Picture Street Fighter + Marvel Super Heroes + Girls Girls Girls!
Even if you've seen a Samauri, Monk, or Android character in another game, trust me you're not even prepared to see them in this game. It's nothing that you'd expect at all. I got a lot of Street Fighter flash backs when I played Arcana. Mostly because you don't know what they characters are saying when they do their moves. Since hardly any of the game is dubbbed (well none of the audio is really), it kind of brings back those classic 2d fighter memories. The graphics are awsome.
The characters are detailed extremely well. The backgrounds are so so but a so so background is what makes a 2D fighter game! Otherwise I'd play one of those pansy games like Tekken where its all flash and graphics and no nitty gritty battles. I will say Arcana hearts is nothing to take lightly. The battles are hard and most of the time you'll run past the time limit. Theres really no cut and dry way to win. The fights are pretty unpredictable. You don't do punches and kicks and then throw in a fireball or some round house kick that takes you across the screen. The special moves are almost limitless. You have so many different attacks you can throw at an opponent its rediculous. You mgiht have 3 or 4 specials for Kicks and punches alone. The combo moves are rediculous, and you better know how to block! So far all I can say is that Arcana is a true fighting game, not some novelty featuring cute little girls.
If you like fighting games and you enjoyed Street figther, Marvel Superheroes, and all those capcom 2d games then you'll LOVE ARCANA HEARTS! If your a pansy and you like 3d games like Tekken and Soulcalibur you spend more time talking about pixels and graphics than focusing on the combat of the game, well then your better off looking for a controller to match your purse and Shoes.