The game is one of the best recreations of a popular series I have ever seen. P4: Arena really is a personified fighter.
Persona 4 quickly became a cult classic among Persona fans. Persona was originally known as Megami Tensei in Japan. I figured I'd throw that extra fun fact out there. After playing this game and having good conversations with an online pal of mine I decided to look into the original Persona 4 game. The fun I am having with this game made me want to try Persona 4 myself. Thank god my PS2 still works. Now lets review.
The presentation is flawless. That's something you could always expect from Arc system Works. The graphics is awesome. There are very few game developers out there that could top the graphical quality of Arc System Work's 2D games. The characters has amazing detail and vibrant color. And the backgrounds are breath taking. The backgrounds are an insane mixture of 2D and 3D. I have no idea how those guys do it.
The game has that same vibe from the traditional Persona 4 rpg game. The excessive use of yellow, crazy looking creatures, over the top background design, similar character behavior patterns, and plenty more. My online pal also schooled me on all of the references in this fighting game and some of the background stories of Persona 4. It is nice to see a game developer team pay so much attention to detail. It was as if the developers at Arc System Works were hardcore Persona 4 fans.
The story mode is pretty long and entertaining. If you never played Persona 4, then you might not get much of whats going on at first. But, Arc System Works did a good job at helping you understand whats going on. Therefore, I feel like I wasn't left in the dark. There are some animated cutscenes and some nice scene artwork. From time to time the story branches off depending on choices made, so replaying the story is recommended.
The story is a bit more linear than Blazblue, but it is a lot of fun to play. I like how the characters all have some kind of inner struggle they are trying to shake off. The previous statement is what Persona 4 is all about. The title actually gives you a good idea on what the subject matter is if you take the time to think about it. Its all about dealing with yourself. I don't want to spoil anything so I will stop there.
The music is sensational. The game has a wide range of remixes from Persona 4. The soundtrack of the original Persona 4 game was incredible. I checked it out after a conversation with my Persona 4 expert. The music isn't as one dimensional as some games. This game provides more than just guitar riffs and high octane sound. The quality of the soundtrack is kind of difficult to put into words. Lets just say the soundtrack is what I would like call Personified! It is very original. I know this is video game music, but I feel this is music I can blast in my car as I am driving.
The gameplay is really cool due to the fresh new style of play. If you played alot of Arc System Work games, then I am sure you are familiar with bursts, super cancels, air dashes, finishing moves, and block counters. This game is simple enough to play, but difficult to master. There is even an easy combo button for people who are having difficulties with combos.
Here is the layout for this game. You have a light, heavy, light persona, and heavy persona attack. Every character has a persona which is like there alter ego. The key to a successful fight is learning how to combine the attacks of the character and his/her respective persona. And some special moves require the use of your persona.
The greatest challenge with this game is avoiding the temporary loss of your persona. The personas have a life bar. Every character's persona has five lives, which can be lost by taking a hit while a persona has been activated. Therefore, carelessly using your persona could lead to losing your persona for a short period of time. Losing your persona will make things difficult, because you lose the ability to use specials and supers that require the use of your persona.
Since Persona 4 is an rpg game at heart certain character attacks can cause status ailments. These status ailments can make things difficult if you are not aware of them.
Status Ailments:
Poison: Temporary drains health.
Confusion: Reverses movement of left and right.
In other words, left is now right and right is now left.
Fear: Makes every hit a fatal counter hit.
Silence: Disables your ability to use a persona.
Enrage: Your can't block, but your attack power goes up.
Paralysis: You can't use normal controls.
You can only use quick escape and
mini jump to move.
Charm: You gradually lose some of your SP meter
and the meter you lose goes to your opponent.
Fortunately, these ailments don't last long. And you can get rid of the effect by landing a hit.
Now lets cover some of the movement options and abilities. You run on the ground and dash across the screen while you are in the air. Just like KOF 13, you can use the quick escape maneuver to get out of the corner and avoid attacks. Just remember that the quick escape cannot be used to move backwards only forward.
The mini jump allows you to hop in the air to avoid low attacks and use quick aerial attacks. However, the mini jumps are not as useful as the short hops in KOF 13. I believe the previous statement is a fact due to the fact I couldn't use it to help me complete a trial that required short range jumps in order to keep the trial combo going.
Just about every fighter has a super meter. The super meter is called the SP meter in this game. Here is what you can do with it. You can use it to activate supers, ex moves, cancels, and finishing moves.
Supers are really strong attacks that cause serious damage. Ex moves are powered up special moves. Cancels allow you to quickly put your character back in ready stance to either continue combos or get out of moves that leave you open. And finishing moves pretty much gives you the win if you connect with them. To use a finishing move you need 100 SP. The properties of each character's finishing move varies, so you have to be very careful. For instance, some finishers makes a character completely invincible to attacks, therefore you should only focus on figuring out how to avoid it.
Bursts are special for a few reasons. You can use it to break out of combos, gain SP, and extend combos. This move can only be used once. After you use it you have to wait for it to recharge. Using it while being attacked will knock your opponent away from you. Using it as you attack your opponent will pop them in the air long enough to extend combos. And using it without attacking will give you extra SP if you connect with it.
When your health is low enough you will automatically go into awakening mode. This mode extends your SP meter beyond 100 and gives you an extra super that is even more powerful than the ones you already have. The mode is important; because you can do even more damaging combos with the extra meter provided.
And there is one more thing about the gameplay. As you lose health you will see blue filling up your health gauge. This is used to do what they call a super cancel, which give you the ability to cancel into supers moves. Think of this as a way of finishing a combo with a punishing super. This is a good way to bring the pain.
There are modes available to help casual and hardcore players a like learn the in and outs of the game. Lesson mode shows all of the fundamentals. And the challenge modes gives you the opportunity to practice combos for each character. The challenge mode also provides demonstrations.
The online segment of this game is pretty basic, but has great functionality. It has all of the necessary stuff such as an 8 player lobby, quick messages, rank match, player match, spectator mode, and replay features. What stands out here is the quality of the netcode. It is really good. Lag isn't an issue at all. That's one thing I love about Arc System Work games. Plus, I like how the custom lobby goes beyond winner and loser stays. The random opponent feature is nice since everyone could get a fair amount of play time with that on.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:
+Amazing graphics.
+Plenty of references from the original Persona 4.
+Every character is unique.
+Has a soundtrack that could be one of the best fighter
soundtracks of this year.
+Refreshing gameplay mechanics.
+Online is very responsive.
+Easy to play game for casual players.
+Can still be a challenge for hardcore fighter fans.
+Persona spam can be punished.
+ It has a fast pace.
+You choose between English and Japanese voice acting.
(People do have preferences for some weird reason.)
Cons:
-There are a small number of characters.
(This isn't that big a deal since the characters are unique
but there are people who complain about that kind of thing.)
-Paying money for the glasses from Persona 4 is a bit much.
-I don't always understand why skilled players are the ones
rewarded with stuff like character voice announcers. While
players who can't get far enough have to pay to unlock those
features. I thought fighting games were meant to be fun. You
can call me old fashioned but that is how I feel about it.
Persona 4: Arena is an all around quality fighter. It looks simple on the surface, but can challenge those who wants a little more out of it. But what makes this game really shine is its personality. This game stayed true to the formula of Persona 4 based on the reactions from my Persona 4 expert and the game doesn't feel like a Capcomified game. I hope I didn't offend any Capcom fans out there.
Persona 4: Arena is refreshing and feels like its own game. The idea of having characters fight along side their persona in harmony was a really good idea. And it only makes sense that they fight like that, because this is supposed to be a fighter based on Persona 4 like tactics.
The inclusion of status ailments was probably questioned by some; however it only adds to the personality of this game. Persona 4 is actually an rpg, therefore it makes sense.
Sometimes the music can make or break a game. Thank goodness this game didn't disappoint. The soundtrack consists of remixes of Persona 4 themes. The themes are remarkable. I love the variety of music in this game. The game wasn't filled with mostly over the top guitar solos. Don't get upset with me Blazblue and Guilty Gear fans. I love the themes from those games too. It is just Persona 4: Arena has a more balanced mix of music.
The online works great, the online experience was stellar, and the story mode is a blast. This game was simply a pleasure to play.
I give this game a well deserved 9.0 out of 10. This game puts the P in the words personality and Persona.