''Game Over II'' (known as ''Phantis'' in Spain) is a combination

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

and

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...

developed and published by

Dinamic Software Dinamic Software was a Spanish video game producer and publishing company. It was founded in 1983, and its activity ceased in 1992, comprising the Golden Era of Spanish Software. One year later, a part of its owners founded an independent compa ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

, Commodore 64, and Atari ST.

Gameplay

''Game Over II'' is a mix between a

(similar to ''

R-Type is a scrolling shooter, horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the List of R-Type video games, ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in ...

'') and a

(similar to ''

Turrican ''Turrican'' is a 1990 video game developed by Manfred Trenz. It was developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts, and was ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz programmed ''Turrican'' on t ...

''). There are four "phases" with six levels each. Some versions of the game were split into two parts due to size restrictions.

Plot

In the original Spanish version (''Phantis''), the player controls Commander Serena on a mission to rescue her expedition partner captured on Moon 4 of the SOTPOK System, better known as the world of Phantis. The English-language version (''Game Over II'') takes place immediately after the events of ''Game Over'', where Arkos, the hero of the rebellion, is nowhere to be found. After it has been discovered that he has been imprisoned on the jail planet Phantis by the heirs of the empress Gremla, Major Locke is chosen for the rescue mission. Other than the graphical change of a female player character to a male player character, the game itself is largely identical in both versions.

Release

Although originally released as an independent game under the title ''Phantis'', it was retitled as a sequel to '' Game Over''. The Atari ST version was never published in Spain and only exists with the ''Game Over II'' title. The game's promotion included an appearance of a model dressed up as Queen Gremla at the trade convention PC Show '88.

Reception

The game was given generally mediocre reviews. It received the scores of 69% from ''

Amstrad Action ''Amstrad Action'' was a monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom, which catered to owners of home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console. It was the first magazine published by Chris Anderson's Future Publi ...

'', 55% from ''

Commodore User ''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''V ...

'', 60-63% from ''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' is a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published '' CRASH'', '' Zzap!64'', '' Amtix!'' and other magazines. History The magazine ran head to head w ...

'', and 62% from ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

''. ''

Amstrad Computer User ''Amstrad Computer User'' was the official magazine for the Amstrad CPC series of 8-bit home computers. This monthly publication, usually referred to as ''ACU'' by its readers, concentrated more on the hardware and technical side of the Amstrad ...

'' gave it a 17/20.

Legacy

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product l ...

to ''Phantis'' featuring a modern take of the characters and setting, titled ''Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge'', was released in 2014.

References

External links

''Game Over II''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

*{{WoS game, id=0003676, name=Phantis 1987 video games Amstrad CPC games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Dinamic Software games MSX games Platform games Science fiction video games Shooter video games Europe-exclusive video games Single-player video games Space opera video games Video games developed in Spain Video games featuring female protagonists Video game sequels ZX Spectrum games