Review: Arcana Heart 3

Words by: Jennifer Allen | Posted on: Friday 19th August, 2011 | Filed under: Game Reviews, Retail Games.

It’d be cruel to dismiss Arcana Heart 3 as a bizarre yet excessively hardcore Japanese 2D fighting game. It’d also be very easy to do exactly that. Arcana Heart 3 is utterly bizarre at times to an outsider, of which there will be many considering this is the first in the series to reach European shores. But it’s not as hardcore as one would think, offering a series of methods in which to hook the more casual fighting fan as well as the hardcore bunch too.

Skimming past the convoluted plot that ties in with the previous Arcana Heart game, players can undertake the role of one of 23 female characters in a somewhat futuristic Japan. Each of these characters has their own back-story as well as a conclusion to the tale via the Story Mode. Much of this ensures that the characters are linked together. It’s a little bit mental and I’ll admit to not fully understanding everything about it. Fans of Japanese anime girls will particularly enjoy this game though even if the graphics do switch wildly from beautifully hand drawn in appearance to a little too simplistic for this generation. However, this does mean that Arcana Heart 3 consistently runs at a fast FPS without any noticeable slowdown, always essential for a game of this type. The storyline is just one way in which it’s obvious that this game is much more Eastern in nature than anything like the more mainstream affair of Capcom’s offerings and even the likes of the BlazBlue series.

The Story Mode follows a typical path like all other fighting games’ story modes with one pivotal difference: the end boss battle. Ragnarok is a fearsome foe indeed and occasionally feels a little cheap. Much more like an action adventure enemy, Ragnarok marks a real change of pace compared to regular battles and, even on the easiest difficulty level, can be quite a challenge. Players must destroy his weak spots while also fighting off his minions and jumping around on platforms to negotiate the stage.

Fighting on the whole is a deep and involving matter. It’s easy to get the hang of at first but with plenty of room to master it too. It actually feels more complex to master than anything else on the Xbox 360, even more so once you take into account the Arcana available. Players are given the option at the start to choose from one of 23 Arcana. These offer benefits such as passive abilities like defensive buffs as well as other attribute modifiers. Each adjusts the playing style just enough for there to be plenty of variety with certain combinations working better than others. Special Moves are also available in the form of Arcana Blaze. It’s a heavy mix but well worth mastering the best ways of combining characters with Arcana. There are 529 combinations in all so there’s certainly plenty to experiment with. Each character also feels very different, offering varied fighting styles. While each character might offer similar basic moves so that anyone can drop in, there’s enough variance here to feel suitably different every time.

In all, there are three attack buttons as is often customary with titles of this genre. Besides the Arcana button, there’s also the addition of the homing button. It’s a nice move, ensuring that gameplay is consistently offensive in nature with no real backtracking to be seen online or amongst the AI. Aerial combat is also boosted with such a button making for some thrilling midair clashes. Finally, there’s the Arcana Gauge to keep an eye on which fills up as the game goes by thus eventually allowing for a Special Move to be performed.

There’s a lot to take in here and a no frills presentation can mean that some will be put off by Arcana Hearts. They shouldn’t be though. All the relevant modes are here, including a Score Attack mode, Training and a comprehensive online lobby system that some more mainstream titles would do well to remember to launch with, including the ever important Spectator mode. Arcana Heart 3 will unfortunately be overlooked by some but fighting fans will greatly enjoy what’s here. There are plenty of hours of fun to be had here.

About Jennifer Allen

Jen's been playing games for longer than she can remember (20 odd years) and has been writing about them for 4 years. In her spare time she likes to pretend she can train her guinea pigs to do tricks. She should stick to chocobos.

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