Out of the Frying Pan…

This wasn’t a problem however until I had finished creating my Pilot, and was asked to create a Mech. Aside from only having one choice of Mech, the numerous different skills and abilities that were displayed seemed utterly useless, and completely incomprehensible. Frightened and confused at the screen that lay before me, I gave up trying to understand how my choices in Mech design would affect my playing experience, and decided to simply start playing. That’s when things took a turn, from bad to worse. The terrible translation combined with poor choice in information delivery and overly complicated, seemingly unimportant game design merged together to create an experience like none I’d seen before.

Woot! Bonus!

The first of my baffling encounters – completing the quest given to me by an NPC near my starting location – was to build another Mech. Apparently already having 1 Mech wasn’t enough, I needed to have 2 of them, both identical in every way, before I could progress any further in my quest for… whatever it is I was supposed to be doing. To make matters slightly more confusing, I noticed by chance a flashing button labeled ‘Bonus’ in the top-left corner of my screen. Upon clicking said bubble, I was given a free item. This particular item, granted me a large amount of experience, instantly raising me to Level 15.

As if I wasn’t already confused enough, I now had 15 levels worth of skill points to use (yet still no idea how to use them, something I stumbled upon later), and with another quick glance to the top-left of my screen, noticed that the ‘Bonus’ bubble had returned once more. This bubble was kind enough to give me a few pieces of equipment that came with no explanation and seemingly no real use either. This process continued for well over 10 minutes, having me seek out a shop to make room in my inventory for all of my useless, free items. Although I have no evidence on the matter, if I was to speculate I would say the developers of Age of Armor were actively trying to make me not play their game, for reasons unknown. But speculation is rarely a healthy habit, so I’ll leave it there.

Total Annihilation, or Lack Thereof

Of course, when it comes to the subject of piloting giant mechanical killing machines, the appeal is generally focused more on the killing than the mechanical, and so with well over an hours playtime under my belt, I decided to find a fight and figure it out as I go. Up until this point, my only experience actually piloting the Mech was in the 20 second tutorial (I’m not under-exaggerating here either, the tutorial consisted of 2 button presses) and although the one enemy I did kill was defeated with a single button press I did hunger for more. However, once again I was left wanting – as my efforts to find a battle were ultimately in vain. I managed to locate another area by the use of an interesting elevator – but after realizing that this was not the place for battle, I discovered that there was no exit either.

Yes, my hours of pain and frustration in the Age of Armor experience ended with me trapped in a room with no exit, and my attempts to speak with other players ended in similar misery. When I asked how one is supposed to participate in a battle, the response I received was “You press the stupid key.” Need I say more?

The Light at the End of the Space Shuttle Thingy

With almost every aspect of Age of Armor earning little more that a frustrated sigh; I am relieved to report that if nothing else, it has succeeded graphically. For a completely F2P game, the visuals are quite stunning, as are the character models and animations. Littered around the Space Shuttle type area that I both began and ended Age of Armor inside are large Mech Suits and futuristic furniture and equipment. It’s a shame that the gameplay couldn’t keep on par with the visuals, and many of the sights were truly amazing to the eyes of any fan of Mech-styled anime.

The music however was nothing to get especially excited about. It didn’t irritate though, which I suppose is something when considering the remaining elements of the game, but it certainly didn’t jump out of the screen at me either.

The Hardest Part of the Job

Contrary to how some other Game Reviewers may feel, I truly dislike giving a low score to a game. I try to always highlight both the positive and negative elements of every game, but try as I might, In the case of Age of Armor I couldn’t find very much on the positive side in the fence. Given everything that I have experienced, I would find it hard to give any score higher that a 1/5 – the thought may very well have been there originally, but it certainly isn’t anymore. New players to this game will find themselves entering a world of frustration and confusion, and it is my recommendation that you avoid where possible. Of course, if you’re out to see a few cool Mech models and have the free time on your hands, it is F2P, so you won’t be losing out any if you do.

Review Cody Hargreaves
November 2, 2009