Phantom Crash Review

Over the last few years, the Japanese obsession with towering war machines has slowly begun to filter over into the West, no longer are mech games considered to be niche titles that only attract Iron-Maiden T-Shirt wearing freaks with long hair and spotty complexions.<br><br>Phantom Crash comes from the developer of the Tokyo Extreme Racer series, and merges simulation with action, to create one of the most playable and enjoyable mech games we’ve seen in recent times.<br><br>It’s likely that you’ll shirk at the lack of modes and options when you first boot up the game, only a Versus mode and Quest mode are available; however behind the simple menu screen lies a complex single player experience that is likely to hook anyone who enjoys a good blaster.<br><br>The story takes the familiar path that many of Japan’s most creative talents like to tell; a future where Tokyo has all but been destroyed from years of abuse and economic loss, as a last-ditch attempt the Japanese government moves the capital to a new location, known as Neo Tokyo. Years later the lands of old Tokyo become the battlegrounds for Rumbling. Rumbling is the latest sport, which sees the competitors (known as WireHeads) face each other in highly mobile armoured land vehicles, named “ScooBee’s”. <br><br>Although most mech titles are based on military hardware and aggressive conflicts, Phantom Crash strays from the well-beaten formula; it’s stooped in Japanese kitsch pop-culture, bubble-gum tunes, and a story based on “Love and Pop”; the battle between the contestants isn’t about war but about entertainment and sport. Despite the run-down areas that you’ll compete in, you’ll notice that the characters you meet are anything but run-down, often presenting a bright and cheery nature and eventually you’ll become embroiled in their lives as they divulge everything from their love-life to their life story to you!<br><br>Having started the Quest Mode, you’ll have to plough through reams and reams of text-based dialogue that represents; your registration as a new WireHead, introduces you to a number of characters that feature in the game, but more importantly sets the tone for the rest of the game; everything from the pastel coloured menu-screen to the rich range of bubblegum pop, quickly sets this game out from the crowd, if you love all things Japanese you’re going to love this game.<br><br>Having reamed through the registration process, you’ll be presented with a map that allows you to access a variety of locations. Everything from the three major corporations that manufacture ScooBee’s to a Used-Parts shop is available, and to a certain extent this is where the matches are won or lost as a great deal of Phantom Crash’s gameplay (and to a certain extent charm) are spent customising your ScooBee. Other areas include PlusTech - a tune-up shop, which allows you to adjust the weight of your Scoobee; SonicAmp – a shop to buy new music to play during the heated conflicts; and finally your Hangar, which is where most of the ScooBee assembling and testing takes part.<br><br>To enter a match, you’ll require two basic necessities before starting; namely a ScooBee and a CHIP – these advanced AI micro-processors have individualistic processors that are based on different animal personalities and act as a similar way to R2D2 did in Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing, as you progress through the game your ‘relationship’ with the CHIP develops, granting you more powerful shields, faster weapon re-loads, etc… Your CHIP also handles the ScooBee’s unique opti-camouflage system, which disguises your ScooBee in a predator-styled invisible field; this feature becomes essential to winning in Phantom Crash.<br><br>With your limited funds at the start, you’ll only be able to purchase a second-hand ScooBee to begin with and a CHIP with limited abilities. However progress is quickly made and competition money is soon earned, which allows you to begin customising your ScooBee to suit your very own taste. <br><br>This is the greatest feature of Phantom Crash; it almost takes on an RPG feeling as you’re assembling the ScooBee to look exactly how you want. The machine can be tailored with in a number of distinct areas; both shoulder and arms can be equipped with a huge variety of weapons, whilst the ScooBee’s body and legs can be tinkered and tailored to improve a variety of areas such as durability and speed. Adding weapons adversely changes the balance of your ScooBee, so you can’t just load your ScooBee with weapons unless you visit the Tune-Up shop to alter the balance of the varying components. The level of customisation is amazing and easily lends itself to months of playing, however the greatest part of this area is that it’s not too complex, you don’t have to be a mech-fanatic in order to have fun playing Phantom Crash, in a similar way that you didn’t have to be a full-blown mechanic to appreciate the level of detail found in the Gran Turismo titles.<br><br>Onto the actual battle-field and you’ll find that the game is heavily geared towards the arcade end of the scale; shoulder buttons are used to fire your respective arm-mounted weapons, whilst the face buttons control a variety of functions, including jump, opti-camouflage and your shoulder-mounted weapons. Even from the start the pace is intense and the game pitches a number of opponents at you to ensure a match never grows dull. Your ScooBee can pull off a selection of impressive evasive manoeuvres, depending on the ScooBee you’ve selected, whilst the jump propels the ScooBee surprisingly high in the air. As I’ve said before the opti-camouflage becomes an essential feature, however because it only lasts for a few seconds, the game takes on a ‘cat-and-mouse’ element, particularly in the later stages of the game. There are a couple of niggles with the controls; because you can’t swivel at the hip it’s harder to scramble to face the correct direction quick enough, whilst it’s next to impossible to jump into the air, aim and fire in the split-seconds that you’ve got. But asides from these points, Phantom Crash strikes a great balance between arcade accessibility and strategic depth.<br><br>As you progress through the game, you’ll find that certain stages can only be entered once you’ve reached a certain level. A schedule keeps you up-to-date as to when these tournaments are being held, giving the game a nice structured feel that’s usually lacking in mech titles.<br><br>The biggest complaint that can be levelled at Phantom Crash is the lack of variation in the arenas that you’ll fight in; only three are available and they are quite limited in design, some take place at night to try and vary the experience, but after awhile you’ll be yearning for extra stages and locations.<br><br>Topping off the game are some fantastic visuals, the environments have a gritty and dirty look that’s representative of the post-apocalyptic battlegrounds that the fights take place in. The ScooBee’s themselves are packed full of details and have a solid and realistic feel to them; effects are usually subtle rather then standing out, however the opti-camouflage will truly amaze you the first time you see it.<br><br>If you ever did get tired of the single-player mode, then the four-player splitscreen mode is the perfect compliment. Because of the nature of the customisation feature, multiplayer battles take on an extra dimension not often witnessed, you’ll want to beat your friends ScooBee’s to prove you’re the best and almost break out in tears when you see your newly upgraded mech shot-down to a smouldering pile of iron.<br>