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"Persona 4 Arena" is based off the popular role-playing game. The fighting game by Arc System Works is beautiful and has enough personality to keep gamers playing.
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As a longtime fighting game fan, I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. The genre's popularity waxes and wanes, and after it became in vogue once again with the 2008 release of "Street Fighter IV," I was expecting a surge of interest before players wandered off to play shooters again.

It happens. A genre gets hot, and publishers flood the market. Before you know it, everyone is sick of the mediocrity. (Also see: "Guitar Hero.") That's how we get such calamities as "Shaq Fu" and "Eternal Champions."

But this time around, fighting games have had more longevity. Despite some disappointments, developers have continued to impress with high-quality titles. The latest to enter the ring are "Tekken Tag Tournament 2" and "Persona 4 Arena."

The two games are diametrically opposed. One is an established giant in the field; the other is a new experiment using characters from a popular role-playing game. "Tekken" uses polygons in a 3-D environment, while "Persona" features gorgeous hand-drawn sprites on a 2-D plane. Both feature a deep fighting system, but each has a different focus.

"Tekken Tag Tournament 2" recaptures the magic of one of the best entries to the series. It's the one that fans grew up playing on the PlayStation 2. Producer Katsuhiro Harada and his team are single-minded in their mission to provide one of the best experiences in the series, letting players choose from a cast of 59 characters.

There's no fluff. Everything is designed in service of letting players delve into the rich mechanics of the fighting system. Novices can get the most out of it with the Fight Lab, a rich story-driven tutorial that offers thorough lessons on how to play. For veterans, there's a good practice mode, where they can concoct different combination of fighters so they can use new moves like the tag throw. There's even some costume customization so that each fighter players bring in to an online match is unique.

But the biggest change is the World Tekken Federation. It's a planned social network that offers statistical breakdowns on player's move tendencies, weaknesses and strengths. Players can chat with other fans and experiment with building teams. It's a smart idea extending the world of Tekken, but I'm not sure if it will take off because, as of this review, the site isn't active.

One problem I experienced is a stuttering issue on my copy for Xbox 360. "Tekken Tag Tournament 2" pauses randomly in the middle of fights. It doesn't make it unplayable, but it is jarring in an otherwise good fighter.

If there's one thing that "Persona 4 Arena" has over "Tekken Tag Tournament 2," it's story. It's usually a deficiency when it comes to fighting games, but the team at Arc System Works (creators of "Guilty Gear" and "BlazBlue" series) worked with the RPG developers at Atlus to tell a coherent and compelling tale.

Yes, there is a lot of reading. Yes, there is minor interactivity during the scenes, but it grounds the world well enough that players are interested in the 13 playable characters, even if they skipped the RPG. Combine this with an accessible fighting system that makes it easy for newcomers to succeed, and it's a winning formula for a budding franchise.

Though it may be easy for novices to perform impressive Auto Combos, they'll need to learn the intricacies of Burst moves, canceling and Personas to succeed against the experts. It's a system that even includes status effects like poison in the course of battle.

It's a sprinkle of RPG elements that brings life to the genre. If "Persona 4 Arena" just added more radical features, then we could be talking about a game that could redefine the genre.

For now though, "Persona 4 Arena" continues a long string of good fighters and shows that fighting games are unlikely to fade into a niche. Perhaps, they're here to stay a little longer.


'Tekken Tag
Tournament 2'

* * ½

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U
Rating: Teen

'Persona 4 Arena'

H * *

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
Rating: Teen