Disclaimer
I was sent a free copy of Azur Lane Crosswave to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. This is will be my honest review.
Shameless Self Promotion
If you’re looking for a way to upgrade your aesthetic, check out my reviews for the Epomaker QK108, the Redragon Antonium K745 Pro, and the adorable KiiBOOM Meow Pudding keycaps. Check out my latest review of the Fifine M9 Microphone System and the Kiwi Ears Aventus Wireless Headset. The Huanuo Nitroglide dual monitor arm is also pretty cool.
Make sure you check out the free ways you can support me, like using my Amazon affiliate link before you buy anything. It really helps me out if you do. You can also always buy me coffee! Don’t forget to share this review with your friends!
Table of Contents
What is Azur Lane Crosswave
Azur Lane is a visual novel where you collect war ship inspired waifus and occasionally do fast paced, third-person shooting. The game is available on PlayStation, Steam, and the Nintendo Switch.
Hook
The world of Azur Lane is mostly water. The four great nations have an fleet of cute ship girls guarding its boarders and protecting its oceans. Every year, the four nations (Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Iron Blood, and Sakura Nation) come together for a joint training exercise to train the newest generation of ships and a bit of diplomacy. This year, a mysterious figure infiltrates the session and brings the nations into war. Luckily, each nation’s roaster of ships (about 25 main characters and 30 supporting) are strong enough to fend off the invasion. Build your crew of your favorite ship waifu and set sail to save the world. Do you have what it takes to collect them all?
Gameplay
The game is essentially a visual novel. There is a main story of drama as the players try to figure out who is behind all of the attacks. There are also a series of side quests where the waifus are doing cute things, which is meant to be world building for fans of the original mobile game or who want to listen to more of their best girl. (The voice acting is fantastic). Occasionally, players get to do combat in a simple third person action shooter. Between combat, players can recruit new ships, buy them upgrades, and organize their roster. Players can go into battle with their choice of three main ships and three supporting ships. Each character has unique set of abilities that include: a main attack, a secondary more powerful attack, torpedo, a dodge, and a special ability. These change between girls and ship type.
Review
I played a lot of the mobile game, so I knew what to expect. This is a game you play to collect waifus and watch them do cute things. Sure there is a story and a bit of combat, but most of the effort went into creating cute girls to waifu bait. This isn’t a criticism of the game, I have been a long time fan of the series for this very reason. If you are a fan of the series and for some reason haven’t gotten this game, I would wait for the sale. The game is fine, but $40 is a lot for what you’re getting.
Aesthetic
This game know what its doing. The art in this game is fantastic. If you like cute anime girls, this game has your type buried somewhere in its limited roster. The visual novel have cute characters, but the backgrounds can very. Some are nice, but most are rather generic. The focus is clearly the girls. This isn’t a criticism, but it isn’t going to be for everyone. The 3D parts are boring. The maps are too small and bland, but I respect the amount of detail that goes into the few ship models you fight repeatedly. I will say that the water physics in this game is fantastic and it really gives players the feel of epic open water combat.
Story
The story is very cheesy, but fine. It isn’t something I would rush to play, but I didn’t hate reading through it. There is a lot of reading, and not all of it is relevant to the overarching story. Everything is voice acted, but it is in Japanese. The voice acting is fantastic and if you want to listen to more of your favorite ship girl, you probably already have this game in your library. If you aren’t interested in any of the characters, it isn’t worth it. I appreciate that the game lets players know which events are story relevant and there is the option to skip through cut scenes.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very simple and easy, even at the hardest difficulty. Combat is fine for the first few battles, but it gets repetitive. Every combat mission is the same, although sometimes the enemy changes. The map is very small and boring. I would argue that there was no real reason to make the game 3D. I played a lot of the mobile game that started it all, and I would have preferred the chibi tokens and the topdown survivor-like combat. The 3D litterly adds nothing. There is also so much reading in between combat, they should have just made it a visual novel. Changing the roster didn’t feel like it did enough, but I guess they had to make you work to collect your favorite waifu.
Conclusion
I knew what I was getting into when I requested the game. I played the original mobile game, am a fan of the ship girls and wanted a legitimate excuse to have this in my library. As a casual fan of the series, I think the game is too expensive. As a shooter, there isn’t enough strategy or skill required to justify the purchase. As a story, its fine but I am already forgetting what happened. It feels like something I would throw up in the background when I want to work and listen to people talk. Something that is good enough to sit through, but not so good it becomes a distraction. If you like cute anime girls doing cute things, this is full of those types of moments and you can collect the cute girls to occasionally fight for you sometimes.
That said, $40 is too expensive for this waifu bait and I would wait for sale. But for those of you who are just discovering their love for the magical world of Azur Lane, or those who just want a little more of it in their life, you can pick up a copy of Azur Lane Crosswave on PlayStation, Steam, and the Nintendo Switch. I would rather be playing Tivi.