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Giant robot fans have no shortage of mech franchises to choose from. With the release of Armored Core 6, it’s worth taking a moment to consider where the titular ACs fit in with other mechs. All mechs exist on a continuum, ranging from practical machines that could plausibly roll off the assembly line of a real-world factory to what are essentially superheroes cosplaying as robots. The AC franchise has taken some wild turns over the years but has always maintained its unique position among other mecha series. Here’s the story of the Armored Core 6 ACs and where they fit on the continuum.
Transformers To Gundam: The Mech Continuum
Mechs are traditionally divided into two categories: Real Robots and Super Robots. Look no further than the Steel Batallion controller for a visual representation of the former. Why did the game need dozens of buttons, two joysticks, a throttle, and multiple foot pedals to play? Because it wanted to reproduce the experience of actually piloting a giant robot. Gundam is perhaps the genre’s greatest example. Mobile Suits may be more powerful, but they fit beside tanks and helicopters as another weapon of war. These mecha and their stories are grounded in real science and actual military logic, even if they take the occasional leap of logic.
On the other end of the spectrum are Super Robots. What makes these mechs super is that they’re beyond the possibilities of human construction and far more powerful. Super Robots are more akin to superheroes or demigods than conventional machines. Their power source is typically magical or otherwise exotic. They’re often unique lifeforms rather than mere products. For example, OP Transformers like Unicron and Vector Prime have little in common with Real Robots. That’s the point. They’re not supposed to be real; they’re supposed to be better than that. Super Robots are fantasies, so they’re allowed to be all kinds of impossible things.
Where Do the Acs of Armored Core Fit?
ACs in Armored Core 6 have traits from both subgenres but have more in common with Real Robots. Though Coral would fit comfortably in Super Robot fiction, the story of Arquebus, Balam, and other arms manufacturers running rampant is a Real Robot classic—the mech action in Fires of Rubicon balances near the middle of the mech continuum. Calculating energy expenditure and weight distribution during assembly is about as gritty as it gets. Unlike the Skells in Xenoblade Chronicle X, ACs can’t fly around without concern of boosters failing and sending them plunging back to earth. ACs aren’t the purest of Real Robots, but anything that troubles actual machines probably bothers them.
Combat in Armored Core 6 follows the same logic. Take one of the less realistic powers, Terminal Armor, for example. This ability deploys a powerful energy shield when the AC takes too much damage. This shield can absorb almost any incoming damage but disappears after mere seconds. Its energy drain is simply unsustainable.
That same design philosophy informs gameplay throughout AC6. The developer puts incredible sci-fi abilities in players’ hands while keeping these mechs somewhat realistic. The same AC that can slash an aircraft carrier to bits with an energy sword can be destroyed by a simple helicopter if it’s caught with its shields down.
The Super Real Robots of Armored Core 6
It’s impossible for a mecha franchise to please everyone, but Armored Core 6 has better odds than most. It feels like the game’s design philosophy is to “be realistic except when realism would be boring.” You can soar through the skies, dancing through incoming rocket volleys, but if a rocket hits you, it’ll peel off steel like an old banana skin.
You aren’t the immortal savior of a robot race. You’re a fragile pilot in a fragile cockpit. The only thing keeping your AC out of the junkyard is skill. It’s probably a cop-out to call these mechs Super Real Robots, but that’s how they feel. The developer has done an impeccable job keeping its mecha grounded but fun. We don’t have to know how FromSoftware pulls it off to be thankful that they do.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is available for PC, PlayStation 5, and
