[unlabored flawlessness]

This is getting a demo on February 1st (single player only). Might be exclusive to the Japanese PSN/XBL stores to begin with.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

The demo is up on the Japanese PSN and will likely be on XBL as well shortly.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I can't play the demo because it's not on XBL yet, but every impression I've read so far has been positive!

And no, this is not like Of The End...no QTEs to make something explode after you already shot it.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I have played the demo in its entirety on Hard difficulty (No Mercy is not selectable.) It's not the most exciting game in the world, but it is extremely solidly built and tries some neat things. Probably the best Gears clone yet...and no, I didn't like Vanquish.

- One thing they really nailed is the fact that, well, robots are made of durable stuff! And they don't experience pain! It takes a good amount of effort to take down even the lowliest grunt, since enemies don't stagger from shots unless they've lost a limb. Even if you blow off their legs, they'll keep firing, and they can get grabby if you're close. Blinded enemies without heads will keep running straight forward while firing.

- The controls are quite honestly, better than Gears of War's. Completely fluid, and I never saw any glitchy movement related to cover. I also like that you have to double tap A/X to roll: unlike Gears, you can go straight into a run without rolling.

- The game puts an interesting spin on Gears' revival system. You have regen health and can be revived before a death, but you're limited by how many medkits your team has. You can use a medkit on yourself or call a team member to use one of theirs on you. Unfortunately, extra medkits are dirt cheap in the shop (1000 CR), and each member can hold up to 3, so I had a total of 9 at the start.

- The level design is excessively cramped and linear in the tutorial and first mission, but it quickly opens up a whole lot in Mission 2, so I'm not worried about this aspect.

- The voice recognition is perfect. We've come a long way from the days of Life Line on the PS2. You can adjust the background noise sensitivity level and test out the recognition in the options menu. You don't need a headset, but you can't use the subtler voice commands without it (i.e. "Gomennasai" after friendly fire to avoid a team morale drop).

- The sniper rifle is a bit too good...a single shot to the chest will take out most enemies, and it has a huge ammo capacity by sniper standards. On the other hand, the riot shield is worthless: you're forced to use the unlimited-ammo handgun with it, which is the most pealike of peashooters, likely even when it's fully upgraded. And you can barely move.

- The vending machines have a cute little roulette after every purchase. You get extra ammo if you win. The Yakuza lineage is very evident here. There's some sort of nanomachine upgrades for your character that can be bought at these shops. However, the language barrier prevents me from understanding them. You can also purchase upgrades that affect specific stats of each gun.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

Probably because co-op would be very difficult to integrate with the AI voice commands and dialogue scenes. As it stands, the campaign is very much designed with a single player in mind. You couldn't have voice chat and AI voice commands going at the same time without serious problems. There's other issues with a potential co-op mode that are difficult to explain unless you've played the game...the entire game stops when you use a vending machine, for instance.

Of course, they could have just forced you to use button commands in co-op (probably limiting them to Player 1 as well) and trimmed the Ripple Link System, but that would have undermined the game's gimmicky selling point more than the higher-ups were willing to allow.

Anyway, there's at least one of those me-too multiplayer modes that won't last more than a couple months, complete with some Gamestop preorder DLC nonsense. Cuba, can you be content with the knowledge that Armored Core V has a co-op campaign?
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I used to like Gears, but eventually the excessive Unreal Engine glitchiness, endless shotgun warfare, and meatheaded characters got to me. Also, the infuriating "only executions count as kills unless it's a sniper headshot or an explosive" rule. I believe they actually patched that into a multiplay game mode that didn't have it at the start.

Horde was often very fun, but it's unfortunately a gigantic timesink, and once the Bloodmounts show up you're usually doomed.

Gears 2 was probably the last Western "AAA" game I didn't ignore.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

But then you wouldn't be using the Ripple Link System™!

I think some of the nanomachine upgrades are specifically concerned with how the partner AI acts, too.

As I said, it's pretty difficult to explain why co-op wouldn't work if you haven't played the demo. Just watch how the mid-mission dialogue interludes play out. i.e. When you're advancing at the beginning of Mission 1, Big Bo hangs back so he can joke about your female team member's ass (or something) with you. This scripting couldn't run with another human in control. Yeah, they could have trimmed these for co-op, but they didn't. I think it's not something Japanese players are big on.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I'll mention that the demo's second boss seems to be a bizarre Donkey Kong reference. You could say it's just a big ape, but then it starts throwing barrel-shaped objects.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I only buy used games when new copies aren't available or are out of my price range, but thanks. I'll probably wait for the inevitable reissue with all the DLC packaged.