Phantom Spark Review | PC

Back in my childhood, when the games had polygonal limits to some extent, they used to provide more content with game modes that allowed you to grind for the best times or best positions. Racing games, especially those that cared about simulation aspects, had license tests to keep the players on track with physics and get used to how the game plays. On top of that, they had to provide target times for bronze, silver, and gold to ensure they did well in certain conditions.

The first game that comes to my mind is obviously Gran Turismo, which included license tests with varying degrees of time to get. As a casual gamer, getting a bronze would be enough to keep you progressing, but occasionally, you’d get happy with silver times. As time moved on and we became a lot older, going back to the titles puts pressure on you to keep getting gold for getting that dopamine and satisfaction of 100 percent finishing it.
 

 

A few years ago, when I started my Gran Turismo marathon in 2020, I opted to finish all the games with a 100 percent rate, including getting all the gold from license tests available. It wasn’t an easy feat, but damn, it taught me how to handle cars in general and showed me the spirit of racing. I continue my Gran Turismo marathon nowadays, and becoming a master on the license tests made me better at this extremely tricky title called Phantom Spark.

Now, comparing Gran Turismo to a game like Phantom Spark is quite odd, as one aims for the simulation aspect of racing. At the same time, the other one takes a different dive on time trials with fast-paced decision-making, while the other title is trying to deliver the most realistic driving and racing simulation. Phantom Spark is not a unique game at all, though; the formula has been used relatively in another title called Trackmania, which is still played by casual and highly competitive people today.

The idea of Trackmania is that you would have a car capable of going at an infinite speed, and you would have to steer, brake, and adequately take turns on a very complex track that defies the laws of gravity quite often. Phantom Spark also has the theme of driving as fast as possible while keeping your momentum. What made me absolutely love Phantom Spark was the fact that the presentation was quite immaculate, along with an outstanding level of design.

Coming back from a background of futuristic racers like WipeOut and F-Zero, Phantom Spark takes the same themes by letting you race in different biomes- or domains- as a spiritual being called “Spark”. I am not sure Sparks are meant to be souls or the vehicles that represent them because the game includes three different teachers, and they call us Sparks for obvious reasons: They float and glide over the surfaces and are somewhat shaped like sparks.

 

Sparks can be ridden on flat surfaces, gliding evenly like a vehicle with wheels; they usually respond to uneven terrains. Driving through grassy areas will slow your Spark down, and you need to avoid grass as much as possible. However, you can cut through the grass to get an advantage over slowing down on turns. I’ll eventually talk about how you should be taking turns in Phantom Spark, too, though I don’t want this to become a glorified guide for teaching how to take basic racing lines. Just go ahead and do some Gran Turismo license tests; they should cover your curiosity evenly.

As I mentioned, Phantom Spark has futuristic vibes that can be read very quickly, thanks to its presentation. In a time when any genre has a lot of clutter on the screen simultaneously, Phantom Spark's simplicity came like a lifesaver. Like the whole presentation, the gameplay is rather simple, too, but it is one of those games where the skill ceiling is quite high and requires a lot of patience and knowledge. Just because there are throttle, brake, and steering only doesn’t mean you will get easy golds on each stage. The other button to retry the stage will come in handy very soon after you start your first trial.

Levels in Phantom Spark are pretty linear, as you are never meant to take laps in a circuit; instead, tracks are designed to be sprint races that last around 40 to 50 seconds. At each domain, you get to face that biome's “sensei, " which can take around 2 to 2 and a half minutes to beat. They are still as challenging as any other level since you have to remember all the twists and turns in a track.

Since Phantom Spark is quite easy to grab and play, its mechanics are also easy to understand. Gaining speed works as usual; by pressing the throttle, you gain speed, and the speedometer is a bar at the bottom that is separated by bars to indicate how fast you are going. I know it’s a staple at this point, but every future racer has to include boost pads to give your vehicle some boost, and Phantom Spark has quite a lot of them.
 

 

One trick with boost pads, though, is that you can just replace them in certain spots to fool players into thinking that they require the boost, but in reality, they can be used as a disadvantage over sharp turns, giving a bit of an edge over semi-competent drivers. 

Talking about hard times, letting go of the throttle and braking are two things you’ll probably struggle with the most, as they can be the factor between gold and silver medals. I’ve had enough experience with Gran Turismo’s license tests, and I know how terrible it is to miss a gold medal by 0.001 seconds. So, unnecessary breaks or not letting go of a throttle for a better turn will demolish your gold run. I advise using the brakes or letting off the throttle very accordingly and trying out different racing lines on each run.

Unlike other games, though, you should not expect Phantom Spark to be filled with lots of content. If you are semi-competent with your steering, throttle, and brake management, you can easily get silvers on the first try. For me, it took about five to ten minutes to gold a stage, and I'd say it would take twenty minutes max to earn gold if you try your best. So, even if it might seem scary to get the gold time, practicing and memorizing the turns will lead to better times. That being said, domains include ten or so, and each track will be completed in no time, meaning it is a short game unless developers want to add more sprints later on.

Phantom Spark is one of the titles that aims to please the players with its aesthetic and practicality. The aesthetic being shown blew my mind, meaning it’ll have its own section soon. Let me focus on practicality first. Phantom Spark is a grind-y game- not too much, but you’ll constantly restart your run even if you make a small mistake or fall behind your best time.
 

 

Thanks to the optimization given out by the developer, Ghosts, Phantom Spark runs like a "dream" (See what I did there?), and there is an instant back at the start with the reset button. So, if you make any mistake or deem your run non-worthy, you can jump back into the start line instantly. I know this also exists in Trackmania, but since I am more familiar with titles like WipeOut and Gran Turismo, waiting for a hefty ten or more seconds before trying for another attempt is dreadful.

There is also the fact that Phantom Spark is created with zen and being calm in mind. Even if you fail a lot with getting a good time on your runs, the title is designed just to make you feel alright for failing and trying again and again. This also brings me to the aesthetics of Phantom Spark. It is just straight-up filled with keynotes and elements like an ideal future, being stuck in a time when nothing goes wrong, making you feel like returning to the 2000s.

I didn’t grow up with the drum and bass, no. I was more of a trance kid of the works of Rom di Prisco and Saki Kaskas from the Need for Speed series. But I know that the 90s barrage of futuristic racers with the thrill of being the best led me to learn about drum and bass. Everything, I mean everything, has to be drum and bass with some extreme techno stuff thrown into it whenever there is the mention of a future and dystopian skirmish between reality and imagination in humankind, and their only way to get to the solution is driving spaceships or crashing at each other.

Well, drum and bass music isn’t always the escape for that requirement, but it's as close as it gets. With high speed and determination to get on top of the scoreboard, the drum and bass go so well, and I am glad they have chosen to include a very long setlist of liquid/intelligent drum and bass with a nice mix by Joar Renolen. The seamless way tracks connect kept me busy and focused on the trials. I used to listen to drums and bass while studying, which could explain the reason very well if I am honest.

 

I know this title has been a barebones explanation of what Trackmania did for many years, but with a different coat of paint and theming of the 2000s with an excellent soundtrack and visuals, Phantom Spark is absolutely worth the spin. It is a fantastic game with exceptional presentation, optimization, controls, physics, and worthy challenges to force yourself to keep improving. It feels refreshing as you grasp the controller to beat your best time on every try, just as the first time you booted in, which is rare for any racing game in the market.

Atilla Turan (@burningarrow)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed