Phantasmat 2: Crucible Peak (IHOG)

The first game in the series - called just Phantasmat (not available on Steam) - was by a different developer, and is also my most-played IHOG ever. I tried not to let my love of the original color my opinions of this game, however!

Options include separate sliders for Music, Sound and Voices, Custom Cursor, Full-screen and Widescreen. Choice of Casual, Advanced or Hard Mode. Can be changed at any time.

Story:

This is a standalone story.

You've dreamed of skiing in the Alps for years, and when you finally take that vacation, an avalanche nearly takes you out, stranding you in the bitter cold wilderness. You manage to find a nearly-abandoned village, but it quickly becomes apparent that there's something very wrong here...

There is no Journal, but we do have a task list that we can use to help us keep track of things. It does NOT record any kind of puzzle hint, so you're going to have to write a few things down!

Gameplay:

OK, let's get the logic issue out of the way right off the bat. There was only one face palm moment early in the game, and everything else had a reason... They even had us turn off the electricity before repairing some wires. How awesome is that! You have no idea how much it bothers me when devs expect us to repair LIVE wires - without gloves, no less! Especially when they're sparking! lol~ Very happy to see that ERS added some logical thinking to the game AND told us why things we might try wouldn't work!

There's one action that we do multiple times, which is to use a butane torch to cut things out of the ice. TIP: Release the button when you've completed the job, or this will take you WAY longer than it needs to!

Using a HINT during the adventure portion of the game will net you a text hint with exact locations and what you need to do there. There is no directional hint.

We have no MAP and no fast-transport, but luckily, active locations are usually kept to a small area so that we don't have to do much backtracking. It seemed like this was a little harder than your typical IHOG, as I seemed to have to use the hint button more than usual.

Phantasmat was the very first game to offer something to do instead of a HOS, and this second installment is continues with that trend. You can switch back and forth between hidden objects or a Match-3 game (I'll come back to this.) Hidden Object Scenes are lightly-interactive, and are standard junk piles. These repeat once, but they are spaced pretty far apart.

The Match-3 game you can do instead of a HOS is almost a full-blown M3 all by itself, with plenty of helpful items, frozen blocks, etc. Bring a golden eye to the bottom of the M3 screen to remove one item from your to-find list. Power-ups ALSO need to be brought to the bottom of the screen before you can use them. One thing the tutorial doesn't tell you is that matching four or more blocks at once will randomly "charge" blocks on the screen with hard-to-notice red dots. Make a match with one of these and be rewarded with a lovely (but unobtrusive) explosion. Ka-boom~!

The game had a nice balance of adventure to hidden objects, but I'd say it leans more heavily toward the adventure side.

Sights and Sounds:

The graphics are very nice, although they felt cartoony after the last IHOG that I played (Maze: Subject 360).

The voices were well done, though I have to admit I don't remember the SFX or music. I take that as a good thing, since it means that they suited the environment and didn't feel out of place.

A couple of things of note RE: our Toolbar area. First is that if you unlock the toolbar, it will fade out so that the HUD is barely visible - Great for taking screens! The second is that magnifying glass next to the hint button. Clicking on the magnifying glass will shrink the size of your inventory items so that they aren't as big. Not really sure what the point is, but there you go!

The game completes with a "The End?" and is continued in the extra chapter.

CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 5 Wallpapers
  
• 5 Screensavers
  
• 13 Concept Art
  
• 4 Music Tracks
  
• 20 Mini-games
  
• 13 Hidden Object Scenes
  
• 15 Cutscenes

Bonus Chapter:

The bonus chapter seemed like it had more HOS than the main game, and it also felt pretty short, even though it was around the average of one hour. It is a prequel of sorts (not exactly), but will give you a little bit more information on the town and its inhabitants.

There was more backtracking in the extra chapter than there was in the main game.

Verdict:

It's hard not to compare this to the first Phantasmat, but some of the core game and tale-telling mechanics are similar enough that I couldn't quite break away from my bias. I'd say that this is a good game, and really liked that I could play it as a Match-3 adventure instead of as an IHOG. Recommended!

To start with, Phantasmat: Crucible Peak is the second game to bear the Phantasmat name, but it isn't a sequel (the protagonist is different for one thing),.

In this game, you start off skiing in the Alps when you are overcome by an avalanche. You manage to survive, and must find a way out, meeting ghosts along the way. This really isn't a spoiler as the first couple lines of the store description mentions this.

The game itself is typical of the genre. You have to nagivate through a series of hidden object screens and puzzles to advance forward. What is slightly different is that if you dislike the Hidden Object part of the game, you can play a match 3 game instead which will remove the items to locate.

The game also has 3 levels of difficulty: Casual, Normal, Advanced and this effects how much help it gives you, refresh on hints, etc.

One quality of life feature it is missing is a map with fast travel that many HoGs now boast. It isn't to hard to navigate, but it was noticeable.

One thing I am pleased with is this game at least didn't require you to pick up 5-6 knives or knife-like objects to 'cut' things. I know this is an odd comment, but the HoG I played previously did this: knife, dagger, scissors, broken shard of glass, shard of metal, etc. all to cut stitches, rope, etc.

As for the game itself, I have to admit I was disappointed in it. The first Phantasmat game (Endless Night) actually had me invested in the protagonist, and there was enough weird stuff to keep me drawn in. This game didn't have any of that.

So would I recommend it? If you were a fan of the first, and wanted more of the same, you won't find it here. If you want a serviceable HoG, then this might suit your needs. Considering I played it without any issue, I would give this one a tentative yes, but with the caveat that there are better HoGs out there at the same price.

One thing is that the game currently goes for $9.99 US on Steam, and I think this is a little high. However, it often is on sale during other big Steam sales, so if you do wish to get it, I highly recommend waiting until such a time to do so.

EXCELLENT GAME! There were many characters to talk with so it wasn't too lonely even though you're trapped "alone" on a ski mountain resort town after an avalanche. Also the longest game ever of its kind not even including the bonus chapter! Definitely more than your money's worth. The story was very good too and definitely original. There were many interesting locations which were very cozy especially with all the cold & snow outside. If I had to complain about anything, it's that some of the locations were difficult to navigate at first, they threw in a bunch of HOPs near the end which also became a bit obscure. Lastly it crashed a few times but started right back up. But overall it was one of the top games I've played in recent memory. Can't wait to check out the other titles. Definitely very highly recommended!!

Don't waste your money or your time on this game.Another generic game by Big Fish / Eipix. Ever since Eipix started to develop games for Big Fish, quality has gone downhill. Nonsensical story-lines, childish puzzles, ridiculous dialogue... Shame really that Big Fish has allowed established series to become so bad. Phantasmat is no different. It has been butchered like Mystery Case Files.

A good game with very good story.

+ very good story
+ nice music
+ fine graphics
+ good but easy puzzles
+ good hidden object scenes

- missing map with locations where you can do something
- buggy, few times it quit me to windows with error
- hints are text only and sometimes worthless
- extra chapter wasn't so good as the rest of the game

Overall 6.5/10

It is worth it's price

Could only complete roughly 10% of the game due to run time errors causing it to crash. It's a pity because artwork was good and the story was interesting. If the run time problem can be fixed then I would probably change my recommendation to a positive.

i didnt like it >> it dont desrve the money i paid

It was alright. Didn't like it as much as the other two Phantasmat games that are on steam.

This game has a good story, but it is a little weaker at some points. I liked the sound effects and music. The game was really good and I liked it.

Pros:
+ Graphics
+ Gameplay

The story is alright. I enjoyed the plot behind the pyromaniac, just wished it would've been a bit more fleshed out. Quite liked the simple mechanics and the voice acting. The artwork was also lovely to look at.