Fantavision
By samoht (27 January 2001)
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Ups: Simple yet addictive; intuitive; original; excellent multiplayer mode.
Downs: Simple; graphically and aurally unchallenging.
Bottom Line: While its charms may mystify some, anyone who enjoys an exciting, addictive and above all, original puzzle game should add to Fantavision to their want list. Those who aren't into puzzle games could do worse than check this one out -- you never know, its quirky appeal may just grab you.
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Very Good |
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SONY'S DECISION TO HAVE Fantavision out as a launch title seems very peculiar as it was always destined to be ignored -- not because it is a bad or unworthy game but simply because it is not the kind of headline generating landmark title that so many of the other launch titles claimed to be. Which is of course a crying shame as Fantavision, if picked up with no preconceptions or prior expectations, provides a great deal of simplistic yet addictive fun.
Plot or backstory is of course irrelevant. Some attempt is made at placing you in the role of a firework technician but this about as relevant to the game as studying the motivations and emotions of the bubble popping dinosaurs in Bust-a-Move or attempting to discover hidden meaning in Tetris. Fantavision is a puzzle game plain and simple and any gamer worth their salt knows that the most important element of this type of game is that elusive 'just one more go' factor which is so abundant in the two previously mentioned titles. Does Fantavision reach the lofty heights of Tetris and Bust-A-Move? Not really, but it is still well worth a look and provides a refreshingly original change.
Attempting to describe the gameplay in a puzzle game is tricky due to their inherent simplicity. Concepts like "you move blocks down the screen and try and slot them in to place" or "you shoot coloured bubbles up towards other coloured bubbles, and try and match colours" just don't sound like a lot of fun when you read them out. Describing the gameplay in Fantavision provides a similar obstacle. Essentially the game pans out as follows: you control a cursor which starts off in the middle of the screen. Holding down a button extends a line from the cursor which you can rotate around 360 degrees. This line is used to "grab" fireworks but the catch is you can only "grab" like coloured fireworks. When you have enough fireworks of an identical colour you can detonate them for points. The detonations are rather pretty and can become very mesmerising.
Of course the game is not just a simple task of lining up matching colours. The fireworks are only on screen for a limited period of time and every one that is missed saps your energy bar which, when depleted, equals game over. The other factor which adds to the tension (and fun) is that the game does you no favours and generally throws up all sorts of different coloured fireworks. This requires you to exercise some pretty quick reactions to get the requisite number of identically coloured flares. Certain flares allow you to link different coloured fireworks which make for enormous chains. These chains not only trigger a visual feast for the eyes but also rack up the points big time.
There are also different types of fireworks that can be used in a strategic fashion to create even crazier eye candy and keep that point-counter ticking over. Some explode into a multitude of individual flares which can be redetonated while others shower out, triggering other flares of an identical colour into detonating (even if they aren't selected). As well as these there are certain flares which, when detonated, give off power-ups like energy replenishers, point multipliers and stars. The first two are self explanatory but the stars (when detonated) give a series of letters which spell out the word Starmine. When the word is completed the ordinary game pauses for a moment and the player moves into a sort of bonus round with the opportunity to send their point counter through the roof. |
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