The Phantom Review

Despite being the first superhero (created by Lee Falk and first published in 1936), these days The Phantom is an underused, underappreciated and underrated character in mainstream media. Not even Billy Zane and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ attempt in 1996 could thrust The Ghost Who Walks to commercial stardom. But in an age where seemingly every MCU character gets their own film or TV show, it’s a shame that the purple prince now only exists in his original comic book form. Thankfully for Phans all over the world, Melbourne’s Art of Play is bringing The Phantom back to video games in a sidescrolling beat-‘em-up adventure. But will it be enough to make purple spandex en vogue again?

The story is classic Phantom, with Kit Walker hanging out in his Skull Cave abode in the Bengalla Jungle with his wife Diana Palmer when they hear the beating jungle drums signalling that trouble is afoot. Naturally, it’s the Singh Brotherhood up to no good, and they make away with The Phantom’s son, kicking off a globetrotting quest to rescue young Kit Walker.

Over the next couple of hours, The Phantom ventures to various countries in pursuit of his son’s kidnappers, including good old Australia, Sweden and the United States. If you’ve got a partner in crime, you can play the campaign in co-op – one player as The Phantom and one as Diana Palmer. Unfortunately, it’s limited to couch co-op at this point, and because I played on Steam, I tackled the campaign alone – as The Phantom of course.

The artwork is astounding and feels like you’re playing inside of a comic book

Given The Phantom has no powers like most superheroes, he’s a great fit for a beat-‘em-up, able to use his brute strength to take down the Singh Brotherhood. Both The Phantom and Diana Palmer have a couple of punch and kick attacks, a grapple attack, a wide-reaching melee attack and guns, although ammo is limited. Both characters have a power meter that once charged lets them unleash a special move. The Phantom can also call upon Devil, his trusty wolf, and Diana, an eagle, to deal damage to enemies, but this is limited to three times per stage. 

If you’ve ever played a 2D beat-’em-up you know what you’re in for gameplay-wise, but don’t go into The Phantom expecting Streets of Rage, because the gulf between those two experiences is evident. That isn’t to downplay Art of Play’s efforts, but more to set expectations as The Phantom’s budgetary limitations are highlighted in the gameplay, which lacks a bit of oomph and satisfaction. It’s not that it’s bad – it’s fine, but being The Phantom just doesn’t feel cool and powerful often enough.

It also doesn’t help that the enemy variety is minimal. Each location has its own enemy model but the rest will be the same foes you’ve fought countless times. I know other games do this, but I think the gameplay’s shortcomings make it more noticeable here. It feels like this could be any nameless character beating up street punks (known as eshays in Australia), but maybe that’s a result of The Phantom’s lack of powers. There are moments when The Phantom feels bad arse, and there’s a neat UI additon that shows how many enemies saw either The Phantom’s skull ring or gun barrell before they met their demise. 

Phantom’s best friend

Any beat-‘em-up worth its salt has boss fights that stand out (for good or bad reasons), and The Phantom is no different. Alas, both boss fights are pretty underwhelming and follow the same blueprint; take a chunk of health, fight a wave of grunts, dodge a simple attack and go again. It just doesn’t make The Phantom feel powerful. I mean, remember the final fight in 1996’s The Phantom? Of course you remember Billy Zane using his ring to stop Xander Drax. There’s no epic ending like that here, which is a massive missed opportunity.

However, the weakest part of the game is the chase fight sequences, which conclude four of the game’s levels. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that the boat chase is one of the most frustrating sequences I’ve ever played. These are boring and drawn-out slogs that are not fun in the slightest. Essentially, The Phantom needs to defeat an enemy by shooting bombs while Diana leads the pursuit, but the hit detection is shonky, which makes the whole thing more frustrating than it needs to be.

As a primarily comic book character, you’d expect the artwork to stand out, and Art of Play has done a great job in this area. I’m a big fan of The Phantom’s model that Lead Artist Anthony Spay (who has worked on The Phantom comics) has created – it oozes toughness, and anyone who can make purple tights look tough deserves plaudits. Even the way The Phantom walks looks great, and enemy models (although limited) are fantastic. The backgrounds have an excellent amount of detail and look like they’ve been ripped straight from the comics, so any Phan of The Phantom is going to enjoy the visuals here.

This boat chase sequence made me sea sick

Unfortunately, during my playthrough I had to contend with multiple bugs, none of which were game breaking, but they certainly didn’t do it any favours. I lost sound effects at various points, characters would fly across the screen, and modes couldn’t be accessed despite being unlocked. All easy things to get fixed, but annoying nonetheless.

Final Thoughts

Art of Play definitely deserves some thanks for bringing The Phantom back to video games, and it’s clear the team has a deep reverence for Lee Falk’s character. As a fan of The Phantom myself, it’s great to play him once again, and I hope this isn’t the last time we see him. But as a beat-‘em-up experience, The Phantom is unlikely to draw a big crowd outside of dedicated fans.

Reviewed on PC // Review code supplied by publisher

Click here for more information on WellPlayed’s review policy and ethics