A wonderful, fantastic (if not, at time, very frustrating) game that is rivaled by none on the Xbox.
User Rating: 9.4 | Phantom Dust XBOX
A welcome respite from the glory, excitement and hostility of Halo 2. I've never played a game like Phantom Dust. I've never really played strategy card games either, with the exception of Netrunner, which I obsessed on for well over a year. I'll spare you the game-reviewer-hopeful type review and give you my personal impression. I love all things cyberpunk so I'm biased from the start for this game, because it's a post-apocalyptic story and no one does Post Apocalypse better than the Japanese (perhaps the Australians run a tight second). Graphically the game is complex and just superb. Detailed maps, though few, are almost fully destructible which goes a long way to make for satisfying gameplay when you knock an enemy into a wall only to have it cave in completely, or to collapse a large section of a bridge your opponent is standing on to drop him into the sea below. The single player is, in my opinion, a large tutorial that ultimately leads to the multiplayer. There is a story here, but it honestly plods along a bit more than I would like in an attempt to better familiarize you with all of the games complex elements such as skills, arsenals, environments and the management therein. But there story is there, and it's interesting (though fans of anime might be familiar with the premise). The learning curve is steep, partially because the game is challenging and also due to the way the game slowly acclimates you to the arsenals. Online functionality is very well done. In addition to hosting your own game or joining someone else's you can also Trade skills for credits or other skills. Setting up a Trade session was relatively intuitive, but occasional 'Transaction cannot be made' type errors may crop up as a result of an arcane restriction that is never fully outlined. Actual multiplayer functionality is fully expanded to include Battle Royals, 1 v 1, and Tag teams with several gametype options that allow for complete customizable multiplayer combat. Phantom Dust also allows for VoIP during gameplay so you can talk smack to your opponents or work on a tag team strategy with your partner. Phantom Dust is one of those rare games that you might not ever think is something you would like just by looking at the cover, but once you start playing you'll find an uncontrollable desire to forgo food and sleep just to keep playing. This game is truly phenomenal. 
