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![]() Get stuck in one of their conversations and it's like being trapped in an interminable WhatsApp group for a bunch of earnest teens who've just swallowed some ripe old anime. #Daemon x machina parts fullThose production values come plummeting down when it comes to Daemon X Machina's story and lore, told in near-static cutscenes that then shift to entirely motionless boxes of text full of dreary exposition and even drearier characters. #Daemon x machina parts pspIt looks like a PSP game that's got ideas above its station, and I don't necessarily mean that as a slur - just that, when coming into Daemon X Machina, it's probably best you temper your expectations. The faithfulness to Armored Core is sometimes taken a mite too seriously, with performance that falters when things get busy - and they often do - and an unvarnished, back-of-the-movie-lot feel to so many of the assets. There are also moments where that action can fall on its face. Partner up with a few friends and take on one of the colossal mechs that serve as Daemon X Machina's boss fights and you're tantalisingly close to a tooled-up, jet-boosted Monster Hunter. Still, there's room for improvement, and the potential for more further down the line with the promise of a PvP mode that's being added post-launch, while the four-player co-op that's there on day one can work a treat. Having been impressed by the scope of early mission types, from plain old escort missions to tearing down buildings to more focussed linear runs through grandiose networks of tunnels, there's soon repetition in what you're charged with. Missions are plentiful and varied, up to the point where they're not. Bigger problems emerge elsewhere with some baffling design decisions, like how cutscenes rudely interrupt some fights, or how some other fights won't play out until a certain piece of dialogue has been spouted. Put some thundering metal music behind it all and there are moments when I just wanted to stand and salute what's been achieved here. In the skies they're handy too, if not quite so graceful, and battles are told through bright blooms of cel-shaded explosions that look like they've been lifted from a Macross cel. The movement feels wonderful, a sense of weight and momentum told in the swaying hips of your mech as they glide around a salted earth with the grace of an Olympian ice skater. Special credit, though, must go to developer Marvelous for how it's brought these mechs to life. Macross creator Shōji Kawamori has lent a hand, and you can feel that in the sturdiness of the mech designs available (it's also worth noting that Yūsuke Kozaki, responsible for the assured character artwork of Fire Emblem Awakening amongst others, is onboard, though the anonymous designs of the mech pilots found here are far from his greatest work). The things that matter most for mech lovers are all present and correct, not least of which are the mechs themselves. In action, this thing can soar, as you mix and match aerial and ground assaults, boosting your way around targets that are in your soft-lock sights and clearing out wave after wave of cannon fodder before clashing laser swords with rival robots in skirmishes that trace across the skies. If you've any love for piloting 50-foot robots then there's so much to smile about in Daemon X Machina (and if you haven't, then I'm really not sure what to say). Then go forth and be badass in your big bastard mech. #Daemon x machina parts modsCustomise a robot as you daub it in decals and choose from myriad parts, juggling stats and the resources required to run certain pieces of armour and mods until you've got a build that's just to your liking. That formula, should you need reminding - and it's fair enough if you do, given its absence across the past decade - is simple. Indeed, it comes so close to that formula that it feels like a direct follow-up to 2008's Armored Core: For Answer, injected with some lysergic colour to help give it an identity of its own. ![]() #Daemon x machina parts seriesThat's down, in part, to its heritage, and its leanings this is at heart a spiritual successor to FromSoft's beloved Armored Core series that's been missing in action for so long, with series producer Kenichiro Tsukuda onboard.
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