The head-to-head fighting game genre is one of the longest-running genres in gaming and has received a variety of different styles to how it can be set up. For Arc System Works and ATLUS, they developed a fast-paced fighter title with many characters from the Persona series, and now with the help of their publisher, SEGA, it has been remade. For those that enjoy the fast-paced chaos style of head-to-head fighting titles, then Persona 4 Arena Ultimax should be on your radar.

Story

Following the events of Persona 4, the investigation team had split up for a while. It wasn’t long before they were all back in the same place again and, unfortunately, the night before they met back up they once again saw the tale of the Midnight Channel become reality. Only this time, it isn’t a murder spree that is taking place but rather… a tournament?

Seeing each of them called out by name and given a less-than-flattering title, the investigation team agrees to head back into the TV world to figure out what is going on. Are they in danger? Are others in danger? Why were they all mentioned by name? There is a lot to find out and an unknown amount of time to figure it out.

It was definitely interesting to see this story mode played out like a visual novel majority of the time, but with fights at crucial points in the story. The two genres are so vastly different yet somehow this blend worked pretty well in the end.

Gameplay

When you first load up, you will be presented with your Story mode options. This can be done episodically or through the point of view of a specific character. There 16 different character point-of-views to play the story through, but you will only start with 4 character options and can unlock other storylines as you complete each one. The episodic section doesn’t follow any one point of view but rather tells the story as an overall tale. This is an interesting way to go about doing this and each form of story telling presents different information on the overall story, so it is worth checking them both out.

However, if you aren’t into the story and are just here for the fighting, you can completely ignore the story mode without there being a consequence. By going through the different menu options, you will find the different options this game has for the bulk of the gameplay. I suggest starting with the practice section and going through the Challenge mode because here you will need to successfully complete different moves in order to proceed. It is the best way to learn a new character and to learn how to play overall.

Once you are comfortable with a character, you can head over to the offline and online battle menus. Online is pretty straightforward where you are looking for another player to take on. However, the offline battle menu has more options to work with. These different options all essentially work the same but score you differently and if you lose a match, you can continue where you left off with the option to change your character. I personally enjoy the classic Arcade mode in this sense. This is also where you will find the regular Versus mode if you’d like to go head-to-head against a friend.

The roster is pretty well filled out with multiple characters to choose from. Each character has their regular and Shadow version, plus there are over 20 color palette options to choose from when setting up. I personally didn’t see much difference between the Shadow and regular versions of the characters, but there seems to be a difference in the general execution of the harder, flashier moves.

As I mentioned before, this is a fast-paced fighter so be ready to be quick on your feet. You can dash, block, dodge, attack, and combo enemies. The move sets are pretty easy to get used to as well and are set up in a way that it isn’t too hard to pull off the big hits following a series of smaller ones. There is definitely a lot of room for players to master some serious attacks and styles.

Audio and Visual

Comparing this game’s audio and visual aspects to the original Persona 4 Arena title, I would say that they are simply improved in general quality. Everything is still colorful and flashy, the music can sometimes take your attention away from the game - in a positive way. There is definitely a lot of similarity to the original game in both of these aspects, but this game definitely has more detail overall.

Replayability

It’s a head-to-head combat fighter… of course, there is replayability! Plus, the story mode is pretty long so there will be plenty of content to get through.

What It Could Have Done Better

I thought the menu setup was interesting, once I figured it out, but at first load up, I genuinely thought there were only story mode options in this game. They should have found a way to make the menu just show off the different gameplay options on one screen rather than breaking it up how they did. It would be visually more appealing and functionally more accessible.

While the combat definitely seemed balanced, there were a few nit-picky issues that I can see the community digging into. For instance, when a player is defeated, the health bar should just be drained out but instead, it leaves the last bit of damage you did up for whatever reason.

Verdict

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a solid, fast-paced combat game! It is entertaining and challenging, offering plenty of guides and opportunities for new players to learn and old players to improve. The challenge system is definitely a game-changer, even if you have an idea on how to use a character. If you are a fan of the Persona series and enjoy head-to-head combat games, this is a must-buy title for your game library.