Not what I expected.

Posted by Antonio on 23rd Mar 2010

This, sadly, is not an arcade perfect port.

The graphics are much better when it comes to the backgrounds. The music is almost the same as the first game.
The gameplay is much better. It is easier to tie combos together and the action is faster than the first Arcana Heart.
There is also 20 characters and arcana now, that is nine more than the original.

Now,...for the negatve of the game. It is just not an arcade perfect transition to the ps2. Examu, who are the makers of the Arcana Heart series, just did not do enough to try an get it as close to the arcade version, as they could have.
It is faster than the first Arcana Heart for the ps2, but it is not as fast as the arcade version of AH2. Which, therefore, doesn't allow the high combo hit counts of the arcade version of arcana heart 2.
Even worse, when the characters move quickly on the screen...unbelievably, there is a drop in the quality of the sprites. Which are crisp and sharp when the characters are not moving quickly, but becomes pixelated and loses its crisp edges in high speed movement.
If that isn't bad enough, there is considerable slowdown when there is a lot of action going on the screen, especially if lots of projectile attacks have been launched.

In my opinion, it is still better than the first one because of the new and interesting characters. And also the gameplay is better, thanks to it being more combo friendly and each character getting new addition moves inserted to their old move list...but it is NOT what it could have been.

If I remember correctly, I gave the first arcana heart a 3 rating, but still called it a good and recommendable game.
I gave this one a 4 rating...but if it was a arcade perfect port of the arcana heart 2 game found in arcades...I would have given it a 5 rating.

Still a good game, just not what it could or should have been...which was great.