Phantom Dust for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

Originally released as a Japanese exclusive by Microsoft, Phantom Dust became another lost cause in the Land of the Rising Sun. Considering the Japanese release of PD offered English voice and text, it seemed only a matter of time before it was brought over to the US. Majesco wisely stepped up to the plate. The US version is identical to its Japanese counterpart, expect it retails for a mere $20. Worth it? Oh, yeah.

Dust Story
Set in a science-fantasy world where humans have been forced to live underground due to dangerous levels of mysterious dust on the surface, Phantom Dust offers an anime-style take on the online fighting genre. The surface world has been invaded, overtaken by mysterious circumstances, and you are one of many humans living in the underground who've developed amazing powers. By harnessing the phantom dust above ground, you can battle using incredible abilities, aiding other humans and taking on droids and other strange creatures in large arena battles.

Your goal throughout the story mode (which will take you 8-12 hours to complete, depending on your skill) is to uncover your past (as you and your fellow bunker-mates are amnesiacs) and find a way to return to the surface for good. Phantom Dust's story is pretty much your standard anime plotline, complete with troubled friends, betrayals, and the ability to create large-scale destruction wherever you go.

The story of the single-player Scenario Mode takes place mostly in the underground headquarters of the human resistance group known as the Visions. Here, your character (whom you can name) runs around talking to different NPCs, following subplots as each character searches for the truth to their past, and engaging in the constant battles on the surface in hopes of researching the strange phenomenon that has overtaken Earth.

The voiced dialogue (of which there is surprisingly little) and the text dialogue have been translated without any strange malapropisms. The story throughout is like an anime waiting to happen. Even your character -- who battles in gritty, realistic environments -- looks like an anime character, with slightly oversized hands and an expressive, almost cartoonish face. It's a nice visual style and coupled with the hundreds of powers you can use (each with an attractive special effect attached), creates what is easily one of the better-looking Xbox titles to date.

Though running about the HQ is fun for a short while (there's a bar, a lab, and about a dozen character to interact with), the real game is played in different battle arenas on Earth's tattered surface. In these arenas, you will go solo and also partner up with different AI-controlled character to take on a variety of different enemies. Sometimes it's droids, sometimes it will be enormous bosses, and other times it will be other humans, even some of your friends.

Pokemon for Adults
Phantom Dust is, in its essence, a real-time action card battle game. Don't let that scare you off -- It's actually pretty damn great. Prior to battling, you will fill up your Arsenal Case with the powers and skills you want to use during your fight. Powers come in different classes and most arsenal cases allow only two power classes to be used. Classes are based on different ways powers manifest, so one may be psychic powers and another energy, for example.

There's a wide variety of powers offered across all classes and they cover everything from different attacks (each one targeted for short, medium, or long range), to defenses, to special moves (such as jumping 30 feet in the air or levitating for 15 seconds), to draining powers, which can sap your enemy of his abilities. The large variety of powers and the limit to allow only two class types in an arsenal forces you to make some crucial decisions when filling up your arsenal case. You may find that the Flash Barrier, which is an energy-based defense, works well for you. But choosing it means that you will need to slots a lot of other energy class powers as well for offense and for special abilities, because you will only have one other class, besides energy, to stick use for your arsenal case. Personally, I'm not that big a fan of the laser attacks, which are all energy class powers. So, by choosing Flash Barrier (which I love), I force myself to also have to include some attacks that I don't find as effective. As you build the skills available to your arsenal, you may find that you have many more of one class over another, which may also sway your decisions.

Though you have 30 slots available in your arsenal case, you don't want to fill them all up with powers. That's because every power has an energy cost and when you reach the surface for battle, you have no energy (or Aura) whatsoever. This is solved by placing Aura Particles in your arsenal case. Aura particles add one point to your overall energy meter, so you actually want about half your arsenal to consist of these. It's a balancing act, but if you don't add enough aura particles, you'll find that it takes too long to fire off attacks, as you have less energy to draw on.

In a battle arena, you have four slots for powers (represented by the four face buttons). Power capsules (which are colored orbs in the arena) appear at your spawn point and you collect the power by standing over it and selecting a button to map that power to. This means you can only have four powers at any time, with new powers overwriting old ones when you capture them. To use a power, you simply press the representative face button. Most powers can be used repeatedly, until you choose to replace it (or it's cancelled or stolen by an opponent's power). It's a simple system that's easy to use and since the order power capsules appear is random, you sometimes must adapt your play style to match the skills at hand.

It takes some time to learn the good and bad of each power, especially the defensive powers. You'll need to play and test these powers numerous times to get used to each one, but that's a good thing. Some of the powers have some really awesome capabilities, such as freezing an enemy's ability to use their aura, stealing power capsules, teleporting to an opponent's spawn point, and reflecting attacks back at enemies. There are hundreds of options, which helps keep the fighting varied.

Combat itself, once you have the hang of your powers, is pretty cool. All of the levels (though there's little more than a half-dozen total) are multi-tiered and fully destructible. Attacks can be blocked using defensive powers and most can be dodged if you move quickly (or utilize a movement power). Powers eat up aura, though, and what often happens is that you'll attack an enemy a few times and use some defense and then have to run around like a three-year-old on a sugar high for a half minute while your aura meter replenishes. You'll see this sort of erratic run-for-cover movements from AI fighters and other combatants you meet online.

Launching fireballs and shooting lasers looks cool and cuts a swath of destruction throughout a level, blowing up overpasses, taking out support columns, and obliterating walls. Should debris hit you or your enemy, it can cause some serious damage, making the wanton destruction of a level a gameplay element and not just another visual spectacle. There's a lot more to do than merely chuck fireballs though, as the amount of powers at your disposal is truly impressive and there's a lot of variation. You can rain fire and lightning down on enemies, or lift heavy objects and chuck them their way. All of it looks amazing and the majority of online play is handled without a hitch. The only real concern I have after playing a dozen hours of Phantom Dust, is that the combat sometimes feels a bit artificial. Though there are close-range attacks, a lot of battles can boil down to two people standing on opposite balconies firing off attacks from a distance. Dust can be both exhilarating and pedantic, sometimes both in the same match. Overall, the longer you play, the more you learn, the deeper Phantom Dust becomes. I just wish there were more arenas, and the ability to customize your character beyond his or her arsenal.

Multiplayer
Phantom Dust allows for two-player split-screen combat and four-players over System Link or Xbox Live. Just like the original Japanese version, things run pretty smooth online, though since it's only four players, that's not a tough task to accomplish. Already on the first day of US release, I've found more players online than I ever did with the Japanese version. Plus the vast majority speak English (a few speak some form of redneck gibberish).

Three different game types are offered -- One-on-One, Battle Royale, and Tag Team -- and these types have about a half-dozen game variations to make them more interesting. My favorite is the Tag Team match called Annihilate the Odd One. This match puts three people on one team with only 10 health apiece (normally you'd have 20 health) and gives the solo player a monstrous 40 health. It's a pretty fun version of Giant Killer.

Voice can be heard by everyone in the game, both in life and in death. I would have preferred a slightly different set-up, perhaps something more along the lines of Rainbow Six 3, but it's not too big a deal since there are only four people in an online session. After a match is over, everyone returns to the same lobby, where you can alter your character (as each of the eleven character models has slightly different physical properties) and change the make-up of your arsenal case.

As long as you are dedicated to slowly building up your arsenal and want to put in the time-commitment, Phantom Dust is an excellent and addictive online game. The only real issue I have is with the camera control once you're dead. See, you really don't have any. Once dead, you can toggle between static cameras, but they are often far from the action and none of the combat game sounds play any more, which is just plain lame. A proper spectator mode is a no-brainer for a game like this and its exclusion is the only real chink in Phantom Dust's online armor.

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