What could be better than fighting against a female character in a classic 2D beat'em up game? Fighting against 11 beautiful female fighters, Arcana Heart's developers, Atlus, say. And they might be right... but they don't quite manage to implement that "beautiful" part, in my humble opinion. Still, this PlayStation 2 exclusive might compensate with a back to the basics scheme: fast paced gameplay and crazy combos. We'll see...

I really admire the honesty of the game developers or publishers, and Atlus seems to be the most honest one that I've ever seen, since their official press release states that they are "responsible for some of the best games you've never played". Yes, that was really funny, even though I *might* have played Odin Sphere for a while (or was it Etrian?). Never mind... let's get back to our sexy fighters from Arcana Heart.

This game's beauties will make your jaw drop (more likely with their fists) starting the 8th of April 2008 so you'd better get prepared. Because the story is as interesting as it could be in a fighting game: beyond our world, a strange world of the Elemental beings exists - the Arcana. Only the "Maidens" are able to communicate with them and, in exchange, these mighty spirits offer them (among some other naughtier things, probably), their abilities. What follows is a Mortal Kombat-like story: a mysterious person wants to merge these two worlds and bring peril to our world, so the Maidens rise and start the fight.

Arcana Heart brings some improved gameplay features with a varied list of customizable attack or defense skills - there are 11 different Arcana for you to select and build your combat strategy on. Also, since some very unnatural super powers are involved, this 2D fighting game will come packed with a supreme vertical action, allowing players to create some really spectacular aerial combos.

The game has not been rated yet by the ESRB, but it will soon, since it's going to be released for the PS2 consoles on the 8th of April.