Forum Overview :: Deleted Posts :: Phantom Crash (XBOX)

[quote name="Funkula"]Japanese titles for the Xbox are few and far between. Japanese titles that are WORTH PLAYING are even rarer. However, the Xbox somehow became the inheritor of some of the best aspects of the Dreamcast legacy, with the Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Dead or Alive franchises migrating to it. Phantom Crash is another game in this vein. In the story, Tokyo has been decimated by rising sea levels and a science experiment that went wrong, so the population has migrated away. However, the city is still in use as a mech combat environment. Teenage thrillseekers fight each other for prize money and recognition. GAMEPLAY AND SINGLE PLAYER: The controls of the game are very good and flexible. Several options for the controls are available, including several button configurations and two movement options, one of which is a standard FPS setup and another which allows for Mechwarrior-style torso twisting. The basic gameplay revolves around two aspects: arena combat and mech customization. In the arena, you face ~6 mechs in a large level, full of shortcuts and hiding places. When you kill another mech, you get a cash reward and they jump back in from the nearest gate. However, if you die, your combat for the day is over and you suffer a cost proportional to the quality of your components. Once you get good, however, it is entirely possible to rack up 70-80 kills in a match without suffering serious damage. Ammo, health, and cash crates are dropped into the level at regular intervals, so keeping an eye on the drop points helps your longevity immensely. Various types of weapons are available, with machine guns, rockets, and melee weapons being the most useful. One interesting aspect of the game is that every mech can equip a cloaking device which makes it nothing but a shimmer in front of the background. This is quite useful for getting out of tight spots (although a single hit will bring it down again) and setting up ambushes. Progression is in a tier system, with higher-level matches becoming more viable as your equipment quality and skill level increases. Once you've defeated the area ranker in each map at each tier, you face the Tokyo champion. I never got that far, unfortunately. One major flaw merits attention--there are only three maps in the game. This makes things get much more repetitive than they would otherwise. Regardless, there's plenty of gameplay available just in those maps, although it was this that eventually made me put down the game. On the garage side of the game, a decent bit of variety is present. There are only three mech chassis available, but a TON of parts for each one. The only parts that are modular between chassis are the cloaks, targeting computers, and chips. Chips are an interesting innovation, being an animal-emulating AI that acts as your interface with the mech. Different chips are good at different aspects, and control the size of your auto-aim reticle, your missile lock-on time, and the chance of getting a critical or reflecting an incoming shot. Various leg types offer different advantages, and different weapon systems cater to diverse play styles. Here is where the game really starts to feel like Armored Core. While it doesn't have the sheer volume or interchangeability of AC, it offers one nice feature: parts can be tuned either light or heavy. This is fairly expensive, but can be used to influence space taken up in the mech (there's a weight limit), speed, hit points, and damage (for weapons). Furthermore, chips can also be upgraded, increasing their performance in the listed areas. This area really makes the customization shine. MULTIPLAYER: It's present, but unimpressive (this is probably why the reviewer fags hated it). Split-screen 1v1 deathmatch, oh boy. Another downside that merits mention is the lack of support for multiple people playing single player. Only one save file is allowed, and it doesn't support saving to the memory card. In other words, one memory card per person would be required so that the OS file-copying could be used. My friends were not willing to shell out for them, so I was the only one who got to save progress. GRAPHICS AND SOUND: Simply great. Character conversations are done in a JSRF-like cel-shaded look, although the people look a little ugly until you get used to them (not graphically ugly so much as dog-ugly). The mech combat looks awesome, particularly the cloaking effects. Sound effects are quite serviceable, although not noteworthy. Music is the stand-out element of the game's presentation. Over a hundred songs are available, and you design your own combat soundtrack. All the songs are Japanese, so that's either a bonus or a penalty depending on your perspective. They range from electronica, Jpop, and jazz to metal and dance. Only two downsides here: 1) only ten songs per playlist, although you're unlikely to stay in combat long enough for this to become an issue 2) each song costs a little money. Neither of these is even a mild annoyance, however. PROS: -fast, fun mech combat -awesome soundtrack -deep customization -quirky, funny plot and characters CONS: -only three maps -lackluster multiplayer -only supports one single player save CONCLUSION: This is not the greatest game ever. However, it is second only to JSRF for Xbox owners looking for funky Japanese games, and it's a nice deep mech combat game to boot. 8/10 [/quote]