[Before I begin the review, I would just like to announce the launching of the new Rodey's Review Forum! It's a forum designed for discussing everything music/gaming. I'd love to hear your opinions on the games/albums I review, so go on over to the forum (the link is in the right side-bar), register as a user, and start giving your opinions!]
Well, it’s that time of the year again; the time of the year to go out and celebrate the independence of the United States of America. When it comes to the Fourth of July, there are a few things that snap into an American’s mind: family get-togethers, cookouts, grandma’s homemade potato salad, and of course, the fireworks. Yes, what better way to celebrate your country than to shoot large, brightly colored explosives into the air at the mercy of a large crowds ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’? In order to follow our country’s traditional path, I’ve decided to review a game solely based around the concept of detonating these awe-striking bursts of light.
FantaVision was a launch title on the Sony PlayStation 2, meant to show off the graphical capabilities of the system. Though the game was put together beautifully, the game wasn’t praised most for its stunning visual presentation, but more for its incredibly unique gameplay. However, before I get into the gameplay I want to discuss the game’s introduction.
This game has one of the strangest intro videos I have ever seen in a video game. It shows the title of the game next to a young girl dressed in a school-girl type outfit, sitting happily on a crate. Allow the intro to progress long enough and...well...you get this...
First off, I have no idea what is in that package, and why the girl is so happy about it, but I’m just going to assume that it is a copy of FantaVision. Secondly, could they have at least showed the kids how to hold/use the controllers? I mean, the girl has both her thumbs on the analog sticks and two of her fingers on the L and R buttons. You only use the left analog stick in the game and the L and R buttons aren’t used in the gameplay at all. Either way I have no idea what kind of message they were trying to portray in this introduction, but now that I got that off my chest, let’s get to the actual game.
FantaVision is a puzzle game that shares concepts with many puzzle games before it, but although the concepts are similar, the actual game play mechanisms are what make it a game of its own. The object of the game is quite simple: fireworks (or flares) will shoot onto the screen and you need to point your cursor at them in order to capture them. Once you capture three flares of the same color in a row, you may hit the circle button to detonate them. You will be rewarded points depending on how many flares you had and how you went about detonating them. If you take too long to capture and detonate a flare, it will disappear, resulting in a “missed flare.” Missed flares will decrease your play time bar, which will end the game if it is completely depleted. Inversely, successfully detonating flares will result in the play time meter filling up.
Now, what would a puzzle game be without giving the player the ability to gain more points through the use of chains? Chains of points can be achieved in many different ways in FantaVision. One key way of doing this is through the use of the wild flares. Wild flares are multicolored flares that can be used as any color flare you want it to be. By linking two pairs of two different colors with a wild flare, you essentially give yourself two interconnected rows of three. For example: if I was to capture two blue flares, but all that was left on the screen was a wild flare and two oranges, I could capture the wild flare and then proceed to capture the two orange flares and detonate my chain. This technique is called a “daisy-chain.”
The other way to achieve combos is to use your detonated flares to detonate other flares in its path. If you were to detonate a set of green flares, and another green flare were to pass through the explosion caused by this set, it would instantly detonate on contact, causing a “chain reaction.” If many of the same colors are surrounding each other, chain reactions provide a quicker, more strategic way of clearing the screen and racking up points.
On top of the many ways to chain your points, the game has many other interesting aspects. There are many different kinds of flares that each detonate a different way. Some detonate in circles where others detonate in a willow-like fashion. There are certain flares that even detonate and release other smaller flares to detonate again. There are also items that you can collect that can raise your play bar, and stars which, when enough are detonated, can bring you to the Starmine bonus round; where for a certain time limit, flares will come out faster and more abundant, allowing the player to gain big chains of points.
FantaVision also contains a two-player head-to-head mode, where two people compete to see who can achieve a certain amount of flare detonations before the other. Game play gets more competitive in this mode since two more items are introduced: one that will shrink the opponent’s playing field (subsequently enlarging the user’s) and an item which allows the user to swap fields with other player. This two player mode does a great job at adding incredibly competitive measures to an otherwise uncompetitive game.
All in all, FantaVision is one of those puzzle games that is really easy to learn, but incredibly difficult to master. The one player mode, although short (only eight levels) is long enough to allow you to build some decent skills, and once those skills are achieved, the two player mode can keep you going for a long time. Aside from that the game has many levels of difficulty and even a handicap you can set against yourself for even more of a challenge.
Since the game was a launch title, you can find it for incredibly cheap. I got my copy for two dollars at a local game store. If you are fan of puzzle games, and are looking for something a little different than your typical Tetris or Columns style gameplay, give FantaVision a try.
I hope you all have a great Fourth of July, and I’ll leave you with a fireworks show presented by FantaVision itself! Enjoy!
