PlayStation Vita Critic Reviews

Enjoy it I did. I'm not sizing it up for a spot on my GOTY list or anything, but I'll still look back on A.W.: Phoenix Festa with no small amount of fondness when it's all said and done.

A.W.: Phoenix Festa attempts to combine an action RPG with a dating sim and is actually able to pull it off.

Quotation forthcoming.

Too simple for it’s own good, A.W. Phoenix Festa is a game that never truly commits to itself. That’s sort of ironic since dating and relationships are such an important part of the experience.

Vita’s already seen a number of dating sims, but none of them combine action-RPG gameplay with visual novel elements like A.W.: Phoenix Festa. Because it handles both of these decently, it’s worth checking out for fans of the Asterisk War franchise and anyone who thinks they might enjoy such a combination. Unfortunately, it’s way too light on narrative to leave much of an impact; for a game about a tournament, it lacks the sort of excitement and tension you’d expect, and even the dating sim elements pay off in thin dividends.

I have zero doubt that, given extra time and material to work with, the developers could have produced one of the best anime-inspired video games this decade. What’s here is still modestly enjoyable, though, and this title is worth supporting just to champion the notion that anime games besides the Narutos and Dragon Balls of the world deserve localisations.

A.W.: Phoenix Festa is fresh and easy action game, mixed with simple dating sim mechanics. The light combat system and the pleasant graphics will help you enjoying this unassuming game, while the only few characters playable and the just two main modalities will easily bore you. In the end, a fair game that will entertain you for some hours, especially if you are a fan of the anime series.

Nothing about Namco Bandai’s, A.W.: Phoenix Festa is particularly bad, but then again, nothing about it is especially great either.

A.W. Phoenix Festa does a decent enough job at transferring the characters and setting of the anime to the Vita but does a terrible job of explaining those things for newcomers. The combination of dating sim and battling works well but no individual part excels.

The game is most enjoyable for fans of the series, but an overall shallow experience sinks the title in an already small Vita pond.