Game Journal: Phantom Dust

written on Friday, May 8, 2009

In the previous discussion of Phantom Dust's mechanics, I neglected to mention how the card metaphor actually works on an Xbox controller. There are four colored buttons on the Xbox controller (face buttons). When you stand over a card and press a button, it gets assigned to that button. At first this was a little disconcerting as it means the buttons never do the same thing. But eventually I got used to it and it was part of the challenge to keep my abilities and their location in mind at all times. And sometimes I'd be fighting near my card spawns and accidentally overwrite a power I was trying to use. That was just me being dumb and I learned to stay clear of the cards when combat was afoot.

I also had some problems with falling and debris damage. I might have just taken one hit, but thanks to all the follow on damage I could lose half my health. But the enemies are just as vulnerable (even more so as they tend to dodge off the sides of catwalks and buildings). In fact I won a fight that came down to tricking an AI into lunging off a cliff, so I really shouldn't complain.

I discovered that I can fight old battles over for more money and cards. Thanks to that discovery, I was able to earn enough to buy a new deck that allows me to combine three different types of cards. But I also didn't make much progress on the game because I was beating the same levels repeatedly.

It's definitely a testament to the game that even with a simple one on one battle, using the same cards, things can play out differently every time. It's somewhat frustrating when you get a bad shuffle and get little or no Aura in your initial seven cards (four in your hand and three on the map). But you can always just start the match over if it feels like a waste of time.

I also enjoyed getting to know my opponent. The game gives you basic stats on your opponent as you play. Health, current Aura, max Aura, and the color types of all held abilities are all visible. If an opponent's holding nothing but defense or nothing but offense, you can adjust your strategy accordingly. And in fighting one opponent a half dozen times, I began to have a pretty good feel for what was in his deck, and knew exactly what it meant when he drew his funny colored status changing card. It meant it was time to watch what color his next attack was. If it was purple, reflect it or absorb it to use it against him. If it was some other color, use cover and wait it out.

The fight duration also makes the game a lot more palatable. Once in a while you'll have evenly matched sides with strong defenses, but usually a fight ends pretty quickly. I'd guess less than ten minutes. So even if you do get screwed, you haven't lost much.

It's unfortunate that the game only supports competitive multiplayer. I would have loved to have made this a co-op Tuesday selection.

Sorry for the choppy nature of this post. Between the play performance and playing the game, I didn't have time to do much editing / reorganizing.