'Persona 4 Arena' from Atlus and Arc System Works.
'Persona 4 Arena' for PS3 and Xbox 360.
'Persona 4 Arena' for PS3 and Xbox 360.
'Persona 4 Arena' for PS3 and Xbox 360.
'Persona 4 Arena' from Atlus and Arc System Works.
Atlus' RPG Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 was a hit when came out onto PlayStation 2 near the end of 2008. Now, almost four years later, the title makes its PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 debut in the form of a hardcore fighting game.
Developed by ARC System Works (Guilty Gear) and published by Atlus, Persona 4 Arena takes the heroes of the role playing video game and pits them against each other in one-on-one matches.
The game offers players a good selection of play modes, including a well-flowing tutorial to take new players through the motions of how to play. It's suggested that everybody -- including experienced fighting game players -- go through the tutorial because Persona 4 Arena is nothing like the Street Fighter clone it could easily have been.
True to SMT form Persona 4 Arena's story mode is one that not only has a plot to begin with, it actually focuses upon it. Players should expect to filter through a lot of text, character conversations, and anime cut scenes between battles. The 2D fighting action in story mode is quite intense and unprepared or unskilled players will have a tough go. Upping the difficulty even further is the fact that, unlike in other play modes, bouts can be single-round affairs. Lose just once, and it's game over.
Arcade mode is P4A's more traditional play mode, complete with three-round matches and a full character selection screen. This is where players will really get to see just how good of a game this is with breaks in the action only occurring between bouts. Fighting is fast paced, but doesn't allow for too much button mashing (save for the game's one-button combo). ARC System Works really deserves kudos for how well designed this game is both gameplay-wise and technically, as there was no slowdown or frame-rate issues encountered -- even when the action gets hot and heavy.
Other modes offered by P4A include a well-defined challenge mode and capabilities for online play.
Visually, Persona 4 Arena looks brilliant and stays faithful to the RPG that spawned it. The graphics and art are clean and well-done. In a word, P4A appears visually perfect. The game's audio follows suit with good voice work and a toe-tapping soundtrack that most should quite enjoy.
While it may fall by the wayside of mainstream gamers due to its niché RPG foundation, Persona 4 Arena is one of the better fighting titles released in 2012 thus far. Furthermore, for fans of Atlus' Persona series, the inclusion of elements from not only Persona 4 but also Persona 3 should prove quite the treat.
Final Game Guys grade: A-
(Atlus provided a copy of this game for review.)
News10/KXTV