Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Genre: Fighting Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local), 2-8 Competitive Tournament (Online)

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Review:

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a Fighting Game released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014, with a port to PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch in 2022. This game is a direct sequel to Persona 4 Arena, itself based on the RPG Persona 4, featuring that game’s characters and following its story with appearances by characters from Persona 3 as well, making for a decent-size roster of 21 characters.

Those who aren’t familiar with the story and characters of Persona 3 and 4 may find themselves at a loss following this game’s story (making it all the more odd that it was brought to the Switch a full year before either of those games are due to see release on Nintendo’s handheld), but I suppose one could see this as a nice bonus for fans of the Persona series rather than a necessary prerequisite. After all, people don’t generally play Fighting Games for their story.

However, fans and non-fans alike should be able to appreciate this game’s wonderfully-detailed and beautifully-animated anime-style 2D characters fighting in locales that combine 2D and 3D elements. Furthermore, the game’s characters are all voiced in English with decent voice acting, and all of this is backed by an excellent soundtrack with catchy pop themes like Break Out Of and Reach Out to the Truth. In short, this game looks and sounds great, and bears much of the great style the persona series is known for.

That’s not the only thing this game takes from the Persona franchise. Multiple gameplay elements here were clearly inspired by the Persona games. There are clear references to common magic spells from throughout the franchise, but the most notable influence here is that half of each character’s moves summon that character’s Persona, a demonic creature that has much greater reach than the character does on their own. However, these Persona attacks aren’t just flashy-looking moves – the Persona can take damage themselves if you’re not careful in how you use them, and if they take too much damage they’ll be out of commission for a short while. It’s a clever mechanic with a clear risk/reward factor that really sets this game apart from other Fighting Games.

As for how things work out as a whole, gameplay in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is oddly both highly-accessible for newer players, but also somewhat difficult for newer players to fully grasp. On the one hand, if players prefer, they can make use of a single-button combo system to pull off some flashy moves without having to be an expert at the game. On the other hand, this game makes use of countless moves that require a combination of buttons pressed at the same time, and it can be hard to keep track of which button combinations do what. As a result, this is a game that’s easier than most Fighting Games to start playing, but I would argue it’s likely to be harder than most to get truly good at.

One more thing I should address here before wrapping this up – Persona 4 Arena Ultimax supports online play, but unfortunately the online lobbies are empty at this point. If you’re looking to throw down in multiplayer, you’ll want to bring your own opponent.

In the end, while it’s not without its flaws, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is an outstanding Fighting Game that not only takes inspiration from the Persona franchise to deliver a really unique take on the genre, but it does it with the sort of stylish flair we’ve come to expect from the Persona games. And if you’re a Fighting Game player who’s not a fan of Persona, the quality gameplay and visuals here may still make this well worth trying out for you.

tl;dr – Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a Fighting Game with a roster of characters from Persona 3 and 4, as well as having some clever gameplay mechanics inspired by the Persona franchise. On top of this, the game looks and sounds great, with wonderfully well-animated visuals and a catchy soundtrack. It’s unfortunate that the online lobbies are empty, and the game’s multi-button moves make for a steep learning curve for those who want to master the game, but even with these issues, this is still a must-have for Fighting Game fans.

Grade: B+

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