First Look Phantom Dust

Ever since the Xbox launched, Microsoft has been touting the strength of its developers as paramount to the system's success. The raw power of the system, as impressive as it is, doesn't amount to much without some interesting games behind it. An upcoming game that is sure to fit the bill as an interesting title and showcase for the system's power is Phantom Dust. The original game has been in development for 16 months under the guidance of industry veteran Yukio Futatsugi of Microsoft Japan. Futatsugi's portfolio includes stints at Sega (where he worked on the Panzer Dragoon games for the Saturn), Konami, and Sony. So, it appears that he certainly knows a thing or two about making interesting games. We got an exclusive look at an early version of Phantom Dust and talked to Futatsugi about his upcoming brainchild.

So just what is Phantom Dust? Game director Yukio Futatsugi describes Phantom Dust as an "action battle game that incorporates strategic elements." This description nails the gameplay pretty accurately. At its core, Phantom Dust is a fast-paced third-person arena combat game, along the lines of the Unreal or Quake games. However, the game's pacing is a bit more deliberate due to the added twist of how you fight. Unlike in the aforementioned games, the arsenal of "weapons" you use in Phantom Dust is pretty much up to you. Rather than slap a bazooka or rocket launcher in your hand, Phantom Dust will force you to rely on a collection of supernatural abilities of your choosing. You select from more than 300 different skills to create a complement of abilities that you use in battle. Using the various abilities you've picked out effectively and, more importantly, successfully will require some strategic thinking on your part. You won't be walking into the battle arena with your arsenal in your back pocket. Instead, it appears in clusters around your spawning point in the game. The abilities appear as orbs that come in three colors. Red denotes attacks, while blue signifies defensive abilities. White orbs are single-use items that increase your character's "aura points." The points are tied to combat, and each offensive or defensive ability you use has its own aura point cost. While your points regenerate after being used, the white orbs permanently increase the maximum number of aura points you have per match--letting you get off more attacks before having to wait for them to recharge. Finally, over the course of your battle, the arenas you duke it out in will start to reflect damage from various attacks, and, in some cases, they will even create some life-threatening hazards.

So why would you find yourself racing around decaying arenas fighting to stay alive? Why, it's the time-honored tradition of being placed in a postapocalyptic world, of course! While the exact details of Phantom Dust's story are being kept under wraps, here is what we know. You assume the role of an amnesiac-survivor in the wake of an apocalyptic event that's reshaped the world. As luck would have it, everyone who lived through the mysterious event is spending the bulk of his or her time fighting to survive attacks from a mysterious, and decidedly unfriendly, force in various arenas. Fortunately, most folks have supernatural abilities to fight back with, so things aren't that bleak. The game's single-player story mode should fill you in on what's happened as you undertake a variety of missions. A collection of movies between missions will presumably fill you in on current and past events.

In addition to the single-player game, Phantom Dust is slated to offer a variety of multiplayer modes, both on- and offline. While details are still being finalized, the game is expected to offer combat via Xbox Live and system link for up to four players and split-screen play for two players. Phantom Dust's Xbox Live support will offer the standard fare and will also include the ability to "ante up" abilities before competing against an opponent.

The graphics are still coming together but are looking very stylish. It's easy to see some of the game's anime influences, based on the sample of arenas we got to see. Some arenas seem to have a distinctive "lived in" look that lets you know there was a recent apocalypse. There's a healthy dose of decay and ruin present that's highlighted by the many destructible elements in them. In addition, the sky has a nice polluted look to it, with dark roiling clouds moving around. The character models, while still early, are sporting a distressed style that suits the settings. Animation is coming together well in the early version we played, and characters move smoothly while battling.

In terms of how the game plays, Phantom Dust's controls are still being refined. We were, however, able to get a feel for the basic mechanics after a bit of hands-on time with a work-in-progress version of the game. We tried some system link multiplayer action after going through some of the single-player tutorial levels. The tutorials went by pretty quickly because the game's controls are pretty accessible. You move your character with the left analog stick and use your abilities by pressing one of the four colored Xbox face buttons. You assign abilities to the buttons as you collect them. When you run through an ability orb, you have to press a face button to collect it. The button you use when collecting it will be the one you use to trigger it. You have a "lock on" mechanism that enables you to target enemies and keep an eye on them as you make your way around the arenas. More importantly, you can use a dodge move to avoid enemy attacks, which is obviously more effective when you're "locked on." As you use up the various abilities you collect--and they range from single- to multiple-use abilities--you have to search the arena near your starting point to collect more as they appear. All the abilities that appear are drawn from the complement you've chosen to use in the battle. They run the gamut from active abilities--like short-, mid-, and long-range attacks--to shields for defense, to more passive but useful ones, like exceptionally high jumping (which is handy for avoiding enemy attacks). The controls handle pretty well and help keep the action fast. This was especially apparent during system link play with other people, as all hell broke loose when we scrambled to avoid attacks while trying to dole out some punishment. The multiplayer battle was also a good showcase for the destructible levels--the arena we played in started to take serious damage and presented a few deathtraps. These deathtraps added one more thing to keep track of while trying to win.

While still pretty early, the game handled well overall. The gameplay is pretty accessible to anyone who's played a third-person action game before. The combat takes some getting used to, as your first impulse in a deathmatch setting is to obviously run like hell and fire off a hail of bullets. This simply gets you killed in Phantom Dust. The strategic aspect of managing your abilities and aura points is manageable and doesn't bog down the pacing of fights--which would otherwise be bad. All told, Phantom Dust looks as though it could be a pretty promising title for the Xbox, if it comes together properly. Phantom Dust is currently slated to ship in Japan some time in 2004. The game should receive a public unveiling at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show this month, so look for it in our upcoming comprehensive coverage of the event. At present, Microsoft's exact plans for a US release are still being determined. For more on the game, check out our video interview.