I've seen reviewers often bring up DxM as a "disappointment" and that "nothing has changed" since its prototype missions, citing the final game having poor framerates and mechs still being slow, yet there are a subset of folk who actually stand by the game claiming it's actually a really good spiritual successor to Armored Core. I managed to score a $50 Amazon gift card during Black Friday, and while I set my sights on Dragon Quest XI, it sadly never dropped back to its $50 price point during both Black Firday and Cyber Monday sales. DxM on the other hand, was always constantly on sale at $49.99, so to me it seemed the choice was clear. Boy am I glad that I settled with it...
For starters, the customization options are pretty robust, but what I didn't expect was to be able to tweak even the UI to the degree that I could. The very first thing I did during tutorial mission was adjust my HUD to make it less cluttered, and I was surprised you can even scale down HUD elements to your liking. The other most noticeable thing in the game was just how wrong reviewers were about controlling your mech in the final version: Almost immediately I noticed that you mech actually moves fast...ridiculously fast, too, provided it had light armaments. Boosting felt good, and staying on-air, afloat and dropping down no longer felt sluggish like it did in the demo. In fact, it feels even better than the mech controls in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Everything is responsive, and aiming feels much better. Add to the fact you can opt for gyro controls just puts icing on an already nice cake.
...Which brings me to the actual gameplay: So far I'm actually enjoying the campaign, and missions start out simple but get progressively more interesting going further. Its mission structure reminds me heavily of Ace Combat somewhat: You're given a map of various sizes and structures, sometimes it's just a regular point A to B mission, but other times it's a huge sprawling open area or a network of corridors. Missions are pretty diversified for the most part. Map recycling tends to happen, but it does often tie in with story and locals that you clear. And speaking of which, I'm actually hooked a bit on its plot, pehaps because the English voice acting is pretty good (consisting of voices whom I recognize from Ghost in the Shell Stand Along Complex).
Performance is actually really good too, and I'm surprised as to how Marvelous has managed to iron-out the kinks of their UE4 developed game since the Prototype Missions. I don't recall any major dips in framerate, and granted it could be also just the result of recent patches. Resolution doesn't seem bad at all, and even for something that's perhaps not native 1080p, the image quality is still remarkably clear. I'd say it kind of reminds me of Astral Chain in terms of clarity, except AC has a lot more heavy effects going on.
Right now I'm at Rank C, but I feels there's still so much to uncover. I tried out Multiplayer for a bit and got connected to a Japanese room. Gameplay was surprisingly smooth and stable via LAN, and it's actually pretty fun too. Salvaging parts from beaten Arsenals perhaps is the addicting hook of this game, as you can choose one part from the wreckage loot that goes into your base or inventory, yours to keep. It just makes me come back for more.
So yeah, I feel like this game is like a sleeper hit that deserves more love.
For starters, the customization options are pretty robust, but what I didn't expect was to be able to tweak even the UI to the degree that I could. The very first thing I did during tutorial mission was adjust my HUD to make it less cluttered, and I was surprised you can even scale down HUD elements to your liking. The other most noticeable thing in the game was just how wrong reviewers were about controlling your mech in the final version: Almost immediately I noticed that you mech actually moves fast...ridiculously fast, too, provided it had light armaments. Boosting felt good, and staying on-air, afloat and dropping down no longer felt sluggish like it did in the demo. In fact, it feels even better than the mech controls in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Everything is responsive, and aiming feels much better. Add to the fact you can opt for gyro controls just puts icing on an already nice cake.
...Which brings me to the actual gameplay: So far I'm actually enjoying the campaign, and missions start out simple but get progressively more interesting going further. Its mission structure reminds me heavily of Ace Combat somewhat: You're given a map of various sizes and structures, sometimes it's just a regular point A to B mission, but other times it's a huge sprawling open area or a network of corridors. Missions are pretty diversified for the most part. Map recycling tends to happen, but it does often tie in with story and locals that you clear. And speaking of which, I'm actually hooked a bit on its plot, pehaps because the English voice acting is pretty good (consisting of voices whom I recognize from Ghost in the Shell Stand Along Complex).
Performance is actually really good too, and I'm surprised as to how Marvelous has managed to iron-out the kinks of their UE4 developed game since the Prototype Missions. I don't recall any major dips in framerate, and granted it could be also just the result of recent patches. Resolution doesn't seem bad at all, and even for something that's perhaps not native 1080p, the image quality is still remarkably clear. I'd say it kind of reminds me of Astral Chain in terms of clarity, except AC has a lot more heavy effects going on.
Right now I'm at Rank C, but I feels there's still so much to uncover. I tried out Multiplayer for a bit and got connected to a Japanese room. Gameplay was surprisingly smooth and stable via LAN, and it's actually pretty fun too. Salvaging parts from beaten Arsenals perhaps is the addicting hook of this game, as you can choose one part from the wreckage loot that goes into your base or inventory, yours to keep. It just makes me come back for more.
So yeah, I feel like this game is like a sleeper hit that deserves more love.
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