Can’t escape from DLC fate.

It’s EVO 2017 and the stage is set at Mandalay Bay Stadium- the biggest venue for a fighting game competition in history. After heated bouts between some of the best of the best, the screen goes dark and Arc System Works unveiled their latest in a genre they’ve all but mastered.

It started out all too familiar with Blazblue characters duking it out but all of a sudden, characters from P4U and UNIEL made their appearance, letting the audience know that this was the title so many have been asking for- a crossover between the various Arcsys fighters. As the final reveal of Ruby from RWBY faded from the screen, thousands cheered and I found myself off my seat at home, doing the same.

As someone who has been into fighting games since I was a child, Arcsys fighters have been some of my favorites in the genre since I discovered Guilty Gear X on the Dreamcast, and to see that they’re finally doing a crossover title had my head spinning with possibilities.

However, as with all things that seem too good to be true, the hype was short lived as the rather… “ambitious” DLC plan was brought to light. Launching with a roster of roughly 20 characters, the plan was to release the other half, the other 20 characters as DLC further down the road. This sparked a fair bit of controversy amongst the fans including myself who not only thought that it was a poorly conceived idea, but believed the way they decided to reveal it so early before the game’s release was likely not the best way to approach this PR disaster.

Despite the surrounding controversy, I wanted to give the game a fair shot, as if the game itself delivered on its promise of a true clash of worlds that I’ve been dreaming of, much could be forgiven.

Now you can finally answer the question, “Who would win in a fight? Yu Narukami or Ragna the Bloodedge?”

MSRP: $49.99 ($19.99 for DLC Character Pass)
Platform: PS4
Played on: PS4 Pro
Language: JPN/ENG
Played: 50~ hours

Trying to think of a way to cram characters from three different series with their own mechanics into one game is a daunting challenge, and the way it is approached in BBCTB was to simplify the move list for each character as well as their inputs. Instead of having four buttons for normals, one button is relegated as a tag button leaving three to be used for moves. It’s a jarring process to try to forget what amounts to muscle memory at this point of certain button combinations resulting in certain moves but after an hour or so, I started getting used to them.

There are two meters, one for supers and enhanced special moves and the other used for tag/assist actions. The two button universal dragon punch reversal is carried over from P4U, and even characters that have never traditionally had reversals have one now, which is a boon for characters like Nu who previously needed to use meter in order to use a true reversal.

Using meter, I was able to perform a push back that knocked the enemy back while I was suffering from block stun so I could get some breathing room. Using the assist meter, I was able to extend my combo for more damage and corner carry. I could also spend the entirety of my assist meter to use a tag out that allowed me to get one of my characters out of danger while they were getting combed, but this came with the penalty of not regenerating the aforementioned meter for a time. Given that this is a game where I could lose a character in one devastating combo, it was important to use my defensive tools as much as I could. There was also a mechanic that allowed for both my characters to attack the enemy for a short duration as it quickly drained through all of assist meter.

Using the assist mechanic, there was no shortage of combos and setplays I could invent and optimize. As someone who is known for spending more time in training mode than actually fighting other players, this was most welcome. Changing party members had drastic effects as even if I swapped out one of my two characters, the combos and setups that I had practiced would need to be reworked from the ground up, opening up new possibilities.

While extremely streamlined, the combat in BBCTB is still brimming with possibilities.

While the game plays well, the content present here feels lacking. The story mode plays out more like a fan fiction than anything else, and while I fully recognize all Arcsys fighters have really silly storylines, this one felt especially forgettable. Still, it offered some fun “what if” scenarios as well as a handful of chuckles, which is better than nothing.

There are some barebones challenge combos which are really the most basic of combos, and I was able to clear the challenge mode in a matter of about 2 hours. Oddly enough, there’s no arcade mode; in its stead there is a survival mode, but given how laughably easy the AI is for the first 20 or so matches, it’s really a shame there’s no arcade mode like the excellent skill-based arcade mode in DBF, where the difficulty ramps up the better the player performs.

At the least, there’s a full suite of online modes that one would expect, and during my over 100 bouts against a variety of players, I felt the experience to be solid for the most part. The online lobby and chibi character models representing players were well designed and I always appreciate the ability to hit the lab while waiting for ranked matches to pop.

Lastly, to address the elephant in the arcade, the $20 price point for all the currently announced character DLC packs is a good price, and quite a bit cheaper than what has been presented in other games. However, given that all the characters save for the four RWBY contenders are using sprite work from previous games, it makes sense that it would be cheap and frankly, it would have been insulting to ask for much more than the aforementioned price. What bugs me outside of having such a barebones roster to start with is that many characters which have yet to be released made appearances in the story mode as fully functioning combatants, perhaps showing that these are completed characters which they’re holding back to justify their DLC prices.

It’s these kinds of practices that end up hurting an otherwise perfectly good game and go on to tarnish its reputation, oftentimes irreversibly. If only they had just waited to release with its full 40 characters glory a few months later to have proper individual DLC after the title was allowed to simmer in its release, we would be talking only about the quality of the game and nothing more.

The main cast of RWBY are welcome additions and showcase the latest and best in sprite work from Arcsys.

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.

Fun Tidbit – My current team is Es and Tager. Fight me if you dare, nerds.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Accessible to players of all skill levels
  • Great potential in team and combo crafting
Bad
  • Lack of single player modes
  • How DLC is handled
7.5
Good
Written by
Jae has been a gamer ever since he got a Nintendo when he was just a child. He has a passion for games and enjoys writing. While he worries about the direction gaming as a medium might be headed, he's too busy playing games to do anything about it.