What do you get when you take a niche JRPG with a really awesome cast of characters and cross it with a fighting game engine akin to BlazBlue? Persona 4: Arena!

So, I was a huge fan of Persona 4 and like Persona 3 a good bit too (though I felt the cast was weaker in that one). I'm also an avid fighting game fan. I like BlazBlue's game play, but most of the characters in it are unappealing to me, so it didn't seem like it'd be that enjoyable to play. So when I heard there was going to be a fighting game based on Persona 4, of course I was excited. When I found that Arc System Works was developing it, I was deeply intrigued.

Persona 4 Arena takes the entire playable cast of Persona 4 and manages to squeeze in 4 characters from Persona 3 (in my opinion, the three best playable ones and a really interesting one that originally was not playable). They also have invented a new character for the story who's all kinds of neat. This gave me what is perhaps the first ever fighting game I've played where I enjoyed every single character in the roster. That's definitely earning this title some bonus points.

The gameplay is solid, employing smooth and fluid 2D fighting mechanics with flashy special maneuvers and Instant-Kill abilities. The action is fast paced and easy to pick up even if you've never played an Arc System fighter before.

Graphics: While still using 2D sprites, the graphics manage to be rather stunning. All sprites are hi-res and very polished to perfectly capture the look of the characters they represent. There are many detailed animations that move fluidly and nice special effects graphics.

Sound: The soundtrack mostly features songs taken from the original sound tracks of Persona 3 and 4. It also remixes a couple of themes (such as P4's battle theme and Heartful Cry from 3) and there are all new music for the characters' stages. The reused music was good before and still good now. While reusing is normally cheap, it's necessary in this case to recapture the proper feel/mood of the games from which it draws its content. The themes are used cleverly through the story mode for the most part. The new music is very good as well.

Addictiveness: This game is incredibly fun to play. I must have completed about 200 online battles in my first couple of weeks of having it and I also completed the story mode (which has multiple paths). It's really hard to get tired of this game because of how high quality it is.

Story: Story in a fighting game? Madness! But no, that's exactly what we have here. This is easily the most elaborate story mode I've ever seen in a fighter. Each character has their own story path packed with voiced dialogue and in-character narration between each fight.

Depth: The game offers several modes like a Tutorial Mode, Practice Mode, Versus, Story, Arcade, Challenges... it also offers Network Battles for fighting friends online and participating in Ranked Battles.

Difficulty: The game was made with Persona fans in mind... ones who may have never played a fighting game before in their lives. That said, Story Mode is absurdly easy so people can just move through and see the story without being hindered. It does have a Time Attack mode that's outrageously difficult if you want a challenge, though.

Overall, I feel this is a great game if you're a fan of the series (particularly Persona 4). It's also a solid fighting game that stands on its own and can be enjoyed by people who have no intention of ever playing Persona games. It's rare to see a fighting game based on another medium that holds up so well just as a fighting game. This is probably the best example of a game that's fun for anyone just as a really well-made game.