Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay is great! This version of Armored Core has around 100 missions. That's enough to really keep you busy. And they are hard as heck too! If you played Armored Core 2, you would have noticed that the entire enemy AC's encountered in the missions had 1/3rd of their health, Only used the weapon in their hand (some exceptions though), and were pretty dumb. Not in this game. All enemy AC's come at full health, they will use all their weapons, There smart, and usually come in two's. So it's easy to say that this game is easily one of the hardest in the AC series. And it will keep you busy for a long time. With the difficult 1 player mode, there is the usual split screen versus, and the linked versus, and a versus mission, (where you and a friend go head to head), or work together with other AC's and play out missions. Although some people choose to only look at the games bad side (No internet play as previously announced and no 1 player arena) missing those things isn't really a big deal. You have 100 missions, and some of those serve as an arena fight. Also an improvement for the gameplay is that the standard MT enemies come with grenades, and much better armour then in AC2.
Graphics: 9/10
With the PS2 there was expected great graphics, and this game delivers. Everything from the explosions to the AC designs, its all great. Another aspect added to this game is when you shoot the enemy; you see chunks of them flying off. Making it look like a realistic hit. And with this upgrade comes better graphics. This game is a step above Armored Core 2 graphics wise. Also an improvement from AC2, The slow down in the frame rate has been fixed. No more slowdown with missiles.
Sounds: 9/10
Armored core sounds resurface, the traditional blast from the grenade launcher is still there, the boost sounds are the same, and Explosion sounds have been improved on though. So the old sounds are still there, but they aren't that bad.
Overall: 10/10
Yes, I give this game a 10 for 10. It just has every thing that an AC fan like me would want. More parts, more missions, Harder enemies, More versus levels, It's an over all great AC game that no AC fan should pass up.
If you want any more info about this game, or other games, then check out my Union Board or Email me.
Union Board: http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/forums/show_topics.php?union_id=Greg