FantaVision is definitely... interesting. Been fascinated by this game since I rented it at my local video store as a kid, back during the PS2 days, and I finally decided to put more time in recently to attempt a shot at it.
It's tricky. I don't know.
I always love Japan Studio and the infused Japanese, otherwordly charm they throw into their games. Especially during the early PS2 days, there were a ton of games like this that felt magical in a way, transitioning from PS1. The VO reminds me a little bit of Intelligent Qube, the FMV cutscenes that would occasionally play between levels, there's some uniqueness to be found here.
But as a video game, it fails. Clearly from the intent of its design, FantaVision is meant to showcase PS2's graphical capabilities through a puzzle arcade game. The requirement of chaining colors together and in a timely manner is cool, but it ultimately feels bad to play. Aiming to the colored rocket that you want to chain is almost never accurate, and even the indicator for upcoming colors is difficult to keep track of when it's too low on the UI and out of the field of view. The game itself has no checkpoint system of sorts either, making it very challenging to make it through a full sitting. (I personally couldn't even make it through Level 3.)
Neat take on the genre, but flawed in its execution. And while it does contain that illusive Japan Studio charm, it's simply a technical showcase for the hardware.
It's tricky. I don't know.
I always love Japan Studio and the infused Japanese, otherwordly charm they throw into their games. Especially during the early PS2 days, there were a ton of games like this that felt magical in a way, transitioning from PS1. The VO reminds me a little bit of Intelligent Qube, the FMV cutscenes that would occasionally play between levels, there's some uniqueness to be found here.
But as a video game, it fails. Clearly from the intent of its design, FantaVision is meant to showcase PS2's graphical capabilities through a puzzle arcade game. The requirement of chaining colors together and in a timely manner is cool, but it ultimately feels bad to play. Aiming to the colored rocket that you want to chain is almost never accurate, and even the indicator for upcoming colors is difficult to keep track of when it's too low on the UI and out of the field of view. The game itself has no checkpoint system of sorts either, making it very challenging to make it through a full sitting. (I personally couldn't even make it through Level 3.)
Neat take on the genre, but flawed in its execution. And while it does contain that illusive Japan Studio charm, it's simply a technical showcase for the hardware.