It’s generally accepted wisdom that “fun size” is the least fun size of all. It’s small, a couple bites and you’re done, and who wants that? When you’re a teenager with a growing appetite and hyperactive metabolism, sure, fun size isn’t going to cut it, and then the years fly by and what had been normal no longer is. A large soda is way too much sugar water, a giant steak is a couple of meals instead of one, and fun size is the right size for a snack. Or maybe two of them, I’m not the snack police. The point is that small is good, small is approachable, and while epic consumption can still be fun it’s best saved for special occasions. Phantom Spark is a big bag of fun-sized race courses, and while the demo only features three of them they couldn’t be more satisfying.
Big racing in little packages
Phantom Spark is a time-trial racer featuring hover-vehicles like in Wipeout but a racing challenge more similar to Trackmania. The futuristic racers tear through courses set in crumbling stone ruins, aiming for the best line to shave hundredths of a second off the top time. That top time, though, is your best score, and the main enemy/inspiration is the ghost of your best run. Controls are exceptionally simple- Gas, steering, brake, and that’s it. Courses are wide, the ship’s handling is generous, and the perfect line is a razor-thin pathway through the track that gets harder and harder to ride with every new improvement in your fastest time.
Review: Trackmania Turbo
Trackmania Turbo is a giant, gorgeous world of arcade stunt-racing action. Discover why in our review.
While your own ghost is made of evil and spite, each track is overseen by a Champion who’s also running the course as a ghost. The demo includes a tutorial course plus three tracks overseen by Fwinti, who’s mostly helpful and encouraging if you ignore the occasional edge of competitiveness once you start posting decent times. The reason for the champion, rather than just racing your ghost, is that they get increasingly skillful as your times improve, racing better lines and showing you where to shave off a couple more hundredths of a second. The tracks are designed so that you’re holding down the gas most of the time, and the trick to getting a gold rank isn’t just flooring it but finding the path that allows the accelerator to held down as long as possible. Having a player on the course who isn’t repeating mistakes you don’t realize you’re making means improvement can be as much about observation as figuring out the course’s tricks.
Like any good racer, though, what makes Phantom Spark fly is the ship’s handling, which feels like it’s going to do exactly what you tell it almost from the second you pick up the controller. The turning feels just right, and the inertia of the ship at its highest speeds always makes sense. Topping it off and cementing the replayability into shape are the short courses, all of which can be beaten in under a minute. The first track can actually be beaten in under thirty seconds with a little practice, while the second one I know can be cleared under forty but I’m still working on gold-ranking it at 41 seconds. Currently that puts me at 266th place on the leaderboard for that one specific track but I know I can do better, and a bite-sized course that doesn’t require a major commitment to memorize means I can instead commit to perfecting it. It’s the same time investment but with much better, more impressive results, and it’s hard to beat the satisfaction of discovering a cleaner approach to the turns here leads to greater momentum at a jump there, bypassing a section of track that would now be wasted time to travel. Phantom Spark is perfect controls and fun-sized courses, and the demo is not to be missed for anyone who’s ever wanted to race just a little bit faster.
Phantom Spark’s demo isavailable on Steamnow through June 17, at which point it will most likely disappear.
