BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

Whether playing through the story mode alone or against hardened opponents online, Cross Tag Battle is an absolute joy with a surplus of possibilities within its wide roster and versatile fighting system.

BlazBlue Cross-Tag Battle is a fantastic fighting game for newbies and veterans alike. Despite some questionable DLC practices and a market saturated with other great fighting game titles, it deserves to be played, practiced and played again.

Despite the dastardly DLC plan, a superb fighting game for all levels of experience with the genre. [Aug 2018, p.81]

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle offers a little of everything for everyone, and does so in splendid fashion.

If you’re a fan of either of the universes here, this is well worth your time and money.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is like a jigsaw puzzle made of pieces from four entirely different sets, that by some miracle still manage to fit together to make a unique and mesmerizing tag fighting game. Aside from its unsatisfying single-player mode and aggravating paywalled characters, it’s just the right blend of accessibility and depth, and one of the best entry points into fighting games you’ll find.

BlazBlue is another great game by Arc System Works, more accessible but still incredibly deep and technical.

The high degree of simplification seems unnecessary when the studio has successfully pulled off both technical and stylish input modes in the past. The roster, in its non-DLC state at least, is also wildly lopsided towards BlazBlue. It doesn’t have the staying power of the top-tier games of the genre, but it’s still a blast to see these fantasy crossovers play out with friends, so it more than evens out.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle doesn’t do anything to revolutionize the crossover tag team fighting system, it simply sticks to a formula that has worked before and does a great job with it.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle pretty much speaks to everyone, even if a few of its core mechanics aren't as refined as several of Arc's other works.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is a fantastic fighting game, marred by what feels like suspicious DLC practice and very familiar assets. If you can see past that though, you're going to massively enjoy this intense and intuitive anime fighter.

The fighting is solid both online and offline, and it's easy enough for players of all skill levels to enjoy. It really is the DLC plan that's a big decision point for players. With no timetable about when all of the fighters will be released, the smart move for the more casual set would be to wait until everything is out first and see if the company will release a more complete version later on. Otherwise, if you can't wait, you're in for a solid fighting experience.

Despite its lack of content, Blazeblue Cross Tag Battle offers plenty of cool and very dynamic fighting. Mixing all these different games was not that easy but Arc System Works did it in first class fashion.

A fighting game featuring characters from multiple beloved series I’ve come to adore through over a decade of fierce competition should have been nothing short of a dream come true. However, reality has a bad habit of encroaching on all precious dreams, and while the final product plays well enough, it stands not as the glorious celebration of Arcsys fighters history but instead as bittersweet reminder of what could have been.

​BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle hides an intricate combat system behind intuitive and simple controls which allow newcomers to have fun and veterans to find new and creative ways to win.

Taken the complexity out of its notorious fighting mechanics was a good choice - especially since playability wasn’t sacrificed over it. Having half of the roster staying hidden behind DLC definitely isn’t that smart.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle should have been a triumph for Arc System Works cross franchise fighter, but instead it's simply just another fighter. The simple controls allow everyone to enjoy the title this time but its lack of characters hurt what could have been a grand undertaking.

Overall, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a mixed package. While its character roster feels anaemic, its gameplay entertains in all the right ways.

There is an incredible core set of mechanics and gameplay at the heart of Cross Tag Battle. It is fun as hell to play, and addictive and rewarding to try and master. Unfortunately, the package that this gameplay ships in is embarrassingly sparse, especially by Arcsys standards.

I’m torn between the amazing gameplay and the lack of content. Fighting feels fantastic but there's too little where to put it to use. What is this alarming trend that fighting games are put out without their traditional content? One can only hope that three non-functioning arcade cabinets standing abandoned in the game’s 3D entrance are a promise of arcade mode coming sometime in the future – as long as it’s not paid DLC.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is an incredibly entertaining fighter that hinges on some brilliantly crafted team mechanics, so it's a real shame that the overall product is cloaked in controversy. Accessible yet open-ended and deep, Arc System Works' latest is slick and expressive, but it's the questionable DLC practices that ultimately muddy the waters.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle has got the fanservice down, but it feels more like a tribute to Arc System Works’ other games than its own unique beast. Its simplified fighting game mechanics, along with its reused assets, makes it only worth it for the most diehard of fans.

Despite its simplicity Cross Tag Battle still delivers finely balanced, fast fights. [Issue#151, p.94]

Overall, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is another solid fighter from the newly crowned king of fighters, but it is also a disappointingly smaller package than what fans expect from the publisher. By comparison, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Guilty Gear Xrd are longer-lasting alternatives, but for players have grown tired of both, this would be the next logical game to move to next.

Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is a nice and very accessible fighting game, with fighters coming from 4 different games. Too bad it lacks content, with its roster divided in two parts, the second part being sold separately through DLCs.