Phantom Crash

"Giant Mechs, Sweet Music, Anime Style Makes it Great!"

The year is 2031 the place is Tokyo, Japan. After massive air pollution problems in Tokyo it is set as the new site for an extreme sport called Rumbling. In the Neglected Areas of Japan people battle to the end to win New Yen a new kind money used in the game and widely throughout the world. You enter into Rumbling as a newbie to become an Area Ranker or top of all the Wire Heads. This game is one of my favorites. You start off building your Scoobee (AKA Mech) from scratch. You can choose from 3 makes of Scoobees or you can purchase the parts separately and piece them together. There are tons of customization features and loads of different combinations for your Scoobee.

Controls 9

The controls in the game are simple enough to learn. The left analog stick controls your movement and the right analog stick controls your target. You can have up to 4 weapons on your Scoobee which are fired at will by the Left and Right shoulder buttons and X and Y buttons. The A button is used for jumping. Personally I feel that your jumping maneuverability is terrible and is hard to move where you want to go. You can even turn invisible at will by buying a few upgrades and pressing the B button.

Gameplay 9

There is so much to do in this game besides actually rumbling. There are only 3 areas to play in with night and day variations. But there is much more than just Rumbling you can customize your Scoobee heavily which can go on for hours and hours as long as you have the money. Going through all of the customization options takes time and getting your Scoobee set up to your own personal favorite will take some time.

Graphics 10

Everything in the game is detailed extremely and looks great. You can find a couple problems with this and that but nothing major. Sometimes under heavy attack by about 3 other Scoobees you can find some slowdown and if you stand in some places the camera will start to jerk slightly. The explosions in the game look good as well as the lighting effects and the slight view of invisible Scoobees kicking up dust.

Sound/Music 10

The music in this game can only be compared to the music in the Jet Set Radio series. It is some of the best-unknown stuff you’ll ever hear. I presume that the music comes from Japan although I really have no idea. Also if you have the money you can purchase albums to listen to in the game. You can even arrange your own personal music play list in the order that you want. The explosions and sounds of your Scoobee doing natural stuff sounds great and sounds just how you’d think it should.

Replayablity 9

You can play multi-player with up to 4 people, which keeps the game fun. I have put many hours into this game about 25 and I’am not completely done with it yet. For me this game is extremely addictive because it has everything that I like in a great game with great music, mechs, and the anime type style. If you like that sort of stuff this game is definitely for you.

Overall 9

This is a great game for the Xbox with an anime type feel to it. There are tons of customization options to do and the multi-player will keep you busy for a long time with a couple of friends. My only major complaint in the game is the large amount of seemingly useless conversations. Anyway with a little trick that is told in the instruction manual you can scream right past them.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/23/02, Updated 12/23/02