is an

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

, developed by

Access Games is a Japanese company specializing in the planning, development and distribution of video games and the research, development and distribution of software, data and video media. The company was originally founded in 1996 as a computer graphics pr ...

and published by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

. A remake titled , was released in Japan and Asia in December 2011 for the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

and

Gameplay

''Lord of Arcana'' is an action game that allows up to four players to fight monsters and demons, some of which make cameo appearances from other Square Enix games. The gameplay is very close to that of the ''

Monster Hunter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games that started with the game ''Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of platforms, ...

'', '' God Eater'', and '' Phantasy Star Portable'' series, featuring cinematic kills and mini-games. Players also have the ability to summon monsters to aid them in battle, and can also use magic (e.g. Fire, Light, etc.) to inflict damage on the enemy.

Plot

''Lord of Arcana'' takes place in a world called Horodyn, named after the land's first king. Somewhere in Horodyn lies an ancient stone known only as "Arcana", which apparently holds great magical power. Unfortunately, as well as humans, the world is home to many great and powerful monsters and beasts, which are fought by warriors known as Slayers who seek Arcana.

Development

The monsters featured in ''Lord of Arcana'' are designed by many artists from around the world.

Hitoshi Sakimoto is a Japanese video game music composer and arranger. He is best known for scoring ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Final Fantasy XII'', though he has composed soundtracks for over 80 other games. He began playing music and video games in elementa ...

served as the game's sound producer, with the score being composed by

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Jo ...

Kenichiro Fukui is a Japanese video game composer and electronic musician. Before working at Square Enix, he was employed at Konami. He was also an arranger and a keyboardist in the band The Black Mages. Additionally, Fukui arranged Angela Aki's " Kiss Me Good- ...

, and Satoshi Henmi.

Reception

''Lord of Arcana'' received "mixed" reviews according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of all four eights for a total of 32 out of 40.

References

External links

Japanese Official WebsiteInternational Official Website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Of Arcana 2010 video games

Lord of Apocalypse is an action role-playing game for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Access Games and published by Square Enix. A remake titled , was released in Japan and Asia in December 2011 for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable. Gameplay ...

Action role-playing video games PlayStation Portable games

Square Enix games Video games scored by Nobuo Uematsu Video games scored by Kenichiro Fukui Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender