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Platform: XBox |
Developer: Genki |
Publisher: TBA |
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Genre: Fighting |
ETA: Q2 2002 |
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Phantom
Crash I
sure would like to know what magical, imaginary place some of these
developers minds wonder when thinking up game ideas.
With giant robots as far as the eye can see and the opportunity
to save the universe at the age of 15, the world would be a rosy place
indeed. Now it looks like
the folks at Genki agree to a degree as they plug away on Phantom Crash
on the XBox, an action/fighting game where gigantic robots engage in
gladiatorial combat with absurdly young pilots in control of their mechanical
contenders. The
game is set in the near future where over population is running rampant
and has really done a number on Tokyo to the point that if even one more
person enters the city everyone there will be required to carry a tub of
butter at all times just to get around the town. However, the powers that be find a solution to this and
everyone skid-addles leaving a ghost town in their wake.
So what better place to setup an arena for enormous war machines
to blast the crap out of one another for the viewing enjoyment of
everyone in TV land?
Players
will distribute their mechanized beatings in a manner that appears to
combine the part swapping, robotic customization of the Armored Core
series with the fast paced arcade flow of the Virtual On series.
This will leave players, in theory, with a wide range of robots
(or Scoobees as they’re called in the game) to use, from the short and
chubby, to the lean and sleek, all while having a more frenetic, less
cumbersome control scheme at their disposable. A key feature that the Scoobees will be equipped with is
Optical Camouflage, which will cloak the robots a la the Predator,
making the scoobees invisible to the naked eye for a short period of
time. However, the machines
will still show up on radar and will still kick up a good amount of dust
while scooting around the arena, so more attentive opponents may not be
taken in so easily by these peek-a-boo shenanigans. Of
course what’ll determine whether this game sinks or swims is how well
the moves are designed and choreographed, with a good mix of the complex
and the subtle, and this is something we won’t be able to find out
about until the game is completed.
Oddly enough, up to this point there are no intentions to make
this a two-player game, up to this point it’s looking single-player
only. More of a concern
though may be whether or not the game is even headed to these shores, as
no North American release has been announced as of yet. - Mr. Nash
Preview: Armored Core 3 (Playstation 2)
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