Phantom Dust is worth the money, BUDGET PRICE ASIDE!
-250+ Skills and abilities to learn and employ on the battlefield.
-An intriguing storyline, for those who enjoy a good, compelling tale.
-7+ Different ways to play on Xbox Live including skill ante.
-Gorgeous graphics, featuring particle effects, normal mapping, and some very nicely used light bloom.
-Ultra-destructible, ultra-versatile environments. So destructible that you can create your own escape routes, collapse walkways and bridges to cut off fleeing adversaries and even devastate your enemies by dropping the environment on them.
-Easy, pick up and play system. Easy enough for casual gamers to enjoy quickly, yet deep enough for expert players to micromanage and strategise.
-Beautiful soundtrack. Moody, dark, ambient music with a little classical thrown in for a rare but enjoyable mix.
To be fair, some cons:
-Spotty voice acting.
-Bizarre art direction (I suppose this is not necessarily a bad thing, just a matter of taste)
-30 skill limit in a given arsenal.
-Dumb-as-a-doornail AI in single player.
-"Deck-of-cards" skill distribution system may turn off those who hate card games.
Personally, I've been intrigued by this game ever since it was announced. My thoughts on the game before it's release were those of interest in following the game and curiosity in terms of wanting to try the game itself.
From what I had heard about the way the game plays out, my initial "I'd buy the game for this much" gut reaction was about 30$. Personally, I think that you could easily get your money's worth out of this game if you bought it for about 45$. It's still a good value for 50$.
Still a good value at 50$, but wait! There's More! The game comes fully loaded, for *20$*. You get a 45$ game for 20$.
Let me run down a few basics about the game. Plot: Without giving anything away, a mysterious dust has settled over the surface of Earth. Exposure to the dust has caused humans to forget nearly everything they have ever learned, and as a result, the supernatural equivalent of the apocalypse occurs. People flee the surface to underground dwellings where they are no longer threatened by what is now known as the "Phantom Dust."
The dust has also granted a number of people special Psychic powers. You are one of those such people. Haunted by a single lingering memory of strange ruins, you ally with a group of under-worlders set out to decipher the riddle of this Phantom Dust and combat strange creatures and rival relic seekers.
Gameplay: Essentially, you begin any given battle with a number of skills in your reserve that you employ to complete the tasks you are given, such as rescuing other agents, locating relics and artifacts, learning and mastering different types of skills and so forth. You are given a number of skills to immediately put to use, as well as a reserve of other kinds of skills from your skill arsenal. Each skill can be assigned to any of the colored buttons on the Xbox pad, essentially allowing you access to as many as 4 skills at once.
There are many different kinds of skill types(such as attack, defense, status, erase, etc.), different sub-types of those, and every skill also belongs to a different school(ki, faith, optic, nature, etc.) The pick up and play comes from every ability quickly picked up by standing over it and pressing the button you wish to assign it to. Easy to equip, easy to use. The depth comes from knowing how strong an attack is, knowing how to defend, knowing what types of skills do what to others, etc.
Graphics: The visuals in this game are to be in awe of. Heavy graphics bias aside, the normal mapping on character models is done well. The light bloom adds to the already beautiful energy eruptions on your characters, but doesn't overdo it, and that's important with light bloom. The particles in the game are also well done. The environments are well detailed and you will be floored by how much damage you can cause to the locales, as well as the aftermath accounting for everything you just destroyed. Sound: The soundtrack is one crazy mother! You'll here everything from big band to electro-classical, ambient techno, and you can even set your own custom soundtracks to play a unique song for each individual stage. The voice acting is a bit off...but the sound effects within the game itself are outstanding. Again, this one comes down to the music. Expect, in one arena, to be listening to a moody, ambient, dark techno with a radio blaring in and out of Masterpiece Theatre's theme in the backgrounds. You are also bound to recognize some of the other melodies as remixed classical pieces mixed with electronic music, and very tastefully, I might add. All in all, ahead of it's time.
Bottom line: This game could have easily retailed for 50$ and gotten a good reception from uninformed players. Don't let the 20$ price tag fool you into thinking that's all it's worth. It'll be the best 20$ you spent on a video game since Sega's 2k series. Worth every penny and then some! High recommendations.
Estimated gameplay value: $45 Truly Superb