
When playing on a TV, flares are connected by moving the joysticks around, which always felt a little stilted in the original. However, it’s a completely different experience in VR. Its $30 price tag seems a little high considering how slim the package is. Fantavision 202X can be played without a headset, but you’d get pretty much the exact same experience that way as you would simply playing the original on PlayStation Plus.
#WAS FANTAVISION A LAUNCH TITLE FOR THE PS2 PS2#
Even its simple visuals are a bit of a throwback to the PS2 era. The new version is almost identical to the original, from its eight-stage single-player setup to its virtually unchanged gameplay. I’ve already found myself chasing its Platinum trophy as I work toward its various milestones. There’s an immense satisfaction that comes from getting a combo over 100 or detonating an enormous chain that lights up the entire screen. The sequel includes a set of very clear tutorials that have significantly improved my skill. When I first played the PS2 version, I understood the basic matching system, but couldn’t fully grasp its “daisy chain” system. It’s the definition of an “easy to learn, hard to master” game. Image used with permission by copyright holder Explosions will set off flares of the same color too, so there’s a lot of extra strategy in when to detonate, as that can keep a chain going. Advanced strategies require players to create massive flare chains by looping a new color with neutral “wild” flares and items. Match three flares of the same color up, press a button to set them off, and watch them light up a city skyline. It’s a level-based puzzle game where players have to match colorful flares as they shoot up into the night sky and detonate them to create a fireworks display. Never break the chainįantavision 202X isn’t so much an evolution of its predecessor as it is a VR remake. It’s a prime example of what kinds of games thrive in VR, standing in bright contrast to more ambitious projects that have struggled to replicate a full-on console experience in a headset. Cosmo Machia has taken a somewhat average puzzle game and made the best version of it without changing much at all.

What stands out most about Fantavision 202X, though, is how much it’s quietly enhanced by VR.
