Last year, I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion—the series and all the films. I was so moved by Hideaka Anno’s mecha anime that I went out and got a tattoo of EVA Unit-01 going berserk. It hurt like hell, but it’s my favorite piece now. Despite my love for the series, I never wanted an Evangelion video game. It’s not a story I thought would translate well to the interactive medium. Simply watching Shinji’s journey as a spectator was more than enough for me. But then I played Armored Core 6, the best Evangelion game a mecha fan could have asked for.
The stories share a lot of similarities. Both protagonists, young Shinji Ikari and augmented human C4-621, also known as Raven, are skilled pilots and unwilling pawns in a game larger than they can comprehend. Shinji is used by his father, Gendo, and 621 is used by his handler, Walter. Both these men throw those in their care to the meat grinder to further their secret goals.