Let's get right to it: Phantom Crash doesn't support Xbox Live and it doesn't come with a massive 40 button custom controller. So if those are your "must-haves" in a mech game, keep right on clicking. But if you're looking for solid, addictive gameplay, lots of customizing, good graphics and interesting audio, this underdog might surprise you.

The backdrop for Phantom Crash is a future where the wealthy join a club so they can "rumble," which is what they call the sport/leisure activity in which mechs (called "scoobies") and their pilots ("Wire Heads") battle it out in an arena. The arenas are abandoned districts of Tokyo, and you're free to wreck havoc on office buildings and streets because the government changed capitals years ago and left the old city as a playpen for you and your Wire Head friends.

Once you're a member, the club offers a hangar to keep your scoobies, a repair shop to fix, customize and upgrade your scoobies and, of course, a healthy schedule of rumbling opportunities. They've set up a nice little community that makes the game more of an experience than most mech games or shooters. Think of it as a country club for mech drivers. The whole thing happens exactly how I imagine country club tennis: ongoing rivalries between both good and bad players, long and short term relationships and even the trash talk of the wealthy. Substitute hip, anime and for most part young-looking clientele, and you've got a good idea of what Club Wired looks like.

You start off with enough money to buy a very respectable scoobie. Choose an arena, which alternate between hosting day and night games, choose a gate through which to enter, and you're rumbling. The object of the game, of course, is to frag as many opposing mechs as you can. You also earn points for how long you survive in the arena. If you get beat up, you're better off leaving than fighting till your last breath, as repairing your scoobie after getting blown up will usually leave you broke. Gameplay is where Phantom Crash makes its mark. Mech fans might be dismayed at the nimble, fast pace of a scoobie. They get around pretty quick for such huge machines, and while some of them move faster than others (because they have less armor or weapons, etc.), they can all take off faster than what you're used to seeing in a mech game. They jump many stories at a time with very little warning, and they skid left or right to avoid attacks as well as a lightweight fighter. Frankly, if you weren't piloting a huge mechanical death machine you might think you're playing a first person shooter rather than a mech game.

Make that a very well done shooter. The detail in environments and mechs is very good, and the whole package ranges from gritty realism (the fighting arenas) to anime silliness (in the form of the story mode). The action is fast-paced, unless you're one of only a few scoobies left standing. Then it becomes a game of hide and seek. The name of the game comes from one of the unique aspects of the scoobies - the ability to use a cloaking device ("optical camouflage") that makes your mech blend in with its surroundings. It's not complete invisibility, it's more like the effect seen in the Predator movies. It's a great wrinkle to add, and it's one of the many effects that never gets old, or slow. The game clips along at a very pleasing rate without slowdown regardless of how much stuff around you is blowing up. There's nothing like launching a missile down an alley because you think there might be something there, then seeing the cloak shimmer and fall from a mech that was trying to sneak up on you.

The mechs themselves are very convincing. Their animations show a very mechanical, somewhat clunky piece of machinery as opposed to the stylized, liquid metal movements of what you'll find in some anime. The whole package is very convincing, particularly the fully articulated limbs that can be blown off at any time.

Customizing your mech is a big part of what Phantom Crash is about. The game offers a great opportunity to create and develop a character in the form of your scoobie, of which you may have several once you've earned enough money. Each will take on its own personality, particularly once you spend some money on a new AI chip. Each chip is represented by different animal avatars and offers multiple benefits, like better missile lock ability or more information updates during a rumble.

The sound affects are okay, but nothing that'll knock your socks off. Much like the scoobies, the sounds of battle are a little lighter than you might expect. It's lacking the couch-shaking explosions we all know and love. The upside is a decent mix of music that gets piped in to the arenas. There's lots to choose from, including many ranges of pop, rock and some very hi-tech stuff. But they all sound like Japanese pop to some extent. You have the option of eliminating tracks from the rotation, so if one particular tune gets under your skin, turn it off.

Dialogue in the story mode isn't quite as bad as what you'd find on some old NES games, but it's close enough to be reminiscent of the terrible translations and groan-inducing banter best left for nostalgic moods. It's good for a chuckle at first, but the back and forth between characters that aren't you goes on for far too long and gets old quickly. Luckily, all you have to do is click a few buttons and it's over - you can get right back to what you were doing. If not for this ability to skip the story, well, it's best not to think about it.

Multiplayer is where Phantom Crash is hurt most. The most number of players accommodated at once is four, and that's in a split screen. With system link and online play both readily available on the Xbox in other games, that's a pretty big strike against Phantom Crash. Even with four players, the only mode available is deathmatch. There are no bots, and there are only three arenas to choose from. These shortcomings are hard to excuse when so many other games offer a plethora of options in this area, and they're the only thing that keeps Phantom Crash from being a must-own game.

Mechassault and Steel Battalion have dominated conversations about mech games this fall, and with good reason. Live online play and massive controllers make our hearts skip a beat. The fact that Phantom Crash overcomes some significant shortcomings speaks well to its strengths. As the dust settles, Phantom Crash's sharp graphics and solid, addictive gameplay might land it at the top of the heap with the big boys.