Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax Review: One of the Best Fighters of 2014

Ever since the American release of “Persona 3” in 2007 the “Shin Megami Tensei” franchise has exploded in America. From “Persona 2: Innocent Sin” to “Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers ” it’s astounding. One of the more recent releases is “Persona 4 Arena” developed by both “Arc System Works” and “Atlus” takes the characters of “Persona 4” along with some “Persona 3” characters and put them in a fighting tournament. This game has done so well that a sequel was imminent. Enter “Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax,” a “Capcom” like sequel/upgrade that takes the first game and brings it up to a new level.

“Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax’s” story takes place immediately after the events of the first game. This time a red fog has engulfed the town of Inaba, causing the real world to be like the TV World, make everything that runs on electricity useless and all the inhabitants have disappeared. On top of that, General Teddie is back and this time he has taken the “Persona 3” characters hostage.

This story is much stronger than the previous game. Here it seems more like a real mystery, there’s a much greater sense of danger and is much better fleshed out. Also, unlike the previous game where each character had their own story mode, here the story is on a grid like map where each chapter appears each time you finish one. This is a much better way of doing the story than having to do play character one at a time.

Gameplay wise, nothing much has changed. Since this game was developed by “Arc System Works” it has all the things people expect from this company: Lightning fast fighting with a ton of flashy visuals thrown in. This is one of the most user-friendly fighters in that the characters moves input are very similar to many fighting games. The addition of the personas brings an all new level of complexity to the fighting engine.

If you’re worried about how much the roster has changed, fear not as there are seven new characters. Yukari, Ken and Junpei from “Persona 3” join the pack. From “Persona 4” there’s Adachi, Margaret, Rise (yes, Rise) and Marie. There’s also a new character named Sho. As with any fighting gaem, they each have their strengths, weaknesses and certain players will love and hate each one.

The game offers plenty of gameplay features outside story and arcade mode. There’s online mode where, like many fighting games today, has ranking battles and lobbies. The difference here is that lobbies look like arcades with characters playing at arcade machines. To start a match just go to any free arcade machine and either wait for an opponent or go to one with an opponent. The pros here are that you know who’s free and who’s playing who. Not to mention your avatar is one of the playable characters, many of which can be bought via DLC. The con here is there are many lobbies are empty and all of them look the same despite being a location in “Persona 3 or 4.”

There’s also golden arena which is basically a character rush mode mixed with RPG elements where your character gains levels, skills and ability points. If it weren’t for the RPG elements this would be just another generic character rush mode. There’s the score attack mode which is exactly as it sounds.

The technical side of the game is hit or miss. On one hand, the visuals in the stages and the fighters look great. You will be mesmerized if you ever watch a match. The soundtrack has tracks from “Persona 3 and 4” plus some newer tracks. If you’re a “Persona” fan you’ll love the soundtrack. If not, it’s hit or miss. On the other hand, the animations during the story scenes are still images of characters with their mouths moving and their facial expressions changing. This may seem like a minor thing, but once you consider how “NetherRealm Studios” did the story mode in “Mortal Kombat” it is a big deal. Not to mention those who like the Japanese voices are out of luck. The only time you can hear them is during battle and not during story segments.

This game has a ton of DLC. There’s three characters (Adachi, Marie and Margaret,) extra colors, lobby and profile avatars, round call characters and more. The best DLC of them all is “Persona 4 Arena” story mode. If you’ve never played the first game, you’re better off buying this one and paying $10 for the story DLC.

If you’ve never played “Persona 4 Arena” now’s the perfect time to play it with its sequel. An improved story mode, playable characters form “Persona 3 and 4,” the previous game’s story mode is DLC plus a ton more makes this one the best fighting games of 2014.