Never compare this to Mech Warrior, it's a whole new league, and I love it.
Story: 10/10.
No, the story isn't some master work. In fact it's quite brief and doesn't really give that many details. But, much in the same way of Shadow of the Colossus' story, this game is beautiful in its flawed nature. At least, its story is.
In the near future in the rubble of Tokyo, a new sport has arisen named Rumbling. Basically, people pilot mechs and shoot the crap out of each other. That's basically the gist of it.
The characters, however, are where the beauty really comes in. All the characters are amazingly developed, you really get to know them and you feel like you've actually become a part of their little community. From the carefree Weapon Store owner Roy, to the enigmatic cyber-idol Mona Lisa, you don't only feel like these could easily be real people, but you feel like you could easily be among them. Gameplay: 10/10.
No, get your head out of the gutter that is Mech Warrior. I'm not insulting Mech Warrior, it's an impressive game, but I personally can't stand playing it. It's so slow, clunky, awkward; and I know it was meant to be that way. The game really makes you feel like you're in a giant tank of death. But Phantom Crash isn't like that. This is a sport, after all, people don't want to watch a mech taking about a minute to activate then another 5 to actually get to the fight.
I respect the 'realism' and technicality of Mech Warrior, I really do, but in Phantom Crash there's none of that farting around. You get into your mech, run into the fray and it's chaotic from the absolute word go. Almost every fight in the game is a Free For All between 5 mechs, and limitless re-enforcements to replace all the ones you shoot down. Only the Area Bosses are 1-1 battles, and most fights you will end up killing, if you're as good as the average player, about 50 mechs. If you're good, well, since you get constant health-replinishes you could theoretically kill infinitely.
So, the battles are chaotic. But that's not where the best of the game comes in. The control style is where it's at. The first thing to know is that it can't be treated as a Mech game, but if anything, a racing game.
What?
Yes, that's right, a racing game. You see, if you just normally move forward, your mech will walk for a couple of seconds, before its boosters kick in and it goes up to its max speed. While boosting, you take corners much slower much like you would in a racing game, and if you turn too much you'll drop out of boost.
The optional way to do things is to hold down Auto-Accel, which is also conveniently L2 (the control stick). Using this your mech will instantly begin to dash. Often however you won't have time for this so you'll often find yourself needing to settle for the regular accel. That and, you still can't turn too quickly.
The other amazing thing about the controls is the perfect use of buttons. Lemme map them out for you:
L1: Left Weapon.
R1: Right Weapon.
X: Left Shoulder Weapon.
Y: Right Shoulder Weapon.
A: Jump.
B: Optic Camoflauge.
L2: Auto Accel.
R2: Reset Aim.
Double-tap Left/Black: Dash Left.
Double-tap Right/White: Dash Right.
No in-game menus. No stupid pause screens. No weapon cycling. You have access to absolutely everything you need, right there on the control. It gets better: This means that you kind of get into different mindframes during the game. When you're quick on your feet you'll often be focusing on one or two weapons at once. If you get an opponent in a rough spot or are sneaking up on him, you'll change the way you hold the control slightly to fire absolutely everything you have all at once.
The frequent use of Optic Camo also changes the way you play the game. Myself, I abuse OC all the time. Back Attacks do about double damage, and a critical damage does about double damage on top of that. A critical back attack with a melee weapon is... Well, that's it. But my friend has never, ever used OC. I can't imagine this because our styles are 100% different; he prefers to use excessive armour.
The difference of play between light and heavy models is rediculous. I have to be constantly on the run, if I get more than a couple of critical shots I'm dead. Yet a Heavy can take so much it's not funny. The style differs COMPLETELY.
The customization is amazing, so much that I've been playing for 100 hours just making variations of my mech, completing upgrades, and trying out entirely new mechs. If you like the game, you can easily end up spending well longer than that.
The best part is, you'll always have someone to test your new setup on: The final boss is rediculously difficult, and even the best setups and players will need a lot of luck to win.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are nothing special, unless you count the intro movie. The normal game's graphics are pretty enough to make you occasionally look around a bit, but mostly they're only good enough to make you never point out any flaws. They're 'good enough'.
As for the intro... It may take a while to realize it's not actually real life. And not like Animatrix or FF: Spirits Within, either. If it wasn't for the general human knowledge that mechs don't exist, I'd say the intro was real.
Sound: 10/10.
Another major up-point for the game. The music is, strictly speaking, Japanese. You will never have heard of these bands, but the interesting thing is, the Japanese will have never heard of these bands, either. This isn't anime-style popular J-rock, it's not some product just trying to jump on the Asian Bandwagon. These are low-name artists who no one will know. The music is fairly experimental, and there's a lot of music you will not like; there's also a lot of music you will like.
There's the metallic (har har) sound of Der Eisenrost, the chillout-pop sound of Mona Lisa the Cyber Idol, the complete Outrun ripoffs of [name], and... Well, the absolutely unique sound of Itoken, which nobody well ever like, ever. That group makes my ears bleed.
It's a good thing, then, that you can customize your Scooby (mech)'s audio player. Not custom soundtracks, but you can choose which songs you want, to an extent, in that you can only choose about 14 songs per album, and you have to change albums. Luckily unless you're really good (or using a really rediculous mech) you probably won't have enough time to get sick of your album.
Value: 9/10.
This game lasts freaken' ages. I've played for well over 100 hours, just making new mechs and beating all the Challenges. So, why didn't I give it a 10?
Well, there we come to the glaring, rediculous flaw of the game, that, if not for it, would have made me give the game a Perfect 10 just for the sake of it.
No Online.
...
WHY THE HELL?! 6-man servers, you enter whenever someone else gets knocked out and alternate, then get put in line again, up to a maximum of, say, 10 players. A game has never been more perfect for an online mode since Budokai: Tenkaichi (which, coincidentially, also lacked what would've been an awesome online mode).
It just needed an online. The fact that it didn't just... It really makes me sad.
And nobody mention S.L.A.I., ever. That was the worst sequel I've ever encountered. NOTHING on the original. Yugh.
That and the current multiplayer is split screen. I hate split screen. It's almost unplayable. Blargh.
Overall: 9/10.
The blatant lack of an Online Mode, while detrimental, does absolutely nothing to come close to ruining this masterpiece of a game. Instead of being perfect, it's freaking awesome. Close enough! Get this game. If it sounds even close to something you might like, then do this game justice, and get it.