Phantom of the Kill

Phantom of the Kill is a strategy role-playing video game for iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets. The game features gameplay similar to the Fire Emblem series of video games. First released in Japan in late 2014, it was later released globally in May 2016. It generally received mixed reviews, with critics praising the gameplay, but criticizing the loading and repetition involved with playing the game.

Gameplay

The game plays similarly to the core gameplay of Nintendo's Fire Emblem series of video games,^[1] and merges in elements of social games often found in mobile gaming.^[2] The game involves the player moving characters across a grid with chess-like movement requirements, and battling an opposing team of computer controlled characters in turn-based combat.^[3] Upon characters taking enough damage in combat, they are removed from the battlefield, with the team with remaining players being the victor.^[3] The game does not have permadeath, but characters who are defeated do lose equipped items.^[3]

Story

The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopic Tokyo where humanity is on the verge of extinction.^[2] With demons roaming freely and destroying civilization, humanity's last hope are "Kill Princes and Princesses" - extra strong humans that have the ability to defeat said demons.^[2]

Development

Pre-registration began for the game began in August 2014,^[4] and the game was released in Japan in late 2014.^[5] Work on an English version began right away in early 2015,^[5] but wasn't officially announced as such until June 2015.^[6] The game was released in North America, Europe, and over 120 other countries in May 2016.^[7] The game's Western release was rebalanced to feature more difficult gameplay.^[8] The game had a cross-over event with Brave Frontier and Dempagumi.inc in June 2016.^[9]

The game's opening cinematic was overseen by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii.^[2]

Reception and sales

The game received mixed reviews from critics, who generally praised the core Fire Emblem-based game play, but criticized the social gaming aspects and extensive load times. Touch Arcade praised the game's production values and core gameplay, but criticized the need for excessive grinding or blind luck needed to advance through the game, ultimately concluding that "...neither the story nor the gameplay are strong enough to elevate the game beyond the status of an average social RPG with excellent production values. Genre fans will likely get a kick out of it initially, but I have to believe that only the hardest of the hardcore will stick around once the grind sets in.^[2] Gamezebo similarly cited enjoyment in the gameplay, but strongly criticized the lengthy and frequently of the game's loading screens, stating "Every time players go to attack an enemy, the game pauses, loads the phase, shows the character attacking the targeted enemy, the attack hits or misses, and then the game pauses and re-loads back to the overall battlefield view. This might be common practice in the games that inspired it, but when you’re already struggling to keep players engaged because of frequent loading and needless menu navigation, adding even more into the mix slows the experience to a crawl."^[10] Siliconera described the game as a "well-executed copycat" of Fire Emblem, that made up for the lack of character development with making it enjoyable to build fighting teams based more on skill and appearance than relevance to the story.^[11]

As of May 2016, the game had been downloaded 3.5 million times in Japan alone,^[7] and was one of the top-grossing Android releases in Japan.^[6]

References

External links

• Official website