FANTAVISION
REVIEW

Fantavision is a fantastically mellow game to play. It has a perfect learning curve, a great concept which allows for mastering, a superbly ambient soundtrack and some gorgeous visuals. The game is surprising simple to pick up, and after a couple of plays, you'll have it sorted. Different coloured fireworks enter the screen, and you must blow them up by pointing your cursor at them and pressing the 'move' button. If you choose to move to a red firework first, then you can only move to other red fireworks. You must then link 3 or more until you can detonate them, so tactics play a huge role. But what if there are only 2 red fireworks, and all the others are green? Then you move to a flashing firework. This allows you to move to any other colour, and continue the linking process, while still keeping the first collected colours. Once you feel you have linked enough fireworks, then you press the 'detonate' button to fill the screen with showers of sparks. Working in the way allows for huge combos and bonus points, with explosions even taking out newly launched fireworks. Obviously, each firework has a lifespan, and will fizzle out if not detonated quickly, so speed is of the essence. Missing too many fireworks lowers your life bar, until eventually it's game over. Successfully gaining combos will increase this bar though, as will collecting the letters spelling out 'STARMINE'. Getting all letters puts you into a quick bonus round where virtually every firework is the same colour, and combos of 100+ are possible! Completing a level gives you the option to save a replay of what you just did, which is well worth doing, as you don't really get a chance to appreciate the graphic quality while playing, as you're concentrating too much!

Graphics are very good indeed. Each firework is rendered individually, so no 2 will ever look the same. Although you'd be hard pressed to tell if this was true or not, it does look nice when lots explode at once. Backgrounds are pretty, with later ones set in space being excellent. Early ones are set over cities, and have the occasional jet or ship passing by. Unfortunately, they are un-interactive, so could be FMV and would do the same job. Thankfully, they aren't though! Speaking of FMV, there are some short movie clips between some levels which must rank up there with the most surreal clips ever! You get short clips of a 50's style American family, just, well, talking on phones and playing! They are incredibly odd, and will surely produce lots of puzzled sounds from onlookers!

Sound effects consist of the expected booms and bangs when fireworks explode, and a few beeps here and there from your cursor. The music steals the show though. It's very ambient, and suits the game perfectly. Soundtrack CD, please Sony!

Well, it goes to show that the simplest ideas are usually the best ones! Sure, the game is very easy to finish, but some extra versions of the levels become available upon completion, with even a level selector. With the Ridge Racer and Tekken titles failing to impress many, it seems funny that a 'simple puzzle game' can steal the limelight. Okay, it could be done in a fashion on almost any other system, but that's not the point. Tetris on the Gameboy is still one of the most playable games ever, yet sequels or versions on better hardware never seem to beat it. Forget Tekken Tag if you're getting a PS2, and get Fantavision with Ridge Racer 5 instead!

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

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