Phantom Spark
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Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Phantom Spark
Race to get better. Race for self-improvement. Race to understand how knocking a few hundredths of a second off a best time can feel like victory.
By modern standards Phantom Spark may even be considered a little barebones, but it's also a relaxing, chilled out experience.
A solid, precision-based time trial racer, Phantom Spark won't satisfy those WipEout and F-Zero cravings, but it will keep you occupied for a fair few hours, if you manage to dial in to its 'just-one-more-go' wavelength.
Phantom Spark pares away everything inessential to provide a blissful time trial racing experience, buttressed by pleasant pastel visuals and a calming soundtrack. There are no extra bells and whistles, but what this indie racer does, it does very well.
Phantom Spark is a great racing game for taking times that seek to get closer to perfection, using precise controls and well-designed layouts to challenge the most dedicated players. However, with few game modes, uninspired multiplayer and artistic minimalism, it does little for those looking for something other than constant repetition in search of the impossible thousandth.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Phantom Spark is a wonderfully easy-to-pick-up racing game that draws inspiration from classics like F-Zero and Wipeout and takes you on an entrancing journey of self-improvement. The racetracks are varied and offer a welcoming difficulty curve. The game offers a lot of room for error for newbies, but there is much more room for perfecting each track while getting lost in the soundtrack. The addictive gameplay loop comes from trying to beat your own ghost. Phantom Spark is a great little racing game that is definitely worth a try as long as you are okay with retrying a lot.
Racing isn’t a genre of game I’d usually associate with the term ‘thoughtful’. This isn’t to say they aren’t well thought out – more that they provoke a player’s reflexes and timing more than anything else. You focus on the next turn coming, not the third. Phantom Spark bucks this trend, however. I found myself invested in each track, willing my Spark to make a turn just tight enough to speed through, to shave a thousandth of a second off my time. If I came into this looking to redeem my eight-year-old self, I failed. This game isn’t a successor to Wipeout Pure. Instead it’s a great time trial game in its own right; stylish and smart. If you like racing games, you should give it a go.
