For those who didn't know this title started out life on the old Playstation format around roughly the same principles only the action took place on earth. Do missions, get money and buy new additions to your armoury.
In Armored Core 2 however instead of staying on earth you have been sent to Mars as a Raven (Bounty Hunter) and are hired by different companies to dent massive co-operations by destroying things belonging to them. After completing the various missions you are given money as a reward which you can use to buy better parts for your machine
In the actual game you can either do missions or fight in the arena mode. As well as being able to fight your mates via link cable or a split screen.
In mission mode you are sent to various battlegrounds which are usually quite small but vary enormously from being in the city with skyscrapers or inside a cave. The objectives are also varied and mostly fun, either protecting a ship from enemy fire or laying a bomb to blow up an enemy camp. Before picking a mission at the start of the game you have 2 or 3 to choose from so if you can't do one you could leave it until you have bought a new weapon or part to help you.
During a mission you will money (usually after completion) for destroying certain enemies and you can even find secret locations which hide parts that can't be bought. When the mission is finished you will receive a reward for completing the objectives usually in the form of money. Here is the exciting bit. Any damage your robot has taken needs to be repaired as well as new ammo bought. So not only do you end up with a much smaller amount for completing the mission than you thought you would have got, if you fail the mission you will end up losing money. So this is very much a tactical game as well as just a shoot 'em up as giving up halfway through a mission when you know you will fail it is advisable.
The arena mode was in my opinion the best part about this game. Not only can you fight against your mates testing your bot making skills against a human but during the main game you fight against some computer robots each with different strengths and weaknesses. There are 50 in all to beat, each one giving you money if you beat them and some will even give you a new part. After destroying so many, more bots come in which are usually harder to beat than before.
The main thrust to the game is customization. Everything in the bot can be replaced. In essence you can make a big fat machine that has a lot of hit points but is slow and sluggish or a light quick machine that has not got great strength or hit points so can be defeated easily. The weight factor is very important. The legs can only carry a certain amount of weight as well as the core. Now weapons that cause a lot of damage are usually heavy so you can not have a robot with skinny legs for great movement and vast weapons! This again adds a bit of strategy as to buy a better inside part you might have to buy a lighter less effective weapon and vice versa. Parts can be bought for the inside (Radiator and Cooler) or the outside in (weapons and body parts) basically anything can be bought. Another good point is that if you buy a weapon or part that you don't like it you can sell it back to the shop for the same money as you paid for it which saves money. Legs and arms come in different shapes and sizes and have different purposes. Some Legs are wheels for good movement, some are mainly for hovering above ground and others are just normal legs. The arms can have weapons attached to them or normal hands for carrying guns.
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