The Kid’s Good – Bastion Review

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Most exclusively PlayStation gamers may not have even heard of <em>Bastion&&num;8211&semi;<&sol;em>or if you&&num;8217&semi;re like me&comma; you vaguely remember it as the critically acclaimed predecessor to <i>Transistor <&sol;i>that never came to your console of choice&period;  Well&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s finally come to PlayStation after four years and while it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t come with any new bells and whistles&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a game worth playing&comma; nonetheless&comma; for any of us that never got a chance to try it when it first launched&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;media&period;indiedb&period;com&sol;images&sol;games&sol;1&sol;14&sol;13692&sol;Bastion&lowbar;E32011&lowbar;0004&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"720" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><em>Bastion <&sol;em>is a beautiful Action-RPG that excels most in its presentation&period; The art design is fantastic&comma; and feels like a mixture of characters painted in pastel tones of watercolor aesthetics against a vibrant palette of luminous environments that are always changing&comma; moving in a way that makes them feel alive&comma; and anything but dull&period; <em>Bastion <&sol;em>was praised for its visuals upon its initial launch&comma; and even years later it stands out as overwhelmingly pretty&period; Every aesthetic detail is deeply refined&&num;8211&semi;and that&&num;8217&semi;s not limited to only what you see&semi; the sound design is excellent as well&comma; with an epic soundtrack and smooth narrator describing nearly every action you make throughout the experience&period; The more you play it&comma; the more you wonder why narration isn&&num;8217&semi;t used more in games&period; The voice actor does an incredible job and like the talking sword in <em>Transistor&comma; <&sol;em>it gives you a real sense of camaraderie and companionship&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll hear the narrator describe or comment on nearly everything you do&comma; and it adds such a welcome cohesive element between you and the world you&&num;8217&semi;re exploring&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">The story itself is enough to pull you along&comma; but is otherwise a little stale and generic&semi; you are a boy piecing together a world thrown into chaos and overtaken by monsters&period; It works&comma; but what really sells it is the suave voice in your ear&comma; narrating every step through that journey&period; The game begins with the protagonist&comma; always referred to by the narrator as &&num;8220&semi;the kid&comma;&&num;8221&semi; waking up and seeing his world destroyed with no memory of how or why&period; You make your way to the Bastion&comma; a safe place that acts as your hub world throughout the game&period; While I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t completely hooked on the story or gameplay by this point&comma; it quickly builds on how you explore the world and upgrade your character in smart ways&period; Before you know it&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;re in this feedback loop of exploring new areas that are constantly assembling around you&comma; fighting new enemies&comma; finding new weapons and items&comma; and returning to the Bastion to regroup and buy items or alter your build&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;eteknix&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;02&sol;Bastion-2012-02-10-12-23-31-59&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"720" height&equals;"405" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">What honestly surprised me the most about <em>Bastion <&sol;em>is how many strong layers are revealed as your dig through the experience&period; It very well could have had its greatest strength as an aesthetic powerhouse with otherwise trite mechanics&comma; and be worth playing for that alone&period; What you get instead is a game that reveals an almost jarring amount of depth and replayability the deeper you plunge into its world&period; I was enjoying&comma; but largely unimpressed with the initial combat mechanics of a hammer&comma; bow and repeater rifle&&num;8211&semi;but not only can you customize and build on each of those weapons as you go&comma; but there is a downright staggering array of weapons and tactics to choose from&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Don&&num;8217&semi;t get me wrong&comma; most of it plays as you would expect from the top-down isometric view&&num;8211&semi;lots of rolling to dodge and timing your projectiles or hack and slashing&&num;8211&semi;but you&&num;8217&semi;re given an immense freedom in your choice of arsenal&period; You can rely on a strong melee choice and a shield for defense&comma; or carry multiple long-range weapons and buffs to your weapons of choice&comma; and even your character itself in a form of leveling up&period; I would have been perfectly happy with a mechanically sound Action-RPG with spectacular visuals and a powerful soundtrack&&num;8211&semi;but it&&num;8217&semi;s so much more than that&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><em>Bastion <&sol;em>is a must play if you have any interest in this genre of game&comma; in stunning visuals&comma; or just because it is one of those games that will forever hold a place on the mantle of gaming excellence&&num;8211&semi;it&&num;8217&semi;s just worth knowing about and having it under your belt of games played&period; The story itself is the biggest weakness&comma; but only because it&&num;8217&semi;s at worst just okay&comma; and that pales in comparison to every other strength this game flaunts at every new turn&period; While the story has a few strong moments&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s the narration and gameplay mechanics that really shine and make this game worth experiencing from start to finish&period; On top of the main game&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll find a ton of special challenge areas&comma; and a New Game&plus; mode with additional content from your first playthrough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;stack&period;imgur&period;com&sol;5WWqh&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1257" height&equals;"666" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><em>Bastion<&sol;em> is a stellar game that really shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be missed if you didn&&num;8217&semi;t get your hands on it the first time&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s beautiful inside and out&comma; brimming with hours of replayability and is just one of those games that belongs in your library&&num;8211&semi;whether the genre is your bread and butter or just because it&&num;8217&semi;s worth playing though as a piece of gaming culture&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re like me&comma; and you&&num;8217&semi;ve let this one slip passed you all this time&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s time to sink yourself into this beautiful world&semi; because late is always better than never&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;