Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, Vita, Xbox One

Publisher

MAGES

Developer

MAGES. Inc.

Genre

Action, Arcade, Beat-'em-up, Fighting

Players

1-4

File Size (Minimum)

1.6GB

Release Date (NA)

Dec 7, 2017

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive for the Nintendo Switch is a classic-styled arcade game that feels fun but is short-lived with repetitive battles and lack of online features.

The game is a spin-off from the Phantom Breaker fighting game. Unlike its predecessor, it’s not only a fighting game but also an old-school, beat-’em-up style arcade game. It also features the original Japanese voices with English subtitles.

If you’ve played other beat-’em-up games like Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, River City Ransom, and Castle Crashers, you’ll be familiar with Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive’s gameplay.

All the Same

The game has four modes: story, arcade, cooperative (co-op), and battlegrounds. Story, arcade, and co-op are all similar in terms of gameplay in that you battle through hordes of enemies. However, there’s a small difference between each mode. Story mode, as expected, is where you play through the game’s story, complete with cutscenes and in-game dialogue. The arcade mode is set up to score the highest score and combos. Co-op is playing through the game with friends but with fewer cutscenes and no story dialogue.

Battlegrounds mode is based around players fighting each other locally. The Nintendo Switch version only offers couch co-op, whereas the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita can be played online. However, the publisher has announced on their website that online features will be available in 2018 when Nintendo officially launches the Nintendo Switch online service. 

In both online and offline modes, up to four players can battle on one screen, and winning is simple: fight among each other until only one remains.

A Familiar Story About a Rescue

Arcade-style fighting games don’t have usually have a strong story, and this one is no exception. The heroines’ friend, Nagi, has been captured by the Phantom, and it is up to you to rescue her by going through hordes of his minions.

The story is predictable, and after playing through half the game in arcade mode, it’s fair to say you aren’t missing much. The details are explained in content with no cutscenes before you start.

Build that Special Someone

Adjusting character skill sets is one of the best features of the game. Each level gained gives you points to use towards boosting their strength, defense, speed, and special attacks. Even if you used all your points up, it does not mean the points are gone; you can go back and make additional adjustments.

At the start of the game, you can choose between six chibi-sized characters, and additional characters are available after completing the game. Each character has a unique weapon that can attack from different ranges.

Control it Like a Pro

The controls for each character are the same: strong attack, medium attack, weak attack, and cancel your special attack. (Canceling your special attack will preserve your “burst gauge” for later use.) The control setup can be changed to your convenience as you’ll mostly be pushing buttons as fast as you can or constantly using the same combo repeatedly.

Other controls such as guarding, throwing and performing a special attack cannot be adjusted and are based on a combination of buttons or a trigger button.

You can perform two types of special attacks: “Outrage Attack” and “Strong Outrage Attack”. By eliminating your opponents, your “burst gauge” will fill up. When the gauge fills up to 99%, using a special automatically releases the “Outrage Attack”. This attack uses homing missile to blast random enemies on screen. The “Strong Outrage Attack” release a more powerful attack, damaging more enemies on the screen. Every character uses the same attacks which is a bummer because it would help diverse each character’s abilities.

When it comes to guarding attacks, the game does it automatically as long as you are not making any movements. However, there’s a limit on how long a guard can be used when enemies constantly attack you.

When playing co-op, you can recover unconscious players, bringing them back into battle. To do so is simple: stand near the character and push an attack button. That’s it, easy peasy.

The game has many different strategic elements such as recovering from an attack, breaking an enemy’s guard, and more. All these can be found in the game’s “How to Play” tutorial section.

Take it to the Streets

Gameplay is as repetitive as you could ask for, but for a typical beat ‘em up game, it’s not surprising. Enemies will start piling onto the screen and to continue on with the game you have to beat every last one of them. Further into the game, you’ll run into more demonic creatures and one of the most annoying enemies, the spellcasters.

There are different types of spellcasters that will attack you using long-distance attacks such as fire, ice, or stars. When it’s one-on-one, it’s not as big of a deal, but the more of them on screen, the harder it is to break away from their continuous attacks.

Boss battles become more of a chore than fun and at times repetitive. The boss will navigate around your moves and counterattack with heavy attacks, making it harder to counter. Also, take into account that various minions can flood the screen and the boss will be able to hide behind them, making it difficult to find and attack.

The key is to take down the bosses by using combos, preventing them from countering you with special attacks. Before I realized that, it was a struggle to beat all bosses after the first one. However, the option to play through the arcade mode helped build the character’s level and skills, making it easier to advance further into the game (but, at times, also making it too easy to complete each level). You can always change the difficulty but after playing through the game already coming back isn’t as satisfying. This is where online co-op would come in handy.

Overall

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive is a fun beat-’em-up with character skill customization. Unfortunately, the game’s short story, repetitive battles, and lack of online co-op make the replay value less than what it could be.

A Nintendo Switch review code was provided by Strangely Compelling for this review.