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I've been wanting to play some kind of Mech game, and I've seen Armoured Core (a few versions) for sale but don't really know what it's like. Anyone played games from the series? What are they like? It's by the same people as Dark Souls; are they similar in any way?

Played all of them.

They are similar only in the way of being pretty damn hardcore.

The controls for armored core games are notoriously hard for newcomers and will have plenty of people just straight up stop playing. That said, if you get used to them, they are perfect.

Story telling is also somewhat similar in the way of main character not having a voice of his own and just not a lot of stuff being there on the surface.

As for gameplay, combat is fast, but depending on which one you pick up... it can be extremely fast. Armored Core For Anwser just turned it up to 11.

The games have more customization then any other mech game on the market though(that I know of anyway). With there being hundreds of parts ranging from targeting chips, generators, thrusters, seperate body parts (legs, core, head, arms, stabilizers) to multiple weapon systems (right/left arm, shoulder, back mounts, holsters, weaponised arms) and all of these can often be individually tweaked as well for specific outputs etc.

Depending on how interested you are, you may want to pick up Armored Core V. Sadly the community isn't very active anymore, but Armored Core Verdict Day is releasing by the end of this year and save games will carry over.

Armored Core 4 and 4 Answer are great games I think. They're pretty hardcore when it comes to customization and combat. I REALLY enjoyed them, in fact, I still have them.

Armored Core V? Total 180. It doesn't make any sense, difficulty is BEYOND insane and they took away alot of what made AC a great game. The customization aspects are pretty dumbed down, the menus don't make ANY sense, and combat is just like every other 3rd person shooter involving robots/mechs.

AC 4 and 4 Answer? I can't recommend them enough.

 Frankenberry wrote:
Armored Core 4 and 4 Answer are great games I think. They're pretty hardcore when it comes to customization and combat. I REALLY enjoyed them, in fact, I still have them.

Armored Core V? Total 180. It doesn't make any sense, difficulty is BEYOND insane and they took away alot of what made AC a great game. The customization aspects are pretty dumbed down, the menus don't make ANY sense, and combat is just like every other 3rd person shooter involving robots/mechs.

AC 4 and 4 Answer? I can't recommend them enough.

Have to disagree.. a lot about AC V. I don't know if you played the older AC titles, but ACV's difficulty was more in line with them then 4 and FA.

4 and 4A were the only ones I'd played. V ruined the franchise for me sadly, until they go back to the 4 type of play, I'm probably going to steer clear.

It's a really good series (I've been playing since the original PS1 series). It has a learning curve, and fighting against other AC's can be super tough, but it's an awesome mech game. I'd recommend it.

I played the original game on the Playstation, how has the series progressed since then? Has it kept the "every shot costs me money!" feel? Loved those games.

I remember that game well. I played 3 (i think, that game apparently had a metric ton of spinoffs and sequels) on the PS2 back when I was in grade school. Didn't really have a clue what was going on but I managed to beat a few missions before I had to give it back to the rental place. Really fun game. I loved the customization even though I was horrible at it. Mechwarrior is still my favorite mech game though.

9 breaker was pretty fun too. I got about halfway up the Raven chart before I just couldn't progress anymore and said "forget this, I'm going home!"