Phantom Breaker: Omnia

Phantom Breaker: Omnia’s flashy cast of fighters are easy to learn and take through great single player content but dated systems and basic multiplayer hold this anime fighter back.

It takes guts to develop a game and market it as a Japan-only Xbox exclusive. Such was the case with the original Phantom Breaker, an anime-styled 2D fighter full of great ideas, but long forgotten by pretty much everyone due to the aforementioned (and obvious) reason. Even though a few updated versions of the game had been released over the years, it never managed to take off. Its developers clearly didn’t want to give up so easily, however. They knew they had something interesting in stoc...

Phantom Breaker: Omnia is a 2D anime fighting game from Rocket Panda Games that aims to bring back a well-loved franchise. It caters to hardcore fans of the IP as well as newcomers with its simplified controls, and offers an entertaining experience when you're looking to do some mindless bashing for a session or two.

It’s a shame that Phantom Breaker: Omnia doesn’t have rollback netcode, because that’s where most hardcore fighting game fans will perhaps be getting their fun out of it. There is still some joy to be had though, and for those who simply like to play against the CPU or another human via local versus, there’s very little to complain about. It may not be a property you’re familiar with, but if you’re a fighting game fan you’d be wise to check Phantom Breaker: Omnia out.

In 2011, fighters were in the midst of a resurgence. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition had just been released and Mortal Kombat made its long-awaited return. In addition to giants of the genre, smaller titles were gaining cult followings and one of which was Phantom Breaker. Due to its exclusive release in Japan, many in the west have little to no knowledge about the colorful fighter. Opening the doors, Omnia, the third iteration of the game, receives a worldwide release but was it worth the wait?

Phantom Breaker: Omnia is a really interesting anime fighting game with an eclectic cast of characters, even if some of those characters’ art styles look strange and out of place. An interesting and easy-to-understand fighting system also means being able to specialize any given character with the game’s three systems and further boosting playstyle variety. Some might be taken aback by the simplicity of inputs, but there’s still plenty of strategy and mastery of characters to be had. That said, the open option to abuse Clash and Burst Counter mechanics feel like they drag Phantom Breaker: Omni...

Today, we take a look at another fighting game that will be sharing the spotlight with another hyped-up upcoming release. The game in question is Phantom Breaker: Omnia. A game I talked about at length while doing coverage for the news. I’m sure that many players know it for another reason, though, and that is going to be something I’ll be focusing on once we cut to the review.