Armored Core: Project Phantasma
| Armored Core: Project Phantasma | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Developer(s) | FromSoftware |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Yasuyoshi Karasawa |
| Programmer(s) | Eiichi Hasegawa |
| Series | Armored Core |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, PlayStation Network |
| Release date(s) |
PlayStation PlayStation Network
|
| Genre(s) | Action, third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Armored Core: Project Phantasma is a 1997 video game for the Sony PlayStation. It is part of the Armored Core series. The storyline follows the original Armored Core. The game was not released in Europe.
A Raven operating out of Isaac City receives an unusual request. Not only is the request both vague and cryptic, stating simply: "Infiltrate the underground urban complex, Amber Crown,", but it also bypasses normal channels of communication and is sent directly to the Raven in question, without anyone else seeing the message. No sender name or corporate affiliation is mentioned, but the monetary reward promised is massive. Because of the amount, the mission will obviously be intensely dangerous, but Ravens aren't the type to shy away from any challenge. With interest piqued, the Raven climbs into the AC and heads toward Amber Crown.
Project Phantasma, in addition to Armored Core 2 is considered as being one of the most "personal" AC games. Despite its short length of its story (less than 30 missions, total) the game has some of the most defined characters in the normally detached Armored Core world. The story follows a single plotline throughout the game instead of dangling story threads connected to an overall arc like in the original Armored Core.
Sumika is present right through the game's storyline either as a friendly AC pilot or an ad hoc operator for the player's character. She is in some ways the prototype for the later operator characters like Lana Neilson, Nell Aulter, Laine Meyers, Emma Sears, Sheila Caldwell and the unnamed operators of Another Age, Nexus and Nine Breaker.
Stinger is another character that is ever present in the game from the third mission onward. He is the most recurring and most-fought villain in any single Armored Core game. Only Nineball has appeared more often, albeit across the span of multiple games. A criticism of his character however has been that he has no revealed motivation for his actions. He has not explained reasons for wanting the Phantasma technology beyond sheer self-obsessed megalomania and a lust for power.
These elements make a return in Master of Arena and Armored Core 2, but appear to slowly drop off in Another Age through Nine Breaker, which has no storyline and no characters beyond the training program's various operators and the mysterious author of the emails that open and close the game.
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