EPT![[image loading]](http://www.gamekyo.com/images_1/e62aa88b52c5260f672729618bc6c13720100128132408.jpg)
image taken from http://www.gamekyo.com/
Arcana Heart 3 is a 2D fighting game that's recently hit Japanese consoles on January 13th 2011. The game play is similar to certain games like Blazblue and Marvel vs Capcom 2 in that it uses dashes, airdashes, double jumps and the like. The game is also quite easy to pick up in terms of it's combos mostly stringly from light to heavy cancelling into a special move of choice.
+ Show Spoiler +
gameplay vid
That said, the differences end there as Arcana Heart's unique mechanisms include a movement feature called "homing" and a secondary set of character picks called "Arcana's". The former is activated with the tap of a button that literally "homes" your character towards your opponent. A double press speeds up the homing movement. You can also control your character during this movement allowing for crossups and other mixups. Arcana is a lot more complex but essentially it is a secondary set of moves you pick for your character as well as additional properties you imbue for your character (for example, Fire makes your charged attacks unblockable as a passive as well as have some fire balls and flamethrower moves.)
The game will also be notable for it's ALL girl cast.
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://www.zonex.com.sg/images/uploads/games/ArcanaHeart3CS.jpg)
However, it is not heavy in fan service as blatantly as say Dead or Alive or Soul Calibur. In fact, it is arguably even milder than Street Fighter 2 (Cammy, Juri, Chun Li) or Blazblue (Litchi, Makoto). The game is also one of the most balanced fighting games as character weaknesses and strength can be covered or countered by Arcana picks.
The character list is entirely too long to go into especially with the Arcana's. (23 characters with 23 arcanas make combinations too variable to list) The wiki gives a much better understanding for the characters/arcanas (listed at end of post). Instead I'll just preview my main Petra who uses ricocheting projectiles to zone and combo with the Arcana I often choose for her (Tyr, a giant mecha knight)
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://arcana.mizuumi.net/images_ah/f/f4/PetraP.gif)
![[image loading]](http://arcana.mizuumi.net/images_ah/d/d1/Gottfried.png)
images taken from arcana.mizuumi.net
How can you get it? Well, currently the game is import only so I just shopped through play-asia. You can only get it for PS3 as Xbox is ghetto and isn't region free. So just to recap.
Pros:
Very balanced fighter
Great innovative mechanics
Huge variety of valid combinations you can play
Netplay with very great netcode (lag is very very good)
Character animations are very cute
Your girlfriend may play with you =D!
Cons:
You don't like girls and only likes playing with men.
You are poor so can't afford it.
You bought Xbox instead of a superior region free Playstion 3.
You don't have a girlfriend to play with you, possibly because you only like playing with men.
Some links:
http://arcana.mizuumi.net/wiki/Main_Page (English wiki)
http://arcana.mizuumi.net/wiki/Tutorial/Page_1 (Manga tutorial for the game!)
http://homingcancel.com/index.php (English site for info on game)
Some youtube clips of match vids
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvkE5zkAW54
So what're you waiting for! Buy it now! =D
. but she's fun! wierd to me that 6B is unblockable
