The Blazblue series has always seemed appealing to me because each of the games is beautiful and these are very high quality fighting games. The problem? The progression curve to get to control the game a little is difficult. Tons of universal techniques, unique characters with each different system. And on top of that the user base does not follow, ie that few players play there. So the effort is huge to learn the game and there is a possibility that you will not find anyone at your level with whom to play and therefore have fun.
Blazblue Cross Tag Battle has arrived in 2018! Well aware of these problems and wanting to attract many more people to his series, the producer, Toshimichi Mori, decided to apply manipulations and universal moves for all the characters in his cross-over.
Although this was poorly highlighted, Arc System Works had the intelligence to make a beta version available before release, and to make the game free testable periodically on certain weekends during the year.
The result is that the game seduced me from the beta and the servers are constantly populated with people on PS4 anyway. They win back players each time in an update.
It’s easy to learn, we try the front, back and hop quarters we see pretty much how the characters work.
A year later, after an announcement of a new version 2.0 at the EVO, what is the game worth?
The 2.0 adds many elements that I’ll go through in detail:
9 characters
(whose presentation videos can be seen by following the link above)
Yumi (Senran Kagura Summer Versus)
Attack with these ice attacks. Has projectiles and rekkas. Its Anti-Air can run in the air.
Neo Politan (RWBY)
Is a versatile character who has already seduced the community. She specializes in the art of making mixups: that is, attacking at different locations in the opponent’s guard to force him to change guards
Akatsuki (Akatsuki Blitzkampf)
Is a classic Shoto in a game where no one is. It has a fireball, and a similar-Tatsumaki/Hurricane Kick. On the other hand, no Shoryuken/Dragon Punch, its A-D reflects the projectiles instead.
Blitztank (Akatsuki Blitzkampf)
The star of this update. A huge tank, little mobile that shoots lasers and energy orbs. By dashing, it attacks, and crosses the entire screen directly, but if the opponent blocks this attack, the tank is very vulnerable.
Celica (BlazBlue)
A Blazblue character who arrives with his puppet. She has hits with funny French names: “Lance Quiche” , “Marteau Flan”, “Armor Sorbet”, “Casque Velouté”. In general, a character who arrives with another entity is rather complex to use, fortunately this does not seem to be the case here, and the puppet constantly follows his master.
Elizabeth (P4A)
One of the hostesses of the Velvet Room arrives in the cross-over. His animations are also worked on. Her Persona has many attacks such as projectiles or tornadoes, allowing Elizabeth to keep a distance and set traps.
Adachi (P4AU)
The DLC character from Persona 4 Arena Ultimax returns with all its cruelty and madness. His Persona is a nasty version of Yu’s. His A-D is a counter in which the opponent must avoid hitting or risk being punished. Many projectiles also for his Persona, as for Elizabeth, he attacks from afar.
Hilda (Under Night In-Birth)
A ton of original projectiles for this bourgeoisie. Many types of swords materialize and are generated with each of Hilda’s special moves. It seems difficult to avoid the myriad of projectiles but fortunately it is rather slow.
Susanoo (BlazBlue)
A big monster throwing a whole bunch of green energy rays. He can and must run at the opponent to attack him to the body to the body. He must vary his attacks with his partner to trap opponents and do a lot of damage.
An additional scenario including the new characters
History fans will be thrilled. Personally this is not what sells me a game of fighting.
Gameplay mechanics
Cross Raid
After you finish the Smart Combo 1, if you press A again, your partner steps in and uses one last attack. It will have the improved status of “Active Switch.” This allows you to change places safely with the partner. At first you will do it by mistake often, but it is a new habit to take. This uses all your Cross Gauge.
Extra Assault
If you press C during the end of a 2-character Clash Assault, the attack does more damage. This requires a Fury Bar (Skill Gauge).
It was not an essential addition because it doesn’t change much in the end. Maybe it brings more spectacle.
Rampage Time
If the timer of the match has exceeded 80 seconds, the Fury Bars (Skill Gauge) of the 2 opponents will increase continuously. It’s a sudden death mode to push opponents to swing devastating blows and make mistakes.
Delayed Down Entrance
When your first character is defeated, you can maintain A,B or C to delay the timing of the second character’s entry on the screen. This is a technique that the pros will use wisely. Previously, the second character always entered at the same time, the opponent could calculate the timing of his trap to punish him. Now he has to think and know his opponent’s habits to eventually punish him.
Thousands of gameplay scale adjustments
Like the life bars of the characters who had 14,000 points, rose to 16,000.
As for those who had 16,000, they rose to 17,000. Weak characters resist a little longer.
For the characters in the Persona 4 Arena series, when their Persona was broken, they took more damage. This damage was halved.
And many others like:
- New interactions and colors for the characters
- A new level of beach inspired by Senran Kagura Estival Versus
- A new graphical interface for combat and screen (I really appreciate, it gives an impression of a new game. Everything is clear, but it was also before)
I would have liked additional game modes, maybe non-serious modes. Because after scouring the rest of the modes, there is only Survival Mode left to play against the CPU or against online players.
The cast now contains 49 characters.
Note that you can get all the content directly by purchasing the Special Edition On PS4, Switch,or Steam
I specify this because I find that the presence of the 9 new characters is poorly indicated in this bundle, but they are included.
Owners of version 1.0 or 1.5 can still play with everyone, even those in version 2.0. And they can buy the 2.0 Expansion Pack if they want to.
To conclude
If you’ve liked the game before: the game only gets better and gets content.
If you like fighting games: the game is not hard to learn, very beautiful and very fun. It remains to be seen if you are ready to make it a place among the countless quality fighting games available right now.
If you’re curious: it’s not the easiest game to start with, Samurai Shodown VII or Street Fighter V, are more affordable, but if your favorite character is now in the roster, it’s worth it to get started. With about fifty characters, it is possible to find happiness easily.
