*****Phantom Dust is a Sleeper Hit!*****

User Rating: 9.2 | Phantom Dust XBOX
The earth has been covered in a mysterious shroud of dust, Phantom Dust, that steals the memories. The dwindling numbers of the human race are forced to flee underground to escape the dust and the monsters that remain on the ravaged surface. Even though the dust causes memory lost its also has the ability grant powers. With the ability to turn their will into pure energy, a special group of humans called Espers seek out the Ruins, the only memory people still have. One day while on a "routine" trek to the surface the Espers discover two escape pods contain you the Protagonist and a mysterious man by the name of Edgar. Thus, your story begins.

The game play in Phantom Dust is pretty good, and unbelievably horrible at different points. The game consists of two basic game play elements, above ground and underground. Above ground is where you fight, using dozens of different skills that look really nice, light up the screen, and can make some devastating impacts. When you see yourself get slammed into a staircase and then fall a story, you'll be amazed. The sense of destruction is really well done. Underground is where this game sucks. The underground is basically where the RPG part of the game takes place, and its one of the worst I've seen. You basically run around a very boring sewer, talk to people without voice acting just to see if they want to give you a job, and then run around again. I tried to spend as little time underground as possible. The story is good, and you want to play to see what happens next, but at the same time, you don't really care.

Audio wise, this game lacks. In the few cinematics they have, they are visually pleasing, though nothing to get excited about, and feature the only voice acting in the game. Sub par voice acting. My biggest problem in the audio is the lack of voice acting. Even bad voice acting is better than none. The game does let you use custom soundtracks, so it gets points for that. The graphics in battles are great with all of the flashy attacks going off, but sometimes the flashy lights and such impair you vision in the game. The underground's graphics are horrible. I know sewers are dirty, boring, and dull, but there is literally nothing in the underground that makes you think they tried to impress people in the visual department. Your starting to realize why this game is only $20.

This game is addicting on so many levels, it takes about an hour to fully grasp the game, but once you do, the game grasps you right back. With so many spells, you will be building new decks all the time trying to make a new fad brilliant combination of spells. And there is just non stop action, people levitating shooting projectiles, environment breaking apart, and it all looks amazing.

I have never seen such amazing real time action blended to perfection with pure strategy, it will hook you in.