The seventh game in FromSoftware's Armored Core series, released in 2003 for the Playstation 2.
It's been a few years since the fall of The Controller and the corporations have undertaken aggressive resettlement and development of the surface. Their efforts have been repeatedly stymied by the so-called Silent Line – an unexplored distant expanse no expedition has returned from. As the issue exacerbates the existing struggles between the corporations, onlookers find themselves asking if all that was gained could be lost.
The Silent Line, the corporation's skirmishes, civil unrest in the still-inhabited Layered and the efforts of the mysterious Artificial Intelligence Office to distribute and promote the use of AI technology have created a fertile market for a new generation of Global Cortex Ravens to leave their mark - including you.
A Mission-Pack Sequel to Armored Core 3, Silent Line massively increases your AC building options with a whopping 198 new AC parts (though a fair amount of these are "clone" variants with slightly tweaked stats). Left and right arm weapons can now be destroyed during combat, some weapons being specifically designed to induce this. The AI training feature from Armored Core: Master of Arena returns, letting you create your own AI pilot and develop its fighting styles by fighting against it or copying your data from arena matches.
An Updated Re-release titled Armored Core Silent Line Portable was released in 2010 for the PlayStation Portable. This version features extra parts, a revamped user interface based on that of Armored Core: Formula Front's, the ability to store five Armored Core designs instead of three, and a bonus Arena opponent plucked from the Armored Core: Brave New World novel.
Silent Line is followed by Armored Core: Nexus.
The game provides examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: IBIS, the AI of another Layered buried within the Silent Line. Unlike The Controller, which was content to keep to its domain, IBIS took very aggressive measures to prevent the corporations from discovering the other Layered.
- Boss Rush: The mission "Data Retrieval" has you fight three Ravens in succession.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite taking place not too long after Armored Core 3, none of the Ravens from that game besides Cypress return here.
- Kill Sat: The boundaries of the Silent Line are enforced by satellite strikes. One mid game mission has you defend a base that was inexplicably constructed in their firing range, forcing you to haul ass lest you be hit by their constant fire.
- Off the Rails: In a mid-game mission, Global Cortex holds a test to select suitable Ravens to undertake a dangerous mission on the service. It's supposed to be a single target shooting test like the "AC Test 2" option in Training, but when the announcer mentions only one candidate will be selected, the other Ravens get another idea…
- Old Save Bonus: You can transfer a save file from Armored Core 3 to inherit your garage and 1/10th of your money balance. This is the only way to use OP-INTENSIFY.
- Robotic Reveal: The representative of the Artificial Intelligence Office who contacts you throughout the game is eventually found to be IBIS. The Corpos find out something is wrong when they realize none of them have met face-to-face with a representation of the AIO.
- Sequel Escalation: The game features far more complex and intricate missions and a greatly expanded array of parts.
- Stealth-Based Mission: The first part of "Infiltrate New Fortress" has you traversing a ravine without being caught by helicopters' spotlights.
- Theme Naming: IBIS continues the bird-names pattern set by DOVE (renamed The Controller in the English translation of Armored Core 3).
