For a game with some serious history, it's fair to ask whether newcomers to the series will be able to appreciate all the leaps and bounds made over the years. The answer is that very little has changed in the series, apart from minor updates to the look and sound of Armored Core when it made its first appearance on PlayStation 2 last go 'round. The game has always carried a signature look, Battlezone (for the old-timers out there) meets all the mecha glory of every Japanese fantasy since Transformers, Voltron...you name it. If you're a fan of the series looking for a reason to make the purchase, Armored Core 3 is like an expensive add-on pack to the last game, with very little changed visually beyond what technological advances have been realized by programmers for the system, such as longer view distance and higher levels of detail for objects and effects. For a person new to the series, Armored Core 3 would not be a bad place to start. It will certainly take you some time to navigate through the complex in-game display and learn to find your way through the threaded messages during battles and to read the many, many stat screens while you upgrade and improve your Raven unit. But, in the end there are as many nice things to see here as we experienced in the first game, lo these many years gone by. Although sometimes lacking in detail and hardly built on very lush landscapes, Armored Core 3 has strong gameplay and depth that might let graphics purists overlook a few bland environments and simple textures, dig in and enjoy this mecha combat game.

If you've never experienced Armored Core, the word is robots. Robots, robots and more robots. This is, of course, a great thing if you like robots. And if you like to fight robots. And build robots. Robots. But seriously, this game is definitely a robot lover's best friend. The assumption almost is that story shouldn't be of great concern, since there's very little in the manual aside from instructions on piloting your combat mecha. As you get into the actual game, you'll find that you're cast as a rookie pilot among a group of seasoned veteran fighters, in the midst of some political troubles and social woes that seem to threaten society, industry and especially the Corporation. But really, there's something different pulling in Raven fighters with their AC Mechs. As you complete each solo mission, you'll learn more about the forces behind this new world order. Or is it just some joker pulling at the thread of order, trying to unravel the fabric of society? (Spoken in appropriately ominous, foreboding voice for maximum effect...)

Actual play modes are split right down the middle. You either play solo or play in Versus Mode. Solo missions, all 50 of them, are not exactly you against the world unless you want it that way. A new feature of Armored Core 3 is the option to take a 'consort' or wingman along with you on missions. This can be useful when you're facing a mission that looks too difficult for you to tackle alone, but don't think there's any charity at work here. You'll have to hire these wingmen at your own expense, and the money will come out of your final amount paid on successful completion of the mission. Other things that will take money out of your pocket after a mission are using too much ammo, damaging your AC unit or failing to work within mission parameters. More often than not, failing to work within mission parameters results in the end of the mission, but there are little 'extras' you can earn more cash for, based on performance.

And speaking of performance, tuning your unit's performance is almost a game in itself! Going into the Garage, you'll be able to choose between several units you can customize to your heart's content. Add new parts by purchasing them with earned money, selling existing parts off your unit, or even picking them up during missions. An almost infinite set of combinations can be made with parts, but you'll find that on one end of the spectrum is a lightweight, nimble, run-and-gun unit while on the other is a slow, heavyweight that can dish out punishment but sacrifices speed for armor. Somewhere in the middle is a combination, and you can move as far in any direction as you want. Desire tank treads or 4 legs instead of 2? How about reversed legs and missile systems that can lock onto multiple targets? A great devastating weapon that unfortunately overheats after more than a few shots? Any style of combat can be accommodated, and this along with options to customize units by coloring them or even designing a custom logo will appeal to the hardcore gearheads who love this game for all the juicy building features.

And most definitely in the 'juicy features' category would be the option to daisy-chain up to 5 PS2's for multiplayer madness with this game! Talk about a serious LAN party... On the simple side, you can simply join two systems for a Battle Royale with a friend, but in the 3+ scenario you can really go hog wild, to the extent that you can even make one setup serve as a monitor to create sort of an exhibition view of all the combat. The options are simple but effective for multiplayer, and you basically either slug it out until there is only one person remaining or form teams and battle that way. You can elect AI opponents to be in the mix, or keep the party small. It's again one of those 'hardcore' modes that shows Agetec understands its audience.

On the surface, I can appreciate how first-time players will find the controls intimidating, but after grasping a few simple concepts or techniques for combat and moving around, nobody should be unable to complete the solo missions. There are times in the Arena mode, where you just battle other robots inside a single area, that I found myself shouting 'Cheap!' to the screen, but if you can increase your unit's rating and gather new weapons and parts you'll find that almost every enemy in Arena can be dealt with accordingly. As to the missions, some are childishly simple while others require patience and more strategy.

Controlling the units can seem at first to be like moving the proverbial stick through the mud, but it's important for first-time players to understand that the initial unit you control is like a totally generic one, and after even a little customization you'll find you can create that lightning-fast mech you really wanted, or maybe just have the invulnerable unit that takes its time and delivers one studied, killing blow. Try both, why don't you? To address any issues of control, it is possible to customize all the key mappings and it really is in games like this where I can appreciate the need for maybe one or two extra buttons somewhere. Maybe some triggers, like the Dreamcast controller? Or double shoulder buttons like the Gamecube controller? Whatever the case, I ended up mapping Up and Down camera onto the R1 and R2 button, because it was just too confusing to me to have these mapped to buttons situated to the Left and Right of one another. Likewise, it was difficult to understand why the button controlling the Left Arm unit was on the Right side as opposed to the Left. I don't know, maybe it's all just semantics, but I think the key point is that you can customize the layout yourself as much as you want, and anyone should be able to come up with something that works.

Otherwise, it is worth mentioning the excellent design of all the menu systems, considering the huge amount of information spun out during the game. And, the system for designing and customizing logos to patch onto your unit is awesome! It lets you go pixel by pixel almost, choosing color, filling large blocks with color and even doing some simple drawing of solid lines or shapes. You can even plug in a USB mouse and go to town if you're a frustrated designer. Cool stuff.

Which is basically a summary of the game, I think. It is full of very cool stuff. Not that the stuff will strike a chord with everyone, but for those of us who appreciate the finer points of robot combat and like the idea of building a robot, taking it into combat and not feeling like we're still playing with LEGO sets, Armored Core 3 offers some intense action wrapped in a pretty package, better by far than the last incarnation of the game. If you played and enjoyed the last installment of the series, you'd be remiss in not picking a copy of this up. If you've never played a game like this but enjoyed such entertainments as Gundam, Evangelion or any of the classic Saturday morning/afterschool cartoons like Transformers or Voltron, you couldn't pick a better way to jump into the genre than Armored Core 3. Judging by the time we had with some upcoming robot titles at E3, there's no doubt we'll be loaded with robot games by Christmas time. Still, I doubt there will be anything as appealing to hardcore gamers or truly dedicated monkeywrenchers who just dream about saving up enough money to buy that RBF-II-2 Generator. And painting it blue...