If you have the desire to control a cartoony school girl or school girl warrior as she punches her peers, monsters, passersby and business men in the face, Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds is the game for you.
Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds is an homage to the classic 16-bit era side-scrolling beat’em up. You walk left or right and punch/kick anything moving in the face. There is a story but I have no idea what it is about. Not only can you punch everything but you can fight in the background and the foreground. A simple press of the L button allows you to jump between the two. There is a combo system that increases in depth as you unlock new moves you earn by completing levels and acquiring skill points. In-between stages or upon continuing your game you can unlock new moves and/or increase your overall strength, defense or speed.
The enemy types in Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds varies wildly, as do their sizes. Strange man-piloted mechsuits, dragons and demons can fill the screen while awaiting your wrath. The game has 7 multi-sectioned stages and is meant to be replayed on different difficulty levels and with others. Adhoc and online multiplayer modes are playable against or with friends or strangers. A good beat ’em up is hard to pull off in this current gaming landscape but for me Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds was a nice new walk down memory lane.
Recommendation: Worth a buy
Full Disclosure: The Vita version of this game was provided to GameEnthus by the publisher.
Genre: retro-inspired beat ’em up
Developer: Mages Inc.
Publisher: Mages Inc., 5pb.
Platform(s): PS Vita, Xbox 360
Price: $11.99
Links
http://5pb.jp/games/pbbg/en/
https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/games/phantom-breaker-battle-grounds/cid=UP0745-PCSE00458_00-PBBG0APPLICATION
http://GameEnthus.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2
Scale:
Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat
Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat
No – borrow it if you must play it
Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it