REVIEW: Phantom Fighter (4-in-1, Volume 16)
"In the late of one night, Yaloo, who comes from the Celestial Body, attacks the LELE village. Yaloo wants to rob all the villagers and let them to be his slaves. All the villagers are robbed but except Alex, because Alex hided himself into the Deep forest. Alex wants to save villagers he decide to trace follow Yaloo and will inform Yappy Dog to carry out the task if find a change. Yaloo follows the Yaloo, he step into the extra Celestial Body. What will happen?"
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At this point in the history of our Gameking reviews, we probably don't need to point out that the 'Task Background' for Phantom Fighter makes no sense whatsoever. Perhaps the name Alex was meant to invoke the main protagonist of Robocop as your character appears to be a cross between that character, Megaman and the main guy from the Turrican games. Also, he can fly because: Gameking.
One thing that is immediately impressive with Phantom Fighter is its graphics. Enemies are large, varied and multitudinous. Your task as this weird flying robo-boy with vague links to Gameking regular Yappy Dog, is to move from left to right through three horizontally auto-scrolling stages blasting at everything around and powering yourself up enough to defeat each stage's screen filling boss in the hope of besting them or, at least, registering on the game's high score table.
One thing that is immediately impressive with Phantom Fighter is its graphics. Enemies are large, varied and multitudinous. Your task as this weird flying robo-boy with vague links to Gameking regular Yappy Dog, is to move from left to right through three horizontally auto-scrolling stages blasting at everything around and powering yourself up enough to defeat each stage's screen filling boss in the hope of besting them or, at least, registering on the game's high score table.
Stage 1 finds you in a stage identified as 'Space A' blowing up what are described as 'meteorites' and 'Aerolites' but which, in game, look rather closer to ballistic missiles, birds and this odd looking mole thing (right).
Thankfully, with the sheer volume of enemies on screen things move at a fairly sedate pace and you can force the screen to scroll further up or down by a limited amount to escape their path. Alex's own hitbox is also fairly generous and so there is none of the frustration common in Gameking shooters where the main sprite is so cumbersome in his size as to cause annoyance.
The three stages are fairly varied, with the first being set in space, the second on a planet surface (complete with tanks and...umm, flying fish to destroy) and the final area being on the bottom of a lake.
Perhaps the most visually impressive aspect of the game are the bosses, who are impressively screen filling behemoths with actual attack patterns. It's clear that at this point in the system's development, programmers were starting to push its limitations and experiment with more detailed graphics.
Sound is also nicely implemented with a suitable sountrack sample complementing the meaty sounding explosions and machine gun rattle of your weapon.
The three stages are fairly varied, with the first being set in space, the second on a planet surface (complete with tanks and...umm, flying fish to destroy) and the final area being on the bottom of a lake.
Perhaps the most visually impressive aspect of the game are the bosses, who are impressively screen filling behemoths with actual attack patterns. It's clear that at this point in the system's development, programmers were starting to push its limitations and experiment with more detailed graphics.
Sound is also nicely implemented with a suitable sountrack sample complementing the meaty sounding explosions and machine gun rattle of your weapon.
(Left) The dragon like boss of stage 1 flies overhead. (Centre & Right) The gaudy Gameking III colour scheme makes the monochrome Gameking II the best choice for playing Phantom Fighter without getting a headache in the process.
Phantom Fighter is a fun little blaster that is a nice break from the Gameking's endless top down vertical shooters and recycled engines. While the difficulty is never punishing it still offers a challenge in beating all three stages.
Its design is similar to the Mega Duck title Armour Force, however the Gameking's more limited technology makes Phantom Fighter a more impressive technological accomplishment on this simpler hardware and one well worth stepping into the 'Celestial Body' to play.
Its core challenge won't last forever, but it's a blast while it does.
Score 7/10
Its design is similar to the Mega Duck title Armour Force, however the Gameking's more limited technology makes Phantom Fighter a more impressive technological accomplishment on this simpler hardware and one well worth stepping into the 'Celestial Body' to play.
Its core challenge won't last forever, but it's a blast while it does.
Score 7/10