BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
Limited edition boxart, featuring (clockwise from top) Ruby, Yu, Ragna, and Hyde
Developer(s) Arc System Works
Publisher(s)
  • WW: Arc System Works
  • EU: PQube[1]
Producer(s) Toshimichi Mori[2]
Artist(s) Konomi Higuchi[3]
Series BlazBlue
Platform(s) Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
Microsoft Windows
Release
  • JP: May 31, 2018
  • NA: June 5, 2018
  • EU: June 22, 2018
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle[lower-alpha 1] is a 2D fighting game[4] developed and published by Arc System Works, released on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.[5] It features characters from the BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth and RWBY franchises by Arc System Works, Atlus, French Bread, and Rooster Teeth respectively.[6]

The game received mostly positive reviews, with praise directed towards its visuals, music, online functionality, and game mechanics. However, heavy criticism was directed towards its lack of overall content at launch, as well as its downloadable content (DLC) practices.

Plot

A singularity called the "Phantom Field" is mixing the reality of Blazblue with three other chosen universes, members of those worlds abruptly summoned while instructed by a "Phantom Field", the mysterious voice itself that they must protect the keystone in order to return to their homes. But as the Keystone is divided into four among the groups, it results in a battle to acquire them.

Gameplay

The gameplay in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is much different from previous entries of BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth. Yet, some of the gameplay mechanics from the main latest installments of these three said series are retained while having some additional revamp for this game. Cross Tag Battle features 2v2 battles and tag-ins similar to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.[7]

Characters

Cross Tag Battle has a total of 40 characters with 20 in the base game and another 20 available as Season 1 DLC.[8] On June 7, 2018, Arc System Works president Minoru Kidooka confirmed that Season 2 DLC is planned.[9] Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long were each scheduled to be downloadable content available for free, with the remaining 18 characters available for a premium.[10] In the PC version's release, Blake was made available at launch as the 21st base character, while Yang was added via update patch at her release date, leaving only 18 characters of Season 1 DLC.

BlazBlue Persona 4 Arena Under Night In-Birth RWBY
Notes:
† Downloadable content character
‡ Free downloadable content character

Development

In an 2016 interview with Forbes, Mori Toshimichi revealed his interest in making a RWBY fighting game, which attracted Rooster Teeth's attention.[22]

Before BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle's reveal, Rooster Teeth teased the possibility of a RWBY fighting game being revealed at Evo 2017 on their Twitter account.[23]

On July 16, 2017, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle was announced at the Evo 2017 championships following Ryusei Ito's victory in BlazBlue: Central Fiction.[24][25] Ragna the Bloodedge, Jin Kisaragi, Yu Narukami, Hyde Kido and Ruby Rose were revealed to be in the game via the announcement trailer.[26] Later, it was announced that Konomi Higuchi would be the game's lead character designer.[3] According to game director Toshimichi Mori, Cross Tag Battle would be released exclusively on consoles. Some characters from Under Night In-Birth were redrawn for this game to match out BlazBlue graphics. There are no plans on including other characters from other franchises such as Guilty Gear. According to the producer, the game's targeted userbase is non-Japanese.[27] Accordingly, Cross Tag Battle is the first BlazBlue game since Chrono Phantasma to be dubbed into English, with an option to toggle between English and Japanese voices on a by-character basis.[28]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic76/100 (PS4)[29]
79/100 (Switch)[30]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid8/10[31]
Famitsu35/40[32]
GamesMaster88%
GameSpot9/10[33]
IGN8.3/10[34]
OPM (UK)6/10

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle received mostly positive reviews, with praise directed towards its visuals, music, online functionality, and game mechanics.[29] However, heavy criticism was directed towards its lack of overall content at launch, as well as its downloadable content (DLC) practices. Famitsu awarded it a score of 35/40.[32]

Before release, Arc System Works announced that there would be twenty paid downloadable content (DLC) characters for the game for its first season, resulting in Cross Tag Battle launching with only half of its planned roster at 20. This caused backlash from fans, with the arguments that the game mostly reuses assets from earlier Arc System Works fighting games, and that half of Team RWBY would be sold separately.[35] In response, Mori announced that Blake and Yang would be released free of charge.[10][36] In addition, he stated that costs for the DLC characters would not exceed that of the game's base retail cost.[37][10]


Notes

  1. ↑ BureiBurū Kurosu Taggu Batoru (Japanese: ブレイブルー クロスタッグバトル) in Japanese

References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/PQubeGames/status/974676675022741511
  2. ↑ Migliacio, Michael (2017-07-17). "Evo 2017: Toshimichi Mori, Keeper of the Azure". Red Bull. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  3. 1 2 3 Sato. "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Announced, Features BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, UNIEL, And RWBY". Siliconera. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  4. ↑ Gach, Ethan. "Arc System Works Announces BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle At Evo 2017". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  5. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley. "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle stars characters from Persona and Under Night In-Birth". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  6. ↑ Mejia, Ozzie. "EVO 2017: Anime worlds collide in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Jubei joins BlazBlue: Central Fiction". Shacknews. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  7. ↑ Jones, Elton. "WATCH: Jubei Revealed for BlazBlue: Central Fiction & BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Teaser Trailer". Heavy.com. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  8. ↑ http://www.4gamer.net/games/384/G038454/20180112123/
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-l0MYPPBkE
  10. 1 2 3 Sato. "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Will Add RWBY's Blake Belladonna And Yang Xiao Long As Free DLC Characters". Siliconera. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Reilly, Luke. "BLAZBLUE CROSS TAG BATTLE ANNOUNCED". IGN. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  12. 1 2 3 "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Character Introduction Trailer #2". YouTube. Arc System Works. 15 October 2017.
  13. 1 2 3 "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle - Chie, Noel Vermilion, Waldstein reveal trailer". Youtube. NinEverything. 20 October 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 Sato. "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Reveals Yukiko Amagi, Gordeau, And Azrael". Siliconera. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle adds Iron Tager, Makoto Nanaya, v-No.13, and Es". Gematsu. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 arcsystemworks (2018-02-15), BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Character Introduction Trailer #6, retrieved 2018-02-15
  17. 1 2 3 arcsystemworks (2018-03-16), BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Character Introduction Trailer #7, retrieved 2018-03-16
  18. 1 2 3 arcsystemworks (2016-04-19), BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Character Introduction Trailer #8, retrieved 2018-04-19
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
  20. 1 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsqwErCYEhg
  21. ↑ https://twitter.com/ArcSystemWorksU/status/974681536460218373
  22. ↑ "Arc System Works And Its Fighting Game Legacy, It's All About The Cool". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  23. ↑ Good, Owen. "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle announced at Evo 2017". Polygon. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  24. ↑ Migliacio, Michael. "EVO 2017: Toshimichi Mori, Keeper of the Azure". Red Bull. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  25. ↑ Saed, Sherif. "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle announced at EVO 2017, features characters from Persona 4 Arena". VG247. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  26. ↑ Valdez, Nick. "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle combines BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, and RWBY". Destructoid. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  27. ↑ https://www.famitsu.com/news/201708/08138078.html
  28. ↑ Glagowski, Peter. "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will have an English dub when it releases". Destructoid. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  29. 1 2 "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  30. ↑ "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  31. ↑ Carter, Chris (June 6, 2018). "Review: BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle". Destructoid. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  32. 1 2 Romano, Sal (May 25, 2018). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1538". Gematsu. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  33. ↑ Higham, Michael (2018-06-06). "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Review - The Tag Team Dream". GameSpot. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  34. ↑ Saltzman, Mitchell (2018-06-05). "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Review". IGN. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  35. ↑ Ramsey, Robert. "Half of BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle's Character Roster Is DLC, Fans Are Raging". Push Square. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  36. ↑ Romano, Sal. "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle adds DLC character Yang Xiao Long; Blake and Yang to be free of charge". Gematsu. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  37. ↑ https://www.destructoid.com/blazblue-cross-tag-battle-producer-addresses-dlc-pricing-484209.phtml
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