Ok. I finally have been able to play Magical Battle Arena and its subsequent updates (Lyrical Pack and Complete Pack). The game is impressive for a doujin game in terms of its game play. However, the controls can be somewhat glitchy. One example is the fact that once a character is hit, you might as well kiss half of their health goodbye. This is very frustrating at times if you are the one being hit. Sometimes, the controls just will not do what the player wants. "Go left!"...or get hit a million more times and die. The game plays much like the DBZ Budokai games in a lot of ways. Each character has three special attacks and two "berserker" attacks complemented with plain magic and short range physical attacks. Much of the game is done flying. The player can press the "dash" button to gain more speed or double tap it to do a speed burst. In addition, the player can cycle through and/or disengage their target or opponent. The combination of these abilities allows for the player to move about the stage fairly freely. The stages themselves are not horribly designed, but they do tend to show about a PS1 or PS2 level of graphics. The modes of play include "Story Mode," "Mission Mode," "Survival Mode," "Training Mode," "Network Versus Mode," and "Versus Mode." The first three modes along the player to unlock many of the secrets in the games, which includes several characters, stages, and loading screens. The options menu allows the player to control the screen resolution, the fps rate, the difficulty, the control configuration, and several other options. The game allows the choice of playing between a keyboard and a gamepad. The music for the game is alright, but it certainly will not win any awards in the near future or have catalog like Touhou. Regardless, the game holds its own, despite the control glitches. Some of the "berserker" attacks really make the game worth it. Also, if one is looking for a challenge, this game has that and then some. It will have the player wondering, "Why can I not beat this?!" The game has some degree of strategy that the player will need to adapt to on a character-by-character basis. Even then, this does not guarantee absolute victory. Either way, I give this game an 8/10.
By the way, this game has made me want the next season of Nanoha in the worst way.