Armored Core 3 Portable carries on the mech fighting franchise on the Sony PSP. It was originally released on the PS2 as Armored Core 3 and this is a newly updated version with some additions. There’s nothing cooler than 40, 50 even 100 ton human-controlled robots duking it out with huge amounts of firepower now is there?
Well there is when the controls are cumbersome and the defaults are somewhat. Luckily the controls are fully customizable so you can get a setup that you are 100% comfortable with. I like to have all my weapons and combat commands on the buttons and other action on the directional buttons, so that’s how I’m setup now. Even then the controls were hard to get used to and took some time but I finally got the hang of piloting my massive mech and got into painting, customizing and generally taking out so-called bad guys.
In Armored Core 3 Portable you take on the role of an armored core pilot who gets accepted as a Raven, giving you the right to pilot an AC in support of Global Cortex. The company works in the dispute resolution industry, which basically means blow up whoever isn’t paying the most. They take on the missions, hire you to do them, pay you etc. They also sponsor you in the arena and drop AC parts on you when you win there.
As you progress you will earn credits which can be used to upgrade and customize your armored core. This means lighter, faster, stronger, more powerful and faster cooling, all of which you will need as the missions become increasingly more difficult.
There’s also a 
bit of an overall storyline to follow as the Controller, a massive AI that runs Layered, the underground world where the remnants of humanity live, is beginning to make decisions that are affecting humans in strange ways and you have to find out what is happening. Along the way you’ll also have to take on side missions for the major corps to earn cash or duke it out in the arena to become the best pilot there is.
There are some annoying things about the game like no auto-save. So after every mission and fight you need to go save because if you forget, you will lose all of your progress (I lost a small amount on that already) and when you are backing out of an editor, etc., sometimes if you hit the wrong button you’ll lose your work as there’s no ’are you sure’ in some areas. The lack of auto-save is by far the most annoying thing about the game.
Overall, Armored Core 3 Portable, while on the comparatively small screen of the PSP does a great job of getting you involved. In fact while sitting in my office chair I found myself swiveling in it along with the movements of my AC. How’s that for total immersion?
