PHANTOM (1989) [Zeppelin Games] Cassette Cover: Robert Aynsley (Text from Rear of Cassette label): Something strange has been happening, something quite unnatural. At first no-one took much notice. Those who had experience it were considered crackpots. But now the number of crackpots were so numerous they comprised most of the people - something strange was indeed going down in this particular neighbourhood.

REVIEW by Phoenix Otaku

I've always been a big fan of Ghostbusters - cool heroes with nuclear powerpacks, zapping the ghosts and saving the day! For in Phantom, that's exactly what you get to do!

The aim of the game is for you, the ghost hunter, to work your way through four buildings and extinguish them of ghosts. You begin the game in Ye Olde Inn and on each screen you need to collect the key in order to advance past the locked door, and onto the next screen or level. There are four screens per level and four levels per building. Which is a grand total of 64 screens of Phantom-Busting action!

Your only weapon against the phantom hordes is a nuclear accelerator with a limited power supply. Luckily scattered around the levels are isotope power packs, which can replenish your energy weapon to full power. Unluckily for you these are sometimes guarded by monsters, who require more than a few blasts from your nuclear accelerator before they are defeated. On the last screen of level four of each of the buildings you will be faced by a transporter, which resembles a tornado with a grumpy face! This will use up quite a lot of your weapon's energy to defeat.

For the majority of the time you will be challenged by a number of minor phantoms who take the form of ghosts, clouds, skulls or flying hands. These will slowly materialise as you first enter a new screen. On some levels you can quickly run through, collect the key and exit before any reach you. But for the most part you will need to dispatch as many as possible to reach the key and the exit. A score bonus is also gained by completely clearing a level of phantoms before you exit. Generally only one shot from your weapon is needed to vanquish a phantom. If you are unfortunate to touch or be touched by these apparitions then your Heart BPM (Beats Per Minute) meter will start to rise from its initial 70. If it reaches 100, your heart will finally give way to fright and the game will be over. The only way to bring down your heart rate is to defeat the evil transporter at the end of level four of a building. This will reduce you BPM back down to 70.

Each room is depicted with simple walls and colourful floor patterns. The background music is fun and catchy, and doesn't distract from the game. The game is quite a challenge, as the longer you spend on one screen, the more ghosts are generated, making it harder to reach the exit. You also need to conserve your backpack energy, and avoid close contact by the ghosts! Frustratingly there isn't a level select, so you must begin again from the first level of Ye Olde Inn if your heart gives out.

Overall this game is brilliant fun to play, coming across as a sort of Ghostbusters meets Gauntlet hybrid. The graphics and sound are good, and the gameplay is easy to get to grips with, but quite challenging on later levels. The only drawbacks are the occasional collision detection bug resulting in some shots from you weapon failing to register on a phantom. This forces you to conserve your nuclear accelerator power as much as possible.

"Frighteningly good!" (8/10)

(Manual in English, French, German and Italian)

GAME TIPS

Conserve as much weapon energy as possible, by making every shot count.

The phantoms appear in predefined places on each screen, so it is possible to manoeuvre to a safe place upon entry before they all appear.

At full charge your nuclear accelerator has enough power for 40 shots. Each shot can reach across the other side of the screen, so make full use of this feature and thereby avoid close contact with the phantoms.

Programming inaccuracies with collision detection mean that some shots fired will not register on an apparition. The following is a list of the number of hits normally required to defeat an opponent:

PHANTOM = 1
MONSTER = 7
TRANSPORTER = 10

	-	The Hero
	-	Door Key (needed to unlock doors)
	-	Isotope Power Pack (tops up your nuclear accelerator energy to maximum)
	-	Transporter (on last level of every building). Your BPM will decrease back to 70 upon exit of this level.

Phantoms (Ghosts)	-
Monsters	-	Level 1 (Guarding an Exit) Level 2 (Guarding an Isotope Power Pack) Level 3 (Guarding a Key)

Phantoms (Clouds)	-
Monsters	-	Level 2 (Guarding an Isotope Power Pack) Levels 2 & 3 (Guarding a Key)

Phantoms (Skulls)	-
Monsters	-	Level 1 (Guarding an Exit) Level 2 (Guarding a Key) Level 3 (Guarding an Isotope Power Pack) Level 3 (Guarding an Isotope Power Pack)

Phantoms (Hands)	-
Monsters	-	Level 1 (Guarding a Key) Level 2 (Guarding an Isotope Power Pack) Level 3 (Guarding an Isotope Power Pack) Level 4 (Guarding Isotope Power Packs)

Ye Olde Inn

Dungeon

Mansion

Castle

CLICK HERE to Download an Infinite Energy file for use in the Atari 800Win Emulator.

Phantasm Mausoleum
(Details on the cult sci-fi/horror films)
www.phantasm.com/hpages/Mausoleum.html

Ghoststudy
(See some ghostly photos)
www.ghoststudy.com/gallery.html

International Catalogue of Superheroes - The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks
(Information on the 1930's superhero - The Phantom)
www.internationalhero.co.uk/g/ghwhowlk.htm

The Deep Woods - The Phantom's Home on the Internet
(Even more information on the purple outfitted superhero, including a complete comic index)
www.deepwoods.org

Scooby-Doo!
(Official Warner Bros. Website on the popular cartoon series)
www2.warnerbros.com/web/sd_brand/index.jsp