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Playing it alone just isn't nearly as fun as playing it with a friend. Maybe if this was on the Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360, it would be fun.
Now, it sits with other games on my shelf to probably never be played again. Why.
This game was really amazing when I first bought it about a year ago. And trust me, if you've played Guilty Gear, you'll be praying to after a few months of this.
Because after playing other fighting games like Street Fighter 4 and Blazblue, this game just doesn't seem to hold water. At first, the game's almost customizable combat was amazing, but it gets old kinda quick and ends up being a stale all girl version of Guilty Gear.
This game begs to have online play. So maybe, Atlus will listen to my cries and port Arcana Heart 2 on the 360, PS3, and Wii so we can get even more out of this game.
They were making a serious fighting game, and those jiggling D cups are just "extra" icing on the cake.This game is by no means meant not to be taken seriously. Lilica uses her roller blades as a weapon, Lieselotte uses a creepy puppet, Kira who is only 11 has uses a globe of water to fight and wears a bathing suit (neat idea). Most 3d fighting games today are all glamour and no play. I mean it is simply awesome.
You don't just jump into battle and mash buttons. Capcom. No. And Saki all the way. But this game is def a keeper.
the designers of Arcana Heart knew what they were doing. I used an arcade stick first and just went back to a controller. This game is everything that a 2D fighter game should be and then some.Just to get the obvious out the way YES. She is the hardest boss I've ever faced in a fighting game and when you get to her you will see why. The fact that this game even has jiggling D cups, isn't a distraction thrown into the game just to cover up shabby game play. To be honest the sexual undertone is more cutesy than sexy, than some games/animes such as Ikki-Tousen (a great anime btw) where there is strong sexual implications.
All the characters have unique traits and fighting abilities. I didn't even know Arcana Heart existed and I'm sure that a lot of other people don't as well. Right up there with Street Fighter 2, Marvel Super Heroes, and Marvel Vs. If your like me you got tired of Ryu's Hadoken the 9,999th time you saw it since the early 90's. Because believe me Mildred will make you shatter controllers when you face her. I'm still getting the hang of combo's so again this game does take time to master.
What's cool about Arcana though is that the fighters are young girls so they play with that idea a lot. The controls are pretty straightforward. this game features a mildly sexually suggestive theme of teenage and some pre teenage girls fighting each other in one on one combat. All of their arcana's either match their personalities or back stories. This game is a spectacular fighting game.
I don't think I've been defeated by a more voluptuous boss. The ability to speed up battle would have made this A+ game an A+ + game. I can say that the characters in Arcana Heart aren't necessarily aimed at mocking other fighting characters, they are more aimed at being cliché's of anime characters. This is a serious fighting game. She's more than just another SNK boss, she is invincible. this is what the real kicker is. The only problem that I had with Arcana Heart is that there was no "Turbo" option on game play.
I learned of this game on a game review website. Despite what may have been a cheesy selling point like most all female cast fighting games. It's a serious fighting game wrapped in a cute package, but if you don't realize that when you get to Mildred the final boss you probably should stick to playing Shaq Fu. So if you watch anime you probably will see plenty of similarities.Gameplay is where Arcana Heart is strongest.
You have the ability to do some serious combo moves that can literally take your opponent from the ground to the air. uniquely you can customize your characters special ability by syncing them with different arcane gods. The only complaint I have is that the manual never says Square, circle, X, or triangle. You need to know the moves and know your character to win in this game.
No one is wearing a skimpy outfit really and all of their clothes stay on except for Heart who loses her shoe, and Mildred who's a bit top heavy.oh and that android chick. So there are quite a few unique characteristics thrown in for each of the girls. I must say that was probably one of the best gaming decision I made in a long time.Arcana Heart is an unbelievably fantastic game. Once you get over that set back and learn which button is which the game really takes off. This changes your characters specials and adds serious replay ability to the characters. and A,B,C. If your like me and have been gaming for a long time when you see A,B,C, you can easily forget your holding a PS2 controller. The review critic there went into enough detail that made me want to give them game a try.
Overall Arcana Heart is an awesome fighting game, it is worth buying if your into 2D fighting games, and no being on PS2 doesn't make a difference at all graphically. Some how, even though drives you to the point of insane rage, at the same time she arouses you (strong pun) to keep on playing. You have to kind of figure out which is which. This 2D fighter meets and exceeds expectations. It just call them weak attack, strong attack, med attack, etc.
Otherwise the sexual nature of the game is more on the humorous side.Now the game itself. You can pass it up, but your only missing out. In Arcana Heart you don't have to worry about being bored of the same specials, you can change them out anytime you'd like.Fighting.is one of the more unique aspects of Arcana Heart. It's up to you and what you like, but some characters have pretty simple specials, and some very technical. The beauty of a 2D fighter is its simplicity.
Oh yeah.
Character moves and interactions are fairly unique and interesting. Your main character has a set of abilities and then you tack on another set of abilities based upon your choice of arcana. This fighting game has a lot of complexity and depth to it. I especially like the artistic concept for Kira Daidohji with the water bubble.I'm not so sure this is a good fighting game for a home system while having no internet support. While this in itself might be manageable for the casual player the game toss in a load of playing dynamics that remind me of the more recent capcom fighting games. You have special move cancels, aerial combos, ground combos, juggle combos and a load of other dynamics that goes over my play ability.Artistically, it's an anime fighter and everything appears well animated. The game requires a high level of dedication to really enjoy the game fully. If you can find multiple people to play the game with who are dedicated to the game, then it can be enjoyable.
The use of the Homing button also allows a player to perform Guard Cancels, Homing Cancels (think Roman Cancels in Guilty Gear) and special moves related to which Arcana is selected for a given character.Which reminds me.the Arcana. Now, EXAMU, put the sequel on PS3.Overall: ^-^BREAK DOWN. Do you like loli in fighting games. I'm all about the otaku emoticons.*-* = Amazing^-^ = Good-_- = FairT_T = PoorGraphics: ^-^Do you like loli. Pretty much every stereotype from Chobits to Love Hina is accounted for in this game, so if those kinds of characters and graphics are your thing, you'll like what the game has to offer. The graphics themselves are decently drawn and rendered to a quality that's near Guilty Gear in presentation, but lack of a 480p option hurts for those who don't have access to a PS3.
It's an incredibly balanced, incredibly deep fighter with a lot of options and little room for mistakes.But what's going to turn most "stereotypical" hardcore gamers off, is undoubtedly the look of the game. The story itself is rather thin, and doesn't provide a lot of substance. The precursor to that game, Arcana Heart, was released a year before on the PS2 in Japan. Pressing all the attack buttons together will put your character into a special state that gives them special powers (such as boosted attack, defense, health regeneration, super meter regeneration, etc. Each one is an anime "moe" stereotype: you have the "demon girl", the "schoolgirl", the "maid", the "shrine maiden", the "ancient samurai chick", the "annoying brainy girl", the "annoying half-animal-half girl ninja", etc. Graphics and sound are 100% arcade authentic, so it's hard to complain unless you don't like the style.The complexity of the fighting system when compared to something like Guilty Gear (which is complex enough on its own) comes from two different elements: the Homing button and character duality - both of which are explained below. There you go.Sound: -_-Cutesy anime-ish fighting game voices and sugary soundtrack. Sound is in its original Japanese, so if you like cutesy JPop and anime voiceovers, you'll like what there is on display here.
It came out this week here in the States courtesy of Atlus (thanks guys), and of course I couldn't pass on the opportunity to pick up the domestic version and actually spend some time digging in and learning how to play without getting my gaijin butt kicked by loli maids wielding buster swords controlled by gothy 17-ish Japanese otaku in the game centers. All 11 fighters in the game are girls, and all are age 17 or under. No DLC planned.Fun Factor: -_-A complex 2D fighter. The Arcana is the extra layer of complexity, the "character duality" I spoke about above. The only unlocks available are in the gallery, and after seeing the additional fighters and Arcana available in the currently Japanese arcade-only sequel Arcana Heart 2, this game feels a bit.lacking.
If there's one thing I learned about the Japanese gaming scene while visiting Japan, and it's something I expected all along, it's that fighters and shooters - two genres more or less completely dead in the States - are thriving there. This is not a game you can learn in a single sitting, and some fighting purists may be turned off by the peculiar pacing of the game. If you have the patience, you can have a lot of fun here. However, that being said, it's still the most complex fighter on the market, despite its cute exterior, and will develop a larger hardcore tournament following in the States now that it has an official domestic release.Rating System: Who needs stars and numbers. Do you like fighting games. A nice feature is the balancing added to the Japanese arcade release of Arcana Heart FULL.
Each Arcana, in turn, has its own set of special moves and super moves that can be performed with joystick motions in combination with the Homing button. However, it's still one of the prettier 2D games on the system. but I digress.Like its sequel, Arcana Heart's looks can be very, very deceiving. (released a few months after the original) is included on the disc and users are free to choose which version of each character they'd like to use.
Every time I even attempted to play this game, I got my butt kicked -- HARD -- and I consider myself to be at least competent when it comes to fighting games. Seriously though, the graphics are pretty much on par with Guilty Gear, minus the 480p option. The Homing button is the cornerstone of chaining combos together in Arcana Heart, and allows the player to quickly zero in on an opponent from across the arena with a quick dash. But the singer of the main theme kind of.sucks :( Bummer.Replayability: ^-^Not a lot to unlock, but the fighting system is VERY complex, so there's a lot to learn. Pretty much par for the course here. One of the most popular new games in the game centers overseas was a lolita-infested cutesy fighter called "Arcana Heart 2", which contained the most complicated battle system I'd EVER SEEN to this date in a 2D 1 on 1 fighting game. The only thing that I have to warn about is if you don't like the cutesy art style.well, you probably won't be buying this anyway.
For the rest of you - the game looks like an interactive anime. It tends to be more difficult than most fighters, since you have to memorize two movelists: one for a fighter, and one for an Arcana.(I told you it was complex).The PS2 version has very few extras, and contains a bare-bones story mode, versus mode, arcade mode, gallery, and options menu. During that time, a super-special Arcana summon attack can be performed called an Arcana Break that can inflict MASSIVE damage on an opponent if it hits (this is similar to a Guilty Gear instant kill move). This combination of techniques pretty much makes up the core gameplay of Arcana Heart. The box art alone pretty much guarantees about 5 copies of this game are going to be sold.
It isn't as smooth as something like Guilty Gear, in that the movements of the characters are more deliberate, slower, and easier to punish mistakes (I believe this was a purposeful design decision to force use of the Homing button).Downloadable Content: N/APS2 game. Although there are only 11 main fighters in the game, you are required to pick 1 of 11 different Arcana (elemental beasts) to link with your main fighter. depending on which arcana is selected) for a limited period of time. Mastering a single character and Arcana combination will take a long time, mastering multiple will take even longer. Lack of online play stings, but it's PS2, what do you expect.
Yes, I absolutely suck when it comes to fighting games. Anyone who can mash buttons can beat me, but that doesn't change the fact that I love playing them.Arcana Heart is an all-female fighting game, which I think was long past due to debut in a culture where in fighting games the token females were only about half as strong as any male. With 11 girls and 11 arcana to choose from, there are 121 possible choices to make for your fighter, pretty much meaning a fighting style for everyone.The animations are fluid, the storyline is fun, and each girl and arcana has a unique move-set that can keep your opponent guessing at what you'll do next. I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys fighting games.
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