Phantom Crash

"An interesting little mecha title."

As a big fan of anime and mecha (from Mazinger Z and Gundam to Transformers) I naturally got interested by this game. But whats it really like?

Story - Long and quite complex but in a nutshell involves a futuristic 'sport' called rumbling where Scoobee's (the mechs you pilot) fight in a decaying Tokyo. During the game you find about the various characters and history of the sport. Pretty interesting all round.

Graphics - To be honest I wasn't overwhelmed or annoyed by the graphics, they were detailed enough to immerse you but looked like they came from a game also. The details on the scoobee's was nice though, vents opened up when they dashed and missiles streaked across the skies leaving trails. To be honest the graphics were more functional all round than jaw dropping but it was enough for me to enjoy.

Sound - Although the entire music collection is made up of Japanese music (so people who are anti J-pop might be throwing up now) some of the tracks I found to be quite fitting for the action - the faster techno stuff in particular. As sounds within the game are good aswell, your scoobee clunks and clangs it way through combat convincingly enough but the weapon impact noises weren't really loud or explosive they just 'hit'.

Gameplay - This is where you'll like or hate Phantom Crash. The controls are easy enough to get into almost straight away and feel very arcade style. Lock on's for missiles are simple enough and soon you're leaping around firing ammo in expert style. The custumizing too is fun and easy to get into, The scoobees have a range of parts to build them with (although nowhere as extensive or intricate as Armoured Core) and various paint jobs and stickers that range from plain to wacky. The part that you'll like or hate though is the long term appeal, basically all you do in Phantom Crash is go into an arena, blast some people to pieces then leave (if you can without being blown up yourself) then repeat, thats it no missions no variation. Multiplayer is possible allowing up to four players to battle it out with custom machines but that is also more of the same basic carnage availible in single player.

Replayability - Well the one player quest mode is extensive and the multiplayer fun but the question is do you like constantly doing the same thing? there are only three arena's to fight in also unless you add the training/testing area map which is the only one availible for four player fights brining the total to four arenas. There are a couple of secrets to discover in the game and yoou definatly won't complete this in a weekend.

Overall - If you like your games fast, intense and interesting by all means buy this it has a charm all of its own. Casual gamers might like it also but just remember what you do at the beginning you'll be doing for the rest of the game, so if you find you're enjoying it then you've a long lasting game to savour!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/03, Updated 01/18/03