BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

I can wholeheartedly say that this game is worth picking up; it's the most fun I've had with a fighting game in years. In spite of its simplified fighting, its unique mechanics are what you end up learning more of. Also the story mode is incredibly intriguing; it's been split into different episodes pertaining to the roster's different IPs and each is a story based on a different outcome, with BlazBlue's world having multiple endings. THE GOOD: At launch, it is only 50$ with free DLC for the first bit of time after **** game's combat has been simplified quite a lot to have more of a focus on its new mechanics and because of that, combos are based more off of how good you are with your team's synergy and adaptability than learning intense combos. Non-auto combos are still there and usually go into an assist or special move(or both); every IP's moves(L/H) and combo mechanics work a bit differently as well, so if you don't like the BlazBlue cast, try Under-Night's instead. The cast is somewhat diverse, with certain characters playing into archetypes(Like a basic sword user, a faster knife user, a fist user, etc.), but all of those archetypes play EXTREMELY differently and a much more diverse cast adding new(and expanding upon) those archetypes coming soon, so you will definitely be able to find a couple of characters that you'll want to learn more of. The tutorial is comprehensive, and the options of customization in terms of an online profile are somewhat detailed as well(with new things to unlock via a very quickly earned in-game currency). The story isn't incredibly short either and you have the option of skipping dialogue, so it works similarly to an arcade mode as well. Survival mode is fairly forgiving and addicting and the Netcode(as well as the mechanics) for online fights is fantastic as well. This game is incredibly comprehensive and well worth the time of casuals and hardcores for the fighting game genre. THE MEH: The starting cast is fairly small for a tag game and, despite being diverse, DOES have fan favorites from each franchise missing. The starting roster is 20(with 2 characters being free and a character pack being only free for the first bit of time after launch), with another 20 coming after launch(Half coming June 19th and the other half coming in packs of 3 every couple of weeks) priced altogether for another 20$; you're essentially paying 10 more dollars than a normal game for 10 more characters than a normal starting roster after all of those characters are out, so it's not actually a major rip-off or anything. THE BAD: After this DLC is out, there's pretty much guaranteed to be more afterwards, so more than likely you'll be paying another 20$. That being said, those aren't on-dics and they also aren't coming out ANY time soon. ------------------------- TL;DR The game is fantastic and you really can't do better for 50$. The roster at launch is a bit small, but the DLC is cheap and the gameplay(while simplified) is better than any other fighter I've played.

Befor playing the excellen Dragon Ball Fighter Z, I've never played an Arc System game before. But for a while, I had been eying this game for simply the amount of franchises it croos over and the excellent fighting mechanics I've experienced in DBZ. Now, after an excellent sale on the PS Store, I got to play this, and all in all, it is perfectly fine. The gameplay is what you would expect from Arc and fits the characters present. The roster is big, and each franchise feels the appropiate representation. The music is top notch with a main theme with variations from each series that had me rockin all the time. And the other modes are more than well put together. The problems come from the lackluster story mode, that never really does anything special, and has no cut scenes at all. Add that a limited amount of interesting extras or unlockables, and some technical flaws with the balancing of the different franchises, and this game ends up being a good cross-tag, but one that maybe needed a couple of crystals more to really make it bang. If you like any of this franchises or just want another solid fightning game, pick it up on the cheap. Otherwise, there are other ones better.

Too simple mechanics. Sad for this licenses and the good graphics. Game is still fun but below the other episodes

The idea here is great. 3 existing franchises brought together with a 4th new one with similar combat mechanics to allow for dream matchups. The good things. Plenty of characters. It has a good roster so far and they seem to be adding fast. The tag system works well (but gets used as an excuse) Many other games have implemented a good tag system as well without dragging characters moves lists through a pit of broken glass but some use it as an excuse for this game. The graphics are great and the online connection is rarely laggy after the intros. Now for some negatives. How does a game with 3 of my favorite 2d fighters end up with a 3 score? Because its not actually any of those 3 games at all. Its an incredibly simple fighter lacking even some of the most basic 2d fighting game mechanics skinned with my favorite characters. What made blazblue so great was that many characters felt different. They had different moves and controlled differently so to play 3 characters really felt like you were playing 3 different ways depending on who you picked. This game makes every characters move list identical. Every character is down forward attacks. The most basic and simple command in any fighting game is now the only command. This bothered me for a few reasons. First being that every character now feels the same but with different hitboxes and range. So now I cant even be excited to see if more of my favorite characters become usable since theyre not really my characters. Theyre missing several moves and even one of the earliest moves in fighting **** forward down forward uppercut moves. Inputs got more than simplified for this game...they got ****. When something is made accessible it means its easy to get into and start figuring out. This game locks you into easy and when you have your footing refuses to let you move forward. there is nothing complex to figure out. the whole game boils down to timing skills with calling in support characters. The games used to have 4 face atk buttons and a launcher for r1. in blazblue x activated character specific skills like hazamas chain. now there are only 2 atk buttons a character swap and a tag combo or ex skill activation button. so now hazama who used to be cool and unique has 1 atk button and triangle activates his chain. This is now the only game my 6 year old can beat me at sometimes through shear button mashing. In the end this games idea of accessible is like adding a wheelchair ramp to a **** once you get to the top youre met with a cage. You cant go farther no matter how bad you want because the moves have been stripped from the game leaving this as one of the most oversimplified child friendly fighter out there with absolutely no room for growth after you discover tag timing. I was horribly disappointed to see these games I loved so much get there chance together and lack even basic 2d game mechanics. That's something I thought arc would never do outside of dbz. I liked dbz but that's because its a new game...they didn't take a few complex ones and **** the commands like they did here. This isn't blazblue. Its a simple game with one command list and many character skins to go over that list. all of them missing huge chunks of there old moves list. I was actually mad at this game. And arc wants to simplify future games as well......this may be the end of there 2d dominance if all future games end up this dumbed down.

NOT RECOMMENDED GAME, boring mechanics if you think that the mechanics are likes Blazblue or Guilty gear forget about it, it's just a smashing buttons , Half of the roster missing, as Arc Sys say before theres 20 DLC characters: Poor offline content Story mode that is nothing that you have not seen before. Not arcade mode, Not time attack, not abyss mode only the typical survive mode, trials and practice. Online mode the same as always nothing new and with the same problems of always right now it's UNPLAYABLE. The price not compense the lacks of content and characters it's just a cheap excuse of Arc Sys. Disappointed game it's not an item of the quality that Arc Sys had us used to. a shame. Only graphics and musics excel in this game that the only thing that pretends is to take money from its users. Greeting.