The Phantom Breaker IP has been knocking around for well over a decade now, with the original instalment being an interesting one on one fighter that dropped on the Xbox 360 and even got an arcade version on the SEGA RingEdge 2 board. Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds was 5pb’s chibi-stylised spin off that saw the characters from the core game in scrolling 2D beat ‘em up action. In a move that will no doubt delight fans of what is a relatively niche Japan-centric concern, Rocket Panda Games acquired the license and have decided to completely overhaul the original game on the Unreal 5 Engine, renaming it Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate and giving us the chance to experience this neat curio on modern platforms.
This is a very unusual game, thanks to both the ultra-stylised art choices, a relatively slow pace for the genre, and the sheer amount of stuff happening on screen during the action. The pixellated characters are superbly rendered and animated and sit against super detailed multi-layered backdrops that despite being drawn in two dimensions have an expertly implemented amount of parallax layers making the stages seem like living breathing dioramas that host the crazed fighting action. Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds Ultimate is for the most part a treat for the eyes, but at times as I have alluded to, there is an almost overwhelming level of bombast and stuff going on. There are flashes, explosions and tons of enemy sprites of varying sizes, not to mention a cascade of collectible gems and items that explode onto the playfield when you take down does. Sometimes it is just too busy for its own good.
The same could be said for the audio side of things; Steins;Gate composer Takeshi Abo is clearly a master craftsman and the soundtrack is an absolute delight, but there are also a huge amount of incidental effects – such as the ker-ching of scattered items, the OTT voice acting (which comes in both English and Japanese varieties) and the sounds of weaponry hitting bad guys – it is a cacophonous amount of noise.
Gameplay is a surprisingly slow action role play-cum-belt scroller crawl through stages that have multiple lanes (a bit like Fatal Fury of old, or Guardian Heroes, a game which this is most definitely a kindred spirit of), with a very large amount of available attacking options for a title of this ilk. There are three levels of attack plus a special, and the character roster all have their own combos to learn alongside a smattering of throws, parries and unlockable abilities that can be opened up by earning XP and in game currency collected in combat, and spending it on the skills trees betwixt stages.
There is on the surface a fair amount of variety in the enemies you face, but you come to learn that a lot of them despite looking diverse are often re-skinned versions of different enemy types. The actual enemy designs are kooky and interesting, and pleasingly you can expand the playable roster by actually unlocking some of them as characters you can control yourself.
Whilst initially I was having fun, a few annoyances quickly crept in. First up is the sheer amount of punishing, button mashing repetition which soon sets in. But then you factor some truly irritating elements, most notably when you are forced to take on enemies that fly above your head on a different plane of combat. Thanks to the weird hitboxes and floaty jumping I found taking out even the most underpowered airborne enemies a real chore.
The main story mode is chock full of cutscenes and dialogue boxes and your mileage with this will depend on your familiarity with and emotional investment in the Phantom Breaker universe and its characters and lore. The main game doesn’t take an awful lot of time to beat, either, and even with some of the more annoying enemy types and a few mildly challenging boss battles this one can be beaten in a few hours. There are some harder difficulty modes, and sure, there are a lot of combos and hidden depths to the combat system to learn, but I didn’t really feel the need to get too stuck in, as tedium had set in.
There is a multiplayer option and you could imagine this being a decent enough distraction if a few of you play together. There is also a Battle mode which allows a staggering eight players to face off in pure combat arena style, and this mode has an extensive array of characters to choose from, many of whom you will have encountered, beaten or interacted with via the story mode.
Fans of Japanese anime and niche content of this type will lap Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate up, it is undeniably beautifully executed in terms of its aesthetics and has a real sheen of sparkling, flashy craziness that some will adore. The level of repetition and amount happening on screen slightly put me off, but if action role players and old school fighters are your bag and you fancy something a bit different, then take a look at this as Rocket Panda has done a sterling job of reintroducing an obscure and interesting IP to the modern consciousness.
