BlazBlue Cross Tag Impressions Taken from Reviews And Gameplay Footage

So ... I spent part of the day watching gameplay, and reviews of the latest entry in the BlazBlue series. I saw IGN give it a beat around the bush passing review that pointed out both good, and bad things. The bad mostly attributed to a lackluster, and repetitive story mode element as well as some matchmaking quirks. Being the observant fighting game player that I am I paid attention to the roster. Those guys, and gals who transferred over from RWBY, BlazBlue, UNIEL, and Persona Arena Ultimax. What bothered me was the fact that the roster was made up mostly of the easy to use, and abuse characters. The projectile pests, and the ranged reachers. Even Iron Tager in all his abusive magnetic glory returned to my dismay. The only exceptions I noticed were Rachel Alucard who is a more technical BlazBlue character, and Chie from Persona Arena who is an up close melee martial artist. I had paid attention to the roster situation since the first announcement, and knew it was going to be the deciding factor as to whether or not I bought the game for myself, and as it turns out I did not end up buying the game for that very reason.

On top of the highly exploitable roster of characters is an easy combo, and mechanics system that is a lot like the one we saw in "Dragon Ball FighterZ". The only thing seemingly different is the ability to cash out a special meter for an assist combo or a cross breaker that allows for escape when a characters' health is low. It gives the player a couple new tag team options, but nothing really super innovative from what I can tell. IGN went on to say there are some netcode kinks in matchmaking from time to time, and I personally know that is to be expected from past playthroughs of BlazBlue games. The netcode is actually worse than Guilty Gear for some odd reason. My biggest problem with this is that in an online fighter that is so fast paced, and flashy the slightest amount of lag can cripple a players' ability to properly fight their opponent. I know this first hand from playing, and reviewing "BlazBlue: Central Fiction".

After having seen what I've seen, and heard what I've heard I think my choice not to buy into the hype was well founded. I can't imagine myself having fun going up against online players who pick only the most exploitable tag teams just to guarantee a win. Mark my words. This fighter isn't gonna do as well as the "Dragon Ball FighterZ" it attempted to be. It's nowhere near as balanced, or fair. Players are gonna get tired of happening upon similar character match-ups, and dealing with netcode issues. The only gamers who might get something out of it are tournament competitors, and those with a local group to experience it with. As IGN also said in their Youtube this is a game best played offline, and locally. Which is telling in itself

Those are my brief impressions based on gameplay footage, and IGN's breakdown of the game's features. You can take my thoughts as you see fit.