If you only buy one Armored Core-this is the one to get
Armored Core in General:
-For those that are new to the Armored Core (AC) series, this is a great place to start. The AC series is the best mech-sim I've touched (not that there are a lot out there). If you end up liking this you can always go back and try the classics. Prepare yourself for a crap-ton of parts to build your own mech (armored core they call em). Take most things you can imagine from any similar mech themed game (gundam, ZOE, mechassault) and this game has it and then some. You'll take the role of Raven, which is what they call the mercenary pilots that operate the armored cores. Enjoy destroying various and numerous amounts of lesser mechs and robotic foes, as well as fellow ravens in their own AC's as you progress through the game(s). The series loosely follows a continuous storyline based of a sci-fi twisted version of our own future. I'll tell straight though, for newcomers the controls and overall game play can be pretty unforgiving. Many reviews I read label the series as being slow and clunky, but I just don't see it that way. For a 'mech sim' it plays pretty well. A fair mix between manual and automatic movement and aiming and such. Sure it's nothing like zone of the enders where you are boosting and flying everywhere almost non stop (but that game isn't quite what I'd call a sim either). Your reflexes and movement will actually have to be better then anything I did in ZOE to master this one. Granted I loved ZOE, but for comparative reasons...slow and clunky this game is not. Anyways that probably wasn't the best way to explain it-but trust me, once you get the hang of both the controls and designing your mechs right-the game play can (and most likely will be) pretty fast paced and fluid.
Nexus:
This game however is probably the most well balanced and fleshed out of the series yet in my humble opinion. I'd recommend anyone start here rather then any other released on ps1 or 2 (specially before nine breaker, and even my favorite: last raven) It has a good amount of content, story-arena-parts-parts-parts-and a good deal of unlock able extra content (even a whole disc dedicated to extras). The extras like free mission and arena fights, previous game remakes and revisions, soundtracks, movies, pictures-sure made me play it a bit more then I would have. Usually all I do is beat the game, buy all the parts, and play a few arena matches over before the game kind of fades. This time I was driven by seemingly so much more to do (more like accomplish). I personally loved the remakes-I'd be surprised if any other long time fans were disappointed by them.
Anyone that has played the series before however might share a few surprises I had.
First surprise: can't upload silent line data?! o.O
-yep this means whether your a long time fan or not-this game is built for a fresh start. Good because it evens out the difficulty curve, makes it easier for new players to get into it, and makes it a more stand alone game kind of. Bad because I have to earn all my crap back again >