LAI Games Begins Shipping Phantom Vanguard In North America

Another arcade exclusive is now available in North America, as Gameloft/IGS/Wahlap’s Phantom Vanguard is now available in North America through LAI Games. Let’s see what this one is all about.

Modern Combat – A Quick Rundown

Before we get into specifics, a little background information. Phantom Vanguard is the latest in Gameloft’s Modern Combat series, which is a kind of mobile alternative to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The series mainly ran from 2009-2014, although there were a couple of offshoots that landed in 2017 & 2019, respectively, and I think that the 2025 games shown in this video below are mods (I can’t find out much about them, so they don’t appear to be official releases). As such the series had been dormant, until Phantom Vanguard was announced and released in China last year.

Those first mobile versions sure were rough looking (I was never huge into mobile games, especially ones with virtual joysticks), but I can’t comment on how any of these play as I have not given any of them a try.

Phantom Vanguard

For fans of the series, they can rejoice that after several years of no news that MC essentially gets its sixth installment with this arcade release. Crafted in Unreal Engine 5, this brings it into the on-rails light-gun realm, but with a couple of twists. First, it uses a pair of vertically mounted 65″ 4K monitors to create something akin to a 4:3 or 5:4 aspect ratio; then, the guns operate in both tethered and mounted modes. Tethered is primarily how it operates, with the mounted segments taking place for specific sequences in the levels. This ability to switch your physical gun’s usage is unique among arcade games.

For a quick rundown of the hardware features:

• 2x 65″ 4K vertically-mounted monitors
• 4.1ch sound system
• 2x force-feedback guns that operate both tethered and inside swivel mounts
• 3D marquee with topper
• Bright orange LEDs
• PC-powered, but unknown configuration

As also mentioned at the beginning, this is exclusive to arcades. While I am not well-versed enough in the Modern Combat games to know if they based it on one of the pre-existing titles, the game operating as an on-rails shooter with modern graphics and taking advantage of specific cabinet features sets it apart, even it it were based on something like MC5. It’s additionally worth noting that LAI worked with Gameloft/IGS/Wahlap in the past when they did Asphalt Legends 9 Arcade, which I heard sold exceptionally well (around 10k units, not an easy feat these days).

There are two levels, called theaters – one for the Asian and the other for the European theater of war. From what I played at IAAPA, these seemed to go on for a while, although I did not play through the entire game to find out how long it can go for. It looks and sounds great, and it’s got all of the action that someone into these kinds of games could ask for. It’s also the first “shoot the bad [human] guys” gun game we’ve seen in a while – you’re not fighting zombies/aliens/ghosts/dinosaurs/robots (well, there are some robot enemies, but they aren’t the principal fodder that your encounter) like most other gun games out there.

I don’t know the exact price on this one, but if it’s as competitive as Wahlap’s Storm Racer 2 is, then it should be in a good spot for the market.

What are your thoughts on this new gun game? Would you like to see Phantom Vanguard at an arcade near you?

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