Phantom of Inferno is a non-H visual novel (choose your own adventure) released in the US by Hirameki Intl. The American release is a DVD-game, in that it can be popped into a DVD player and you select choices at junctures with the DVD remote. I think the original version was a PC game that was later ported to DVD and PS2. I bought this when in 2003, but my DVD player at the time was incompatible with the game, and it sat on my shelf unused for 4 years. I was cleaning out my room when I came upon it and decided to give it a spin using my PC’s DVD drive.
Phantom tells an emotionally charged tale of assassins and mafias, conspiracies and power schemes, betrayal and redemption. There are 10 endings, and most of them are pretty depressing.
The first two thirds remind me of the mafia arc from Gungrave (which was the best part of that series), mixed in with a healthy dose of Kite (what would have happened if Oburi didn’t die), and a dash of Noir (Elen is a dead ringer for Kirika). There’s even a musical stopwatch! Thankfully it doesn’t pop up THAT often. The story branches are tightly interwoven, so playing through a one path can shine light on mysteries in other paths.
Technically, the game suffers from some serious porting issues. The DVD-game interface is incredibly clunky, especially the horrid password system that replaces the save/load system on the PC version. By the end of the game I had a bunch of sheets of paper with passwords scrawled all over them and sidenotes indicating which choices were made during which password segment. There’s no precise ability to fast forward or rewind dialog, and apparently no spellchecker was used. There are also many inaccuracies in translating technical terms (bulbup/bullpup, Sig Zower/Sauer, Colt Pyson/Python, etc.), which detracts from the “professional assassin” atmosphere that the game attempts to develop. Maybe underworld gunslingers are all hooked on phonics?
This is especially strange considering the detail-oriented nature of the story, in which assassination tactics and gun types take center stage. Whenever a new weapon is introduced, the narration goes on a long tangent about the pros and cons of each gun, accompanied by detailed CG depictions. It’s almost like watching an assassination instructional video that is interspersed with a story. For instance, did you know that good sniper scopes are coated with magnesium fluorine? This is supposed to enhance light transmission through the scope, useful for evening or low-light operations. I think the coating probably has a dielectric permittivity that is somewhere between that of glass and air, so that the reflection coefficient is reduced compared to a sharp glass-air interface. Then again, it’s been a really long time since I’ve studied EM.
The visuals in Phantom are a tad dated – many of the backgrounds are just real-life photographs that were blurred over to look like they were drawn. The full voice acting was excellent, and the dialog was actually quite good, though excessively long-winded at times. Be prepared for extensive monologuing and narration. The upside is that you get to know every little detail of each character’s motivations and feelings, and become more emotionally attached to them as a result. Slice of Lifers will probably enjoy the slow and deliberate pacing.
There’s no completion meter or gallery to tell you how much of the game you’ve seen, so after a few play-throughs I wasn’t sure if I had gotten all the endings or not. I figured that there couldn’t be many more permutations left, but upon inspecting of the DVD case I realized that there were several characters on there that I hadn’t even seen before. I later discovered that I hadn’t even uncovered the final third of the game yet, having been putzing around with the middle-story endings. That was quite a shock.
Ender’s rating: 4.2/5.0
Pros:
- Absolutely gripping story (if you have the patience for it) – Phantom gets at least a 4.0/5.0 on the story alone.
- Multiple endings that are diverse and satisfying
- Great voice acting (how come Kikuko Inoue always gets stuck playing the mature-bombshell roles??)
Cons:
- Craptastic interface; no line-skipping, save/reload, clunky password system.
- Truckload of spelling errors. At least the grammar is fine.
- Pacing feels like Monster – incredibly slow buildup, but excellent payoff. Best suited for slice-of-lifers who happen to enjoy action/thrillers as well.
All in all, Phantom is an excellent visual novel that was well worth whatever I had paid for it. I seriously can’t believe I had stuffed this somewhere and had forgotten all about it. I am tempted to look into any other suspense/thrillers that Hirameki has released, though I hope they have improved the quality of their translations/subtitling since Phantom was released. Such shoddy and amateurish errors hurt their image, and may hinder the public’s acceptance of visual novels as a viable storytelling platform. For a second opinion, check out Mentar’s review (may contain spoiler-ish screencaps).
For some thoughts on plot points (spoiler alert), read on:
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This post was written by...
Ender – who has written 219 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the original founders, and the first to attempt a coups d'état.
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I’m playing through Phantom myself right now and it is indeed a great game. Currently completed Ein, Cal, and Mio routes so far. The only really bad thing about Phantom is how much of a pain it is to go back through things. Like in Mio’s route, where nothing really changes until you make the last decision, but you still have to read it all because you think something is going to change. And I quite like the backgrounds, but I like that kind of faux realism. I like Tsukihime’s backgrounds, too. As far as more Hirameki titles go, the only other sure winner is Ever17, and it’s a PC title too, so no crappy DVD controls.
Check out Ever17, Hirameki’s best game to date – and to make the deal sweeter, they brought it over in its PC version, so none of the clunky issues with the DVD interface of Phantom. If you thought Phantom’s story was gripping, Ever17 should blow you away…
In terms of their other DVD titles, I liked Hourglass of Summer. The Exodus Guilty saga (three games) is interesting, but only worth it if you’re willing to lay down a lot of cash… and it kinda feels like you’re paying for three games that are really just one (kinda like the .hack games)
Hahaha
… so you finally DID play it, Ender. Well, I take it that you liked what you saw.
I want to point out that IMHO, none of the screenshots really spoil anything substantial, and neither does my review. That’s what I tried to accomplish at least ^_^
(Or did reading my review spoil anything for you?)
I’d have suggested trying Ever17 too, but IMHO it’s still a LONG way below Phantom, simply because the storyline is extremely convoluted (to put it mildly). The atmosphere is also very different. Nevertheless, definitely worth a try.
Judging from the advert blurbs, Ever17 sounds less trigger-happy; maybe with a greater emphasis on romance? I’ll probably give it a whirl at some point in the near future. The other Hirameki titles just don’t sound that interesting at the moment.
Mentar, the review text itself is non-spoilerish, but for someone who’s currently playing the game, the CG’s give clues as to what to expect in the future, like Claudia hooking up with Daisuke, Ein using a anti-tank sniper rifle, the loft getting blown up, or Ein facing off with the Zahlen Schwestern. Not really endgame spoilers per se, but they do kind of dampen the shock factor when you get to that part of the story. I’m just picky like that, I think.
By the way, what are the other 9 DVD’s that you would take with you to a remote island? I’m curious now!
Oh, one more tip about playback, to gain easy fast-forward and rewind:
First, rip the entire DVD to your local disk. This will make things so much easier. Use tools like DVD Decrypter or Smartripper to get all files on disk.
Then, use Zoom Player Professional DVD mode for playback. It will offer fast forward (f) and rewind (w) with configurable speed, and it won’t lock up the game like some other players do.
Definitely get this little gem. PoI is available for less than 20$ in several online shops.
Dang, that would have saved a lot of time had I known that beforehand! PowerDVD did get stuck a lot when trying to skip segments.
By the way:
For this part alone, you win an intarweb ^_^
“Putzing around” – haha! If it comes as a relief, that’s what happened to me aswell. It took me the hint of a friend that I was missing an entire chapter, and then I broke down and checked a walkthrough to reach it without too much trial-and-error.
And well, the third chapter contains the most important true endings…
Anyway, what a wonderful game this is…
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