It has been a while indeed since I have written an article about game. Life has those things that can snatch some of your time away from gaming. This is a long due article and it will be shorter than usual. The reason ? Let us put that simply : Arcana Heart 3 is a slight disappointment in comparison with other fighting games I wrote about on this blog. Or maybe I put the bar too high, knowing it was coming from Arc System Works that produced the great BlazBlue series. Anyway, here are my thoughts.
An Original Game
Impressive Roster
The game has many original aspects that sets it apart from the rest of the games. Besides the fact that the entire cast is composed of girls (trying to surf on the kawaii trend), Arcana Heart 3 boasts 23 characters that can be associated with another 23 Arcana (Ice, Fire, Lightning, etc...), which brings an impressive number of 529 different combinations ! Each Arcana influences in its own way the stats of the selected character. |
| Character Selection. |
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| Arcana Selection |
Gameplay
Arcana Heart 3 is a 2D-fighting game, like many other titles made by Arc System Works. The gameplay looks well balanced but the response seems sluggish at times, though nothing redhibitory.Commands are usually simple enough and falls into 2 categories : character-specific moves and arcana-specific ones. However, the pace and the execution does not feel like BlazBlue and I find that somewhat disappointing as BlazBlue feels so much smoother in comparison.
I keep pointing out that Arcana Heart is very original. Well, the final boss fight was quite a surprise to me. You fight a giant mecha robot, but the gameplay is more like a platform game, where you have to jump your way up to destroy the targets. This is where the controls feels really sluggish, I do find it hard to move along the stage.
Graphics
Another original aspect
These animated sidebars show the characters fighting. You will see their special moves, their reactions and their emotions like the injured one above on the left. This brings a new dimension in how you see and live the fight, especially when you execute powerful moves.
Where the disappointment lies
In this age of HD gaming, Arcana Heart is a bad surprise with disappointing graphics that look coming from the previous century. Sure, the animated sidebars, the backgrounds and all other elements of the scene are high definition quality... except the main point : the characters and their animation. Have a look below.
The characters seem really out of place. They lack the refinement of everything around, so much that it is striking. It sticks out like a bad spot on the face. Not only that, the main menu looks like it was wrapped up so quickly that even the fonts look bad. For a game released in 2009, it gives a feeling of rush. And when you have already enjoyed the refinements of BlazBlue before, this literally hurts the eyes.
Final Thoughts
What remains here is an impression of a huge potential wasted. The original ideas, combined with an impressive combination of 529 styles (for tactical richness), were setting Arcana Heart 3 well apart from other fighting game franchises. Unfortunately, the realization gives an impression of a rushed release and spoils the game as a whole. If there is an Arcana Heart 4 that fixes the controls and boasts proper graphics, then I would certainly be eager to try it out. There is so much potential here to just leave it as it is.
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