Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I felt like I needed to wait outside of my local Gamestop for it to open. The suspense has been killing me for weeks. Persona 4 Arena is the best fighting game I ever played. That isn’t hyperbole by the way. The game itself takes a lot of cues from its rpg predecessors, as well as its spiritual brother Blazblue, and it’s a mesh that works well. Aside from the insane, multi hit combos available to every character; each one can throw out status effects that are unique to the element their persona represents. Electric characters can stun, ice characters can freeze, there are even a couple people who can trick you into instant death! Despite all this, the game still seems balanced wonderfully, with only one character truly being “cheesy” or “OP”. Currently, there are thirteen available fighters, but the Persona games have such a roster, I have a feeling more will come if this game takes popularity.  The controls are very intuitive as well; you have two buttons that control your characters actions, and two that utilize their Persona to attack. Mixing up physical slashes and punches with spells and mythological beasts just does not get old!

On the subject of multiplayer, there are a lot of fun little cosmetic options for when you step into online battle. You can give yourself a three phrase title, styled after the ones given to the main characters in the story (Mine is: The Supple Dutch Oven), as well as many palette swaps for your character (some styling them to look like other Persona characters, as well as other Aksys characters from Blazblue and Guilty Gear) Out of the twenty five plus matches I have had, only two have seemed to be really laggy, with the rest being almost indistinguishable from a home match. The only issue I actually have with the game, is that I wish the Burst meter filled up a little bit more quickly after use. Misusing it and then getting super juggled is a huge bummer, but also speaks to my lack of skill. Anywho, if you’re a PS3 player, and you pick it up, look for Lusty Bacon! We’ll go some rounds. Happy Fighting gents, and let me know what you think of the game in the comments below!