Phantom Crash is Genki's Xbox entry into the genre that promises to explode on Xbox within the next few months: giant robot combat. More like a sports game with a season mode than any sort of action game/combat simulator I've played, it offers up a staggering amount of variety and nice tunes to help you through your journey through the ranks of the WireHeads, a group of cyberpunk combat robot pilots (generation Z, perhaps?) who do engage in Laser Tag-esque combat in the ruins of Tokyo in 2031.

Gameplay:
If I went into too much detail here, I'd go over the word limit. Basically, you are a newly arrived WireHead, come to do participate in Rumbles: free for all mech battles in the ruins of Tokyo in the year 2031. You must build a mech from scratch, using components from 3 major companies (including the American Stars!), and adding an intelligence chip to make it run. The intelligence chips take the forms of talking animals and affect the size and range of your aiming scope. The game uses a pattern familiar to people who may have played career mode in SEGA's Power Smash series, with a calendar of events offered in several venues, some of which require certain skill levels or sizeable entry fees. One interesting point is the game has only THREE arenas, with 2 variations each: night and day. Oddly though, the game tricks you into thinking there is a big variety sheerly because of the volume of things to do outside the arenas: mech customization, music shopping, catching up with other wireheads, asking questions, getting tune ups, etc. I would imagine that no two people could possibley have the exact same experience with this game.

CONTROLS:

The left analog stick maneuvers your robot, the right adjust the turret. The digital D-pad changes camera angles. Y and X are your left and right backpack weopons, respectively (mostly missiles), and the triggers activate your left and right hand weapons (mostly machine guns). A jumps. It's a nice simple interface, but I found running and maneuvering to be difficult at times, especially when the turret isn't lined up 100% with the legs. There are times when you don't feel in control at all. This is what brought the overall score down from a 9.

Graphics:
The opening demo alone is worth the price of admission. Lovingly detailed, staggering in their variety, and covered in incredible paint jobs ranging from cow patterns to stripes, to camo, the robots in Phantom Crash are rendered very nicely. The backgrounds are also quite detailed and very realistic in their portrayal of Tokyo (anyone who's been there will squeal with delight as they do battle where they themselves have walked in front of the Studio ALTA building in Shinjuku). Additionally, the entire presentation seems slightly blurred, lending a gritty and realistic appearance to the package. There's even a screen above the exits in the background that projects a real time image of your mech as it tromps through the streets. The only thing that keeps this score from being a perfect 10 is the frame rate. Also, the camera work is a bit shaky.

Sound:
Even better than the JSR series! Phantom Crash introduces dozens of Japanese independent artists who have agreed to have their music appear in the game. You have to buy new tracks and can arrange the order in which they play, etc. in your Garage. In a country obsessed with pop music, it was really refreshing and quite a nice surprise to see such a variety of little known acts. I guarantee these bands will see an increase in record sales as a reselt of the exposure this game brings them. I'll certainly be buying a few CDs. There's even an imaginary pop idol named Mona Lisa (ala Lin Minmay) whose records you can buy in the shop, and who is referred to by many characters in the game, helping to flesh out this futuristic world.

Round Up:
If it weren't for the controls, this would be close to a perfect game. As it stands, though, its not bad by any stretch of imagination. A good game reminiscent of Genki's other excellent games: the Tokyo Highway Battle series, this entry helps to wash away the awful taste left in my mouth by Genki's other Xbox ''game,'' Zan Kabuki.