Arcana Heart is a series of one-on-one; 2-D fighting games featuring an all-girl anime-styled cast. Each femme fatale is trying to get their hands on a collection of magical stones for various reasons, and each character has a powerful Arcana creature to help them.  The “LOVE MAX!!!!!” version of this game adds a few new modes and features from Arcana Heart 3, released a couple of years ago.  If you enjoy fast and accessible cartoony 2-D fighters like Marvel vs. Capcom 3, you may want to check this one out.  It’s available for PS3 and Vita, but reviewed on PS3 here.

Arcana Heart 3 plays like any 2-D fighter out there, meaning you press combinations of buttons and joystick movements to perform flashy and powerful fighting moves to beat your opponent. In each mode, you can choose Normal or Simple controls.  Simple controls let you perform some of the more powerful moves with just button presses, which is great for novices or people like me who just mash buttons and hope for the best.

Arcana Heart 3: LOVE MAX!!!!! (Yes, the five exclamation points are part of the title), has several different gameplay modes. You have the story mode, which plays more like an arcade mode than anything.  Each character has a background story, but the focus is more on fighting action than anything.  There is also an After Story mode, which is similar to the story modes in BlazBlue fighters.  Meaning, you read a lot of text and maybe have a fight in a character’s story, if you’re lucky.  But if you’re interested in knowing more of the fighters’ backstories, this is the mode for you.

There is also a Versus mode where you can challenge the CPU or your friends locally. In Survival Score Attack, see how far you can make it battling a series of fighters without replenishing your health after every round.  Trial mode has various challenges for you to master with each character.  In Time Attack, finish battles as quickly as possible, and you can also practice moves in Training mode.  And of course, you can challenge players around the world online via PSN.  Not to mention record and watch replays and unlock all sorts of goodies in the Gallery, like artwork and animations.

Even though this game stars a cast of female-only anime girl stereotypes, there are still some interesting and varied characters you can play as. The fighting action is fast and accessible, and even I could get the hang of it (which is saying a lot since I’m not very good at fighting games).  If you enjoy 2-D fighters, you may want to check this one out.

Kid Factor:

Arcana Heart 3: LOVE MAX!!!!! is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Alcohol Reference, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, and Violence. It’s a fighting game, so you do battle with punches, kicks, and flashy special moves.  But it’s also all super cartoony.  The alcohol references and language are in the text only, and I personally didn’t see either when I played.  Since the cast of fighters are all anime females, there are some skimpy outfits and sexual innuendos.  But it’s also presented in a campy way.  Even so, because of that, this game is probably best suited for teens and older players, or at least gamers accustomed to those kinds of anime stereotypes.

Tags: Game Reviews