Armored Core 3

Armored Core 3 continues the series' core mechanics. Players pilot Armored Core units, massive customizable mechs. In order to earn money to customize their Armored Core, players must complete missions for three major corporations. This money can then be used for weapons, items, and parts to improve their Armored Core.

Missions, like in earlier titles, retain their focus on completing objectives and destroying enemies. Mission costs like repairs and ammunition supply are automatically deducted from the reward. Voice acted briefings prior to missions provides a small amount of story regarding the mission.

Armored Core 3 serves as a reboot for the Armored Core franchise but retains many similar elements to the original Armored Core. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Armored Core 3 depicts a world where humanity has begun to live underneath the Earth's surface after a catastrophic global nuclear war broke out on the surface. The human beings who survived formed a subterranean society called "Layered". Layered is ruled by an artificial intelligence known as "The Controller", which dictates almost everything that happens in the world.

The two major corporations, Mirage and Crest Industries, and a relatively more minor one, Kisaragi, all vie for dominance and control over the land and assets in Layered. At the game's outset, The Controller seems to be experiencing frequent errors, which has led to a growth of support for a rebel group, known as Union, that wishes to overthrow The Controller.

The PlayStation 2 version of Armored Core 3 received "mixed or average" reviews, while the PlayStation Portable version received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the former console version a score of 34 out of 40.

Critics positively received the variety of mission objectives and the continued customization depth of the franchise but were unimpressed with the incremental nature of the game, barebones story, and continued control problems. Eurogamer's Martin Taylor called the variety of objectives "impressive", though later added: "Sadly, the prevalence of missions that have you either bumbling around streets or in various industrial buildings starts to become tiresome and samey" due to "uninspiring locales". In regards to the game's complicated gameplay, Shawn Sanders from Game Revolution stated that "none have been able to compete with the complexity and depth that is the Armored Core series".