Persona 4 Arena Ultimax review

While it’s not unusual for a game franchise to sidestep stagnation by switching genres, 2012’s Persona 4 Arena was a truly remarkable crossover. With its source material exhibiting the rich characterization and resonant storytelling that’s characteristic for a role-playing game, Persona seemed an unlikely candidate for a pugilistic-minded spin-off. But Arc System Works (Guilty Gear, BlazBlue) created a surprisingly adept adaptation, having built a title that indulged both audiences. Fans of the core series where provided with a rich storyline which continued Persona 4’s narrative, while fighting game fanatics where given an outlet for fastidiously polished, combo-heavy matches.

Unsurprisingly, follow-up Persona 4 Arena Ultimax improved a few of the original game’s shortcomings, adding an attractive amount of additional content. Although some feared that the sequel might end up feeling like an overvalued expansion rather than a true successor, Ultimax’s assemblage of game modes, additional characters, and other amendments added up to a package that pleased a wide swath of fans. Now, the seventh generation title has been tweaked, tuned, and re-released for the eighth and ninth generation hardware, bundling all the DLC isn’t a reasonable priced package. Save for a few technical blemishes, P4AU is well worth revisiting for both fighting game fans as well as arden fans of Atlus’ role-playing franchise.

One of the struggles for any fighting game is finding the proper balance between offering accessibility to newcomers and providing enough sophistication to please an experience audience. Dexterously, Ultimax caters to both groups. For novices, the title provides an extensive tutorial which does a great job at imparting many of the fundamental fighting mechanics. Jumping into a match, they’re also be able to craft rudimentary combos with successions of single button presses, helping to build confidence as players pummel against lowly CPU-controlled drones. But boost the difficulty level or take on other humans, and manual combos prove to be dominant, rewarding an investment toward memorization and timing with combinations that dish out much damage, and aren’t as easily countered.

Beyond bringing back Arena’s thirteen fighters, Ultimax ushers in an additional four characters, as well as P4’s Sho Minazuki, who appears in two different forms, only one of which uses a persona. Rise Kujikawa seems destined to become a favorite combatant, with the budding idol using a microphone stand to inflict damage as well as the ability to send out musical notes than can be detonated to stun opponents. Yukari Takeba’s role as an actress means the fighter dons a Super Sentai-esque pink costume and fires a large pink bow, making her a particularly effective ranged character. Junpei Iori’s pursuit as a little league coach factor into his fighting style, where filling a baseball gauge (complete with runs, hits, balls, strikes, and outs) adds to his competence in combat. The team of Ken Amada and Korumaru offers another appealing choice for players, offering an agreeable arsenal of ranged, close and air-based attacks.

Beyond these new characters, first week purchasers can also download former policeman Tohru Adachi, as well as fan favorite, Marie, who earns different buffs depending on the state of her weather meter. As an additional purchase for the original release,  Margaret is now a freely available combatant, while all the ancillaries like custom colors schemes, glasses, and announcers are included in the base game.

But that’s not to say everything is flawless about the re-release. Certain visual elements in Unimax‘s such as backdrops and user interface fonting seem like they weren’t upscaled uniformly. Oddly, the lobby system is a PlayStation 4 exclusive, which means that the chibi-fied DLC avatars are absent from the Switch and PC iterations. But that’s not the only puzzling lack of parity. Rollback netcode is scheduled to be integrated into the game later this year, but only for the PlayStation and PC versions. Currently, players will have to tolerate delay-based netcode, which means matches can be interrupted by momentary moments of lag. For Switch owners, that appears to be a permanent blemish. In  execution, online matches were tolerable, with nominal moments of slowdown but matchmaking was slow. Hopefully, the latter issue becomes rectified as Unimax’s audience comes online.

Although Persona 4 Arena extended the story arc for its cast, playing through each character’s separate plotline meant players had to endure some redundancy. Alternatively, Ultimax offers two main arcs, where players are given the chance to choose between the perspectives of the P3 or P4 casts (all well as true ending content). Although there’s still a bit of repetition, each visual novel-esque journey is largely diverting, showcasing the progression and new problems that face each character.  While occasional fights interrupt the expositional element, the difficult is set low enough that those who prefer their Persona turn-based should still be able to pass the brief bouts.

Players who prefer to jump right into the action have the ability to take on opponents in Arcade Mode, Score Attack Mode, or via the game’s online multiplayer competitions. The latter component is well designed, allowing participants to leap right into Ranked matches or easily join or create their own rooms under the Player Match option.

Beyond these modes, players can also delve into the Golden Arena, a mode which employs light role-playing elements as characters strive to build social links. Much like a survival mode, players persevere against a processing of increasingly stronger foes, gaining experience which can be used to augment your combatant. While leveling up, characters increase their stats, while also earning perks like healing abilities or increasing your resistance to status effects. As players work their way down each successive floor, characters encounter the sporadic boss battle, which can bestow additional bonuses. Most interesting is the game’s auto mode, where players pass the duty of grinding on the AI, which does a tolerable job at mowing down opponents.

Typically, fighters receive commendation based on the quality of combat. With Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, not only are the fights top-notch, but elements that are uncommon for the genre also contribute to the game’s success. Whether you enjoyed the original Arena, are a Shin Megami Tensei fan, or just happen to enjoy a fighter with creative, well-crafted characters, a (re)purchase of Ultimax is an easy recommendation. Once again, any opportunity to spend time with Rise Kujikawa should be seized.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was played on the PlayStation 4 with review code provided by the publisher.