Written by Otaku Apologist
“Phantasma: Wand and Wood” is a free match-three hentai puzzle game available for internet browsers. Developed by AGN (Adult Games Network) released in May 10th, 2017. Uncensored genitals. Start playing on Erogames.com.
This puzzle game has fun unique gameplay, but falls short on the visuals. With visual novel style storytelling and light RPG mechanics to boot, this game is worth trying out, and worth my time criticizing. It’s time to stroke our brains and our genitals at another eroge!
Note: This game is also called Puzzles and Panties.
STORY
Phantasma is an aspiring mage. She’s learning to cast spells like a master magi, and sometimes, she gets horny and fucks. That’s all you need to know, as the story is padded-to-hell casual crap. Reading little Phantasma’s uneventful conversations with her teacher, and the other random fucktards that hop for a smack talk before you’re back to playing puzzle games, is a waste of time. You won’t find a deep story in a casual game aimed at millions of people who each have differing uninformed opinions they absorbed through the corrupt leftist media, and government indoctrination camps, also called schools.
For the hours that I’ve played this game, I will say that it’s playing things safe. Maybe after the 100th hour Phantasma starts quoting Shakespeare, and her family dies from drinking poisoned wine, I don’t fucking care.
GRAPHICS
The visuals of Phantasma: Wand and Wood, have notable problems apparent on first glance. The menus look horrendous, filled with every color of the rainbow, and so much text, your eyes feel under attack. Meanwhile the game isn’t erotic at all. The big-boobed female sorcerers, dryads, and other enemies, are too small on screen. You can’t see the fatty folds of the tits, you can’t see the ass, you can’t spot the pussy slit between the ass cheeks. My penis is not amused.
The coloring is cartoonish, and there’s barely any details on the characters. The art style is way too simplistic to my tastes. If this was a game I produced myself, I’d be proud, because I actually knew the limitations I worked with, and the amount of work that went into it, but from a reviewer’s perspective, I’m not impressed. For the credit of the art, the colors are delightfully bright, and the female characters look fuckable.
Many visual assets in this game are too small for comfort. When you gain new minions, or cards as they’re called, the card is so tiny, you don’t feel any satisfaction from collecting them. In the menus, the buttons you press for confirmation, are incredibly small as well.
I haven’t seen many backgrounds in the game, but the few I saw, were very nice-looking. The big castle in the background in the story sequences, is amazing. The backgrounds I’ve seen in the actual game have ranged from lush woodlands to volcanic areas. The BGs are frankly lacking things to look.
GAMEPLAY
Phantasma: Wand and Wood is a match-three puzzle game. In most puzzle games of this type you’re stuck moving the tokens in a rigid grid, in Phantasma, you have no limits. You can drag a token from the far corner of the screen to the next corner. Believe it or not, my first move in the game board of the above screenshot, was to move a purple moon token from the left, to the right, displacing the yellow lighting. Oh yeah!
You have to match at least three tokens of the same color adjacently. The tokens disappear instantly, and you cast a spell of the element the tokens corresponded with. There’s also a purple heart token for healing, while the purple moons are spell-effect multipliers. When the tokens disappear, more of them appear from the upper screen, refilling the screen. You can chain monstrous combos if you’re lucky with the drops.
You have multiple helper characters, who hop on your ride, when you complete campaign levels. These helpers up the power of your spells. These minions are your spoils of victory, and can be brutally cannibalized by other characters, to absorb their souls. Equip these guys in one of the menus, if you can maneuver the maze-like jungle that is the interface. The helpers have multiple levels of rarity, so have fun catching ’em all.
The only thing stopping you from doing the craziest combos every turn is the time limit. When you pick a token, you’ll soon see a timer bar running down. The token will drop once the timer runs out. It doesn’t make the game easier either. You basically have to rake multiple combos on the same turn, and overwhelm the enemy with your magics. Kill or be killed, the enemy monsters attack you every few turns.
Additionally, you have to pay attention to the elements of the enemies. The enemies have elements, and your tokens correspond with elements. You want to prioritize tokens that trigger damage spells that hit enemy weaknesses, ie. water versus fire. Since the enemies are attacking you, the game also offers pink heart tokens that fill up your life bar.
Phantasma has a stamina system. When you play a mission, you lose stamina points. When you’re out of stamina, you can’t play more puzzles until it’s refilled. The stamina points recover over time, but you can instantly refill with “heart stones”.
MUSIC
The soundtracks for these browser games always have limited tracks. Phantasma is no exception. The lack of variety becomes a problem very damn quickly. The menu music is a cheerful song with a high-pitched flute and light piano tunes. It gets repetitive after the second time you hear it. The melody is just a short loop with so many highlights, that especially the incessant banging of the piano, forcefully makes itself memorable. You’ll be banging your head to a wall to silence the memory of the incessant noise.
The actual game music does the same mistakes. The developers didn’t consider at all how this music will sound after listening to it a long period of time. The song is generally quite intense, and nice to listen to, but there’s a particularly annoying part that just pushes my buttons in a bad way. The melody drags weirdly for too long, breaking the entire mood it built up.
VOICE ACTING AND SOUND EFFECTS (SFX)
Phantasma: Wand and Wood has limited voice acting. The main girl gasps, and emotes, but doesn’t really voice her lines.
The sound effects are well-done. I like the gentle “click” sounds when pressing menu buttons. I especially enjoy the sounds of casting spells, and the jingle when you combo tokens. The audio is so much more competently done than the artwork, which reeks of budget cuts.
BUSINESS MODEL
Phantasma is free to play. The in-game store sells Heart Stones, the premium currency of the game. You gain some stones from normal play, but not many. Heart Stones buy things like sexier outfits for Phantasma. The most expensive dresses sell for 20 stones. You can buy more powerful minions, to boost your elemental magic, and unlock sex scenes. You can refill your stamina bar with one stone. You can heal yourself to full after getting ass-raped in battle one turn before your victory. One Stone is a whopping 100 Nutaku Gold, translating to $1.00. Anybody that enjoys the game, and wants to improve or customize their playing experience, would love to buy this stuff, but not for these prices.
HENTAI
I’ve unlocked exactly three sex scenes in this game. Two had semi-decent animation, and even some Japanese voice acting. The animations remind you of flash based games you played on shady porn sites in your teens. The art is a step above what you see in other parts of the game, but it’s not flawless. The screenshot below shows a cut-off leg. Mistakes like that add to the amateurish vibe I get from this game.
The hentai is definitely lacking in this title. It would do wonders if Phantasma’s sprite was bigger, had bigger boobs, and the female enemies that have dildos in their vaginas, were large enough to oogle at.
CONCLUDING WORDS
Phantasma has fantastic gameplay for puzzle game enthusiasts. It’s a good experience dragged down by confusing choices with the art assets, menus that look convoluted, lack of variety in the soundtrack, and a combination of other minor issues.
Overall
- Graphics
- Gameplay
- Story
- Music
- SFX
- Hentai
3 comments
And it has now been Discontinued.
R.I.P.
You can’t compete with bad products/services in a free market. You die.
The game is available on Eroges now. I’ve updated the links in the review.