curveballs, this is still a fantastic Armored Core game with very high replayability. The only thing I'd really change is how hover leg builds are treated. You see, this game introduces real AC damage. You can lose arms, heads, and cripple your ACs legs. The hover legs in this game break very easily compared to any other leg type. While I understand the developers did this to balance combat, they're far too weak and make building hover leg ACs (in this game at least) an obsolete option for many of the more challenging missions and during one on one duels against non-hover ACs and boss battles. They should have the same health points as say standard bipedal or reverse joint legs or have their hitboxes adjusted. You can still get by in the game with hover legs, but you'll need to build accordingly and be skilled enough to evade attacks in all of your encounters. What hurts the rating for this port are the really bad controls, a compromised experience with worse graphics and lower framerate and even more difficult gameplay for a game that's already very difficult. The addition of the new parts, while very nice are still hard to justify everything else unless you use ppsspp or a PS Vita with the previously mentioned hack. The game is a 6/10 without hack, 7/10 with hack. Personally I prefer the PS2 version, but I understand if someone likes the PSP version more for the new parts (They are very cool to be fair). The game is the same as the original version everywhere else, you're still getting a game with plenty of content.

I've beaten this game many times now and played all the branching missions this game has to offer. This game is in my top 3 for AC games on the PSP. The level of customization in this game is astronomical. You can really build the mech of your dreams here. There's incentive to get S rank in all the missions to get hidden parts. If you play on PSP there's even more parts to customize with. Yes. This game is difficult. It's a game that feels like you know how the mechanics and formula is already. This game tests all of your experiences as if you've played the previous games. It's a challenging yet rewarding game. Some missions however, come at you really hard even really early into the game. Most new players will find themselves throwing their controllers at the screen in frustration over their first AC duel they fail over and over. Human plus isn't in this game for the player unless you go the emulation route. Despite the curveballs, this is still a fantastic Armored Core game with very high replayability. The only thing I'd really change is how hover leg builds are treated. You see, this game introduces real AC damage. You can lose arms, heads, and cripple your ACs legs. The hover legs in this game break very easily compared to any other leg type. While I understand the developers did this to balance combat, they're far too weak and make building hover leg ACs (in this game at least) an obsolete option for many of the more challenging missions and during one on one duels against non-hover ACs and boss battles. They should have the same health points as say standard bipedal or reverse joint legs or have their hitboxes adjusted. You can still get by in the game with hover legs, but you'll need to build accordingly and be skilled enough to evade attacks in all of your encounters.