As I’ve mentioned once or twice before, the new wave of fighting games is quick to show itself on various storefronts, whether in the form of betas and demos or final releases. Already I’ve enjoyed the Fighting EX Layer beta, I’ve bought Dragonball FighterZ, I’ve pre-ordered the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (which will be released later this month) and I’ve tried one or two betas of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. Right now Dragonball is a personal favourite of mine, even though I’m more comfortable with casual matches… however, I’m still eagerly anticipating the Street Fighter collection. That said, there is another fighting game to check out in the meantime – this week has seen the release of the Blazblue Cross Tag Battle demo, a new fighting game that features characters from Persona 4 Arena, Blazblue, Under Night In-Birth and the animation RWBY… all whilst boasting (as you’d imagine) a tag-team style of gameplay. Personally, my experience with these games is limited to a bunch of Persona 4 Arena and a few minutes with some PSP Blazblue game… however, I was still hoping that I might be able to begin playing with someone familiar like P4A’s Chie, get the fundamentals down, and then move on to other characters. Just like Street Fighter V! Ahem, anyway…
The basics of fighting in the Blazblue Cross Tag Battle demo
Upon launching the Blazblue Cross Tag Battle demo you’re dropped into the lobby and can pull up the main menu. VS mode and Tactics mode are unlocked – allowing you to play locally and understand the gameplay systems – and you can also join the online lobbies to fight other players, and customise your profile. Having 0 hours of Cross Tag experience I jumped into the Tactics mode, but there’s a lot to take in – this shouldn’t be a surprise if you’ve played modern Arc System Works games, but this is a comprehensive tutorial. The systems have elements of various older fighters, and reveal some interesting gameplay decisions that I hadn’t really seen in the Arcsys games I played. For instance, in the Blazblue Cross Tag battle demo you don’t pick an assist attack (as you would in Marvel); instead you push the assist button with a direction back or forth (or neutral) with different results. Essentially, you go in with three assists and it creates more of a guessing game. Other welcome returning systems are quick combos (AAAA, BBBB), specials (and follow-ups to specials), ukemi (quick recovery), clash assaults (think Dragon Rush attacks in FighterZ), instant kill attacks (as per P4A) and more. It seems like a lot at first, but I think you’d be able to get to grips with it quickly, especially if you’ve played one or two recent Arcsys fighters – there’s a lot of overlap.
Match gameplay in the Blazblue Cross Tag Battle demo
Having figured out the tactics, I went up against the CPU with Chie and Linne (because I may as well try an unfamiliar character) and unlearned everything in favour of autocombo rushdown. Okay, not quite. In practice the game feels familiar to P4 Arena and FighterZ (the only modern Arcsys titles I’ve really put time into), although less chaotic than the latter. It could end up being an interesting alternative if you stepped away from the FighterZ beta slightly bewildered, and feels immediately satisfying and fun even when you’re learning the basics. Besides all of the gameplay systems, it also looks great and features music from the various games that make up the crossover – I caught Chie’s theme in there whilst sparring, for instance. That said, I may still be wrapped up in SF Anniversary Collection by the time the full game of Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is released, so we’ll have to see if I can make time for it…
The Blazblue Cross Tag Battle demo is available until May 20th. The full game is slated for release in June, and you can discover more about the game here.