Phantom Spark Review

I’m always on the lookout for games that fit neatly into bursts of play – titles without extensive storylines, where you can make progress even in just 10 or 15 minutes. Phantom Spark is precisely that kind of game. A racing title focused entirely on short time trials, perfect for brief sessions. But be warned: Phantom Spark immediately instills that “one more try” mentality, making time fly by before you even notice.

Phantom Spark is a futuristic, anti-gravity racing game from Icelandic studio Ghosts. After a brief introduction featuring dialogue with the first of three champions and a brown creature named Ceera – a character that helps you along the way – you’re thrown into the game to learn the basics of gameplay. Though “learn” might be an overstatement, the controls are simple: you pilot a floating vessel – not unlike in Wipeout, which certainly served as an inspiration for Phantom Spark – with basic controls for acceleration, braking (or easing off), and turning to glide through the winding pathways at high speed. It’s even simpler than that, as the gameplay is streamlined to the point where you can literally ignore the brake button altogether.

The game’s complexity is reduced to mastering each track with these basic mechanics – figuring out how to maintain as much speed as possible through each twist and turn. It’s about finding the optimal racing line and deciding whether to take a wider route to preserve momentum or cut through grass-covered corners, risking a slowdown but avoiding letting up on the throttle. This minimalist approach could feel underwhelming, but Phantom Spark’s short length works in its favor. With 33 tracks spread across three distinct domains, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. The second and third domain introduce new terrain types, but nothing groundbreaking.

• Fwinti’s Domain.
  As the first domain, Fwinti’s pathways feature basic elements with a focus on narrow, winding tracks.
  Some pathways include short dirt sections that slow down the vessel and cause it to drift. These sections are sometimes preceded by a jump and are set up in such a way that they can be skipped entirely by building up enough speed beforehand. This often requires maintaining an optimal racing line without letting go of the gas.
• Zyn’s Domain.
  The second domain introduces a water element. Some tracks feature narrow streams that speed up the vessel when ridden through. However, it is often faster to take a tighter racing line, even if it means avoiding the water, especially when you are already moving at high speed. Yet another opportunity for a tradeoff.
• Aaroon’s Domain.
  The final domain is characterized by the narrow, bobsleigh-style grass sections that can be challenging to navigate due to the slippery nature of the terrain. Taking the sharp turns without hitting the wall, or successfully drive through chicanes without having to decelerate requires thinking ahead and committing to slight adjustments way earlier than on regular terrain.

The brevity of the experience is refreshing, as it spares the players from repetitive content. I applaud the developers for keeping the game short instead of padding Phantom Spark’s length with more samey-feeling tracks.

Additionally, Phantom Spark features nine trials hosted by Ceera, which serve as short training tracks that teach basic concepts. These lessons, such as how to maintain speed on different terrains, are helpful but not essential for progressing in the game.

Like similar racing games, Phantom Spark has a simple medal system. Each pathway shows the times to beat to achieve Link Level 1, 2 and 3, which correspond to bronze, silver, and gold medals, respectively. After setting a time on a pathway, the domain champion will challenge you to beat his time before you can move on. As you progress through the domain, the champions periodically set new challenges on previously completed pathways, requiring you to return to them to race against their newly set times. Beating the champion’s hidden best time unlocks Link Level 4, the ultimate challenge for each pathway. Unfortunately, there is no way to check the required time to beat.

Chasing Link Level 4 times was my favorite aspect of the game. Improving my best runs by mere tenths or even hundredths of a second, optimizing small movements during each attempt, and finally pulling off the “perfect” run through a track was very satisfying and rewarding. And while this required repeated runs through each pathway, these have the perfect length for this task. Ranging from 30 to 50 seconds – except for the final track in each domain, which was usually about 1.5 minutes long – tracks were easy to memorize just after a couple of runs through them, which allowed me to make small optimizations to my lines with each subsequent attempt. And most times are tight, that’s for sure! I often beat my best time only by a couple of tenths or even hundredths of a second at a time, slowly moving my time closer and closer to the hidden Link Level 4 threshold.

Thanks to the game’s ghost and leaderboard system, there are multiple ways to go about this challenge. You can request a new challenge from the domain champion, which enables a ghost that is slightly faster than your current best time. You can keep asking for new challenges until eventually beating the domain champion’s ghost requires a time under the threshold for Link Level 4.

Another option is to select a ghost from a player on the leaderboards. You can race against other player’s ghosts and climb the rankings, although the leaderboard system has a frustrating limitation: you cannot browse freely. Instead, you are restricted to racing against players near your own rank, friends, or the top players. It’s a small but baffling design choice that doesn’t ruin the experience, though it feels like a missed opportunity. Still, racing against players from the Top 5 can be helpful for improving your own racing lines and overall times.

Finally, and that is how I personally approached this challenge, you can keep beating your own ghost until you eventually unlock Link Level 4. I personally found having only one ghost to race against to be much less distracting. Comparing my current run against my own ghost allowed me to determine where the line could still be optimized, but it was not always completely straightforward. I could for example fall back after taking a turn in a slightly different way, but maybe the new line would allow me to keep more momentum, and shortly after I would catch up and even overtake my ghost. Moments like these kept the game experience exciting and fun until the very end.

Now, here’s a crucial piece of advice to avoid frustration: don’t try to achieve Link Level 4 on each track during your first playthrough by stubbornly sticking with one track before moving on. While it’s certainly possible — and something I often do myself — it will end up costing more time in the long run.
From my own experience, after achieving Link Level 4 on the first two pathways, I spent hours stuck on the third pathway before giving up and moving on with only Link Level 3. However, when I returned after finishing the game, I managed to achieve Link Level 4 on that third pathway within just 15 minutes. Beating the required times with the simple controls demands a certain level of mastery that will be easier to achieve with the practice of simply playing through the game, trying to beat at least Link Level 2 or 3 times.
Therefore, my recommended strategy is to reach Link Level 3 on each pathway (or Link Level 2 if you prefer moving through the game faster), then move on to the next pathway. After beating the entire game, beating the required times for Link Level 4 will feel much less frustrating than trying to stay on a pathway and grind it out.

Overall, achieving beating all Link Level 4 times was more than manageable once I decided to clean them up after an initial playthrough. There were even certain pathways in the last domain where I beat the hidden times on my first run through them, both thanks to the practice I had accumulated up to that point, but also thanks to the pathways’ layouts being more complex and requiring less optimal lines.

Finally, a word about the soundtrack. It doesn’t do the game any favors. The music is monotonous and lacks the energy needed to keep you engaged during precision racing. I found it more of a distraction, as it caused my mind to drift off and my concentration to fade, and thus I often opted to turn off the in-game audio in favor of my own playlist. For a game that demands focus, a more dynamic and motivating soundtrack would have been a welcome addition.

In short, Phantom Spark’s charm lies in its concise, easily memorizable tracks that encourage you to fine-tune your lines and shave precious fractions of a second off your times. The gameplay may be very barebones, but the game’s short length keeps it from becoming repetitive and stale.

While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of its well-established siblings and inspirations, its accessible design makes it an enjoyable entry in the anti-gravity racing genre.