Robot games are a huge commodity in Japan. Is there any explainable reason for this, one that validates the reason why almost every Gundam game becomes a number one hit? Not really. It’s probably something in the human psyche, something caused by the Japanese atmosphere that just makes you want to get in a big robot, stomp around and begin shooting your rivals at random.

Of course, that was probably the idea. The mech genre soon outgrew simplicity before rising to a status that you could call an art form. If any big stomping robot guff fits that description, it’s definitely Armored Core 4, although it’ll only appear as an art form to a select few. For the rest of us, eating our burgers and scratching our arses, we’re better off avoiding the hours spent developing a mech into a Trojan Horse-style battle machine. Some moments are worth playing however.

You see, Armored Core 4 allows you to choose your own mission route within certain boundaries. While you’re constantly on a path laid out by the game, the idea of choice means you can slowly develop your mech while choosing the right missions for your model at that particular time. Very satisfying, yes, and it allows you to customise at just the right time for certain points within the game. There are, however, many problems to go along with it.

For one, you can’t do a full revamp in time for certain missions. The costs involved often leave you in a quagmire of frustration as you’re often forced to progress through missions that are easier, rather than ones that reward the arduous levelling-up that you’ve been enduring. Sometimes, you just bite your arm viciously, wondering why the hell you’re even doing it in the first place.

As well as that gaming cancer, there are ridiculous load times in Armored Core 4. Even the merest of menus are graced with loading screens, leaving you in a state of confusion and disappointment. The PS3 is easily the most powerful console on the market, but when it can barely handle a basic, two-colour menu, you wonder if the developer even wanted to polish the game in time for its release. Considering the relatively small levels often take over a minute to load, you’re instantly left with a negative impression of Armored Core 4. It just ain’t polished enough to be a classic, and its heavy focus on a particular audience is simply too alienating for the mainstream.

Ordinarily, we would applaud this in a game. While we have the utmost respect for developers that try and do something different outside of the FIFA audience’s range, we don’t see that as an excuse to make a game with alienation as a goal. The loading screens, the levelling up and the format of the menus make the game a challenge to enjoy, rather than a challenge in the general sense.

She’s ain’t a looker, either. It’s not an excuse for rubbish grammar, we know, but the environments in Armored Core 4 would only push the PS2’s processing power. On the PS3, it’s noticeably flawed, with only the distant backgrounds distracting you from the bad buildings and awful approach to destructible scenery. Seriously, when the buildings break up like polystyrene being trodden on, you know there’s a good deal of work to be done. Thankfully, the mechs certainly look at their best, with the lighting and explosion detail impressing on a similar level. Armored Core 4 would’ve benefited from a dedication to consistency, though, which is actually one of our overall complaints about the game.

The missions themselves are nice and varied. Although the length of each one can deviate wildly, it at least stops the game from becoming predictable, with the objectives surprising and pleasing us in equal measure. If you can endure the boredom that ensues from surfing the levelling-up screens, there’s a fair amount of excitement to be had from the battling, especially when it comes to aerial combat. Armored Core 4 can be rewarding, but only if you put the time in. To be honest, you’ll need the patience of a saint to endure the menus, which are often banal to the point of ruin. At our most generous, we would say that they break up the game’s pace, but at our most volatile we’d lob the disc in frustration, before stamping on it and anyone who tries to defend that aspect of the game. Seriously, we’re mad.

In the end, it will all come down to preference. We’re not going to advise you to buy this game if you’re not a mech fan, and while we would recommend it if you are, it’s probably a safe bet that this is already on your wish lists. It’s an engaging game with the right time and dedication, but the flaws scupper the experience no end, with the purest forms of enjoyment only brief in the sea of loading times, levelling up and graphical inconsistencies. One for the fans, certainly, but maybe for the more fanatical than that.

Samuel Roberts