BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle - The Short And Sweet Of It Review

BlazBlue has evolved quite a bit over the years. There's no denying it. It started off as an anime fighter in the vein of the flagship fighting game series Guilty Gear. It was fast paced, and featured an entirely new roster of characters with an entirely new story. Regardless of the new offerings the early or initial games in the ongoing series that is BlazBlue were simpler in the sense that they weren't as mode inclusive, or as story heavy as series entries midways, and later on down the line. As the series continued to grow though the story expanded as did the lore, the roster of characters, and the modes of play. Even in the online portions of the games innovation showed, if slightly so. New ways to stand out as players were given, and things like nameplates, avatars, and titles made their way in. Fast forward to today's times, and BlazBlue has all but strayed from it's beaten path. In "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle" it has ditched the tried, and true formula for a lesser spin-off that in most ways gives the paying players less. The roster, though inclusive of different characters, does not present the game in a light that truly builds upon, or even changes the core experience in such a way as to be awe inspiring. It borrows mechanics from tag team oriented games like MvC and Dragon Ball FighterZ, renames said mechanics to seem different, and in doing so only manages to rehash what's already been done. Perhaps to a slightly different degree.

Further still BBTag (BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle) strips player customization away to the bare minimum, gives the player a smaller roster with promised DLC characters on the way, and through said roster the game  continues to perpetuate what was wrong with Blazblue all along. That problem being the inclusion of easy to use, and abuse characters. In fact the whole of BBTag is comprised solely of the characters that are easily exploited. Going into my review process initially I was concerned with the fact that the roster was built this way. I was also concerned with the return of auto combos in relation to this. To Aksys Games' credit though I did end up finding a more technical side to the game in the form of deeply involved tag mechanics (mostly made complicated by control functionality and button orientation), and a roster that was balanced in the sense that all the characters were easy to use and/or abuse. That having been said it's of little consolation due to the fact that the online is horrendous due to lag issues, and that the core offline game seems to offer less in the way of additional features. Sure you've got a tacked on survival mode, and a replacement for the "Teach Me Miss Litchi" lore sessions as well as a story mode (which is only half arsed character to character crossover interactions), but where it counts BBTag ultimately falls short of what BlazBlue once was.

In the end I felt BBTag was more of a novelty item banking fully on the crossover event. It seemed to use the crossover of fighting game series, and the tag team craze as a crutch to shadow it's shortcomings, and sell the game purely on hype. Players going in blindly will definitely be caught off guard if they do not know what they were getting into. I personally was disappointed at the game's offerings, and the overall lackluster presentation, but as I said in my video review it does have potential value in the offline competitive scene. The game, despite my complaints, is balanced enough, and does contain a competent mixture of mechanics. With all things weighed I cannot suggest this for the at home gamer, but could see it working for the tournament scene.