Review: Bastion
A Short and Sweet Experience
If triple-A titles are like an all-you-can-eat buffet which you can eat until your stomachs all explode, Bastion is like a well-cooked meal. Modest in portion, but fulfilling nontheless.
Bastion is an isometric hack and slash developed by Supergiant Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game was originally released on XBLA in July 2011. It was not until its Steam debut in August 2011 did the game receive the commercial success that they deserve.
Plot
The game takes place in Caelondia, a fictional world wrecked by the Calamity. You play as the Kid, suddenly waking up from your sleep in your room that is missing a few too many walls and floor space. The Calamity swallows the land, transforming the world into pockets of floating islands and the people into stone statues. So, the Kid sets out into the world to uncover the truth about the Calamity and possibly save whatever and whoever is left alive.
The main character, Kid, waking up on his bed to a wrecked Caelondia.
In my honest opinion, the plot is quite compelling. I say quite because it gets a tad repetitive. The game requires you, for some reason that I won't spoil, to collect a certain number of shards to restore the titular Bastion. Twice. However, the reasons for doing so are reasonable and after every shard, you do get a nice reward. So, I cannot really penalize the game too harshly.
The best part about the plot I feel is the ending. It is a great twist on the whole game and when I did pick the "right" choice, I felt good. One can argue that it is just laziness, but I think that the idea being conveyed is a good one and this is about the only way to implement it properly within the game.
Gameplay
In my opinion, the most important thing about a hack and slash is the gameplay. I played mostly with a pad because I feel that the orthogonal movement allowed by the mouse and keyboard to be too restrictive for such a game. Originally released on the XBox 360, the game works wonderfully with my DualShock 3. Control was tight and polished, an incredible feat for a debut title from a relatively small team of developers.
The User Interface is very nicely laid, keeping the screen clean and clear for the action.
Combat is also nicely varied. The weapons in the game are divided into two main groups: melee and ranged weapons. The weapons handle very differently, keeping combat interesting and dynamic. The sword is a fast and high DPS weapon that can chew down monsters very quickly, but has a very short range. In contrast, the spear is much slower, but has about 2-3 times the range of the sword. On top of the traditional bows, guns, spears, swords, and hammers, there are also mortars, sniper rifles, and a form of bazooka called the Calamity Cannons.
Into each mission, the game allows you to bring two different weapons and one special skill associated with one of the weapons. And that is the only limitation to the weapon selection. You can bring two melee weapon or two ranged weapons without problem. The game will even give a short commentary on the weapon combination that you chose. Weapons and skills can be changed in armories that can be found in the Bastion and some of the maps the game has. The flexibility offered by this mechanic, combined with the weapon variety, allows you to find a combination that suit your playing style.
The weapon select screen showing the two weapons and one special skill equipped
As you progress through the game, you can unlock upgrades for the Bastion in the form of buildings. The buildings each have different functions, such as the Workshop allowing you to upgrade weapons and a shrine which applies handicaps to the player in exchange for increased experience and rewards. These buildings allow for an unprecedented degree of customization.
The different buildings that is housed within the Bastion.
Bastion is a short game. According to Steam, I completed Bastion in only 4 hours. However, if Bastion has been a longer, it would have been much too padded and it would feel like a drag to continue. In truth, right up until perhaps the last 2 levels, Bastion still introduces new weapons. This amount of weapon variety that Bastion has is perhaps its biggest drawback. Despite the variety, once you find a combination that works for you, you will most likely use that combination until the end. As a result, after that point the gameplay stagnates, making combat feel rather dull. It also does not help that there is very limited enemy variety.
The game also have replayability in spades. On top of New Game plus and a well implemented Horde Mode in an arena called "Who Knows Where," Bastion offers the Shrine. The Shrine is a building that is part of the upgrade system mentiond before. The function of the shrine is to apply handicaps or special skills to enemies in exchange for increased experience and rewards. By activating certain idols, players can have the enemy move and attack faster, drop grenades when they die, and have regenerating health. This feature will also be taken into account when your score is calculated and posted on the online leaderboard. This effectively turns this story-driven action RPG into an Arcadey action game that boasts a score attack mode.
Sound
What moved Bastion from Great to Awesome is the sound design. If there was ever a game that is worth buying because of the narrator, this is it. The fact that this paragraph can belong to both the gameplay and sound section is the main reason why Bastion is so good. See, the narration goes in response to your action in game. Although they are undoubtly scripted, if you crush too many ornaments that line the paths, the narration will comment on how you are an angsty person who loves to crush random ornaments that line the path. The narration itself is read by a voice so fitting that it will be the only voice you remember from the game months after you complete it. Seamlessly weaving narration to gameplay is one of the best aspects of the game and I love it.
The four main characters of Bastion. Look out for their character image songs~ :)
The background music is also fantastic, if not lacking a characteristic. On its own, they are fantastically composed, but since the same few tunes are played over and over again for different levels, they get a little bit repetitive. In contrast, the tunes that are dedicated to each of the main characters are heart-rendingly beautiful. This is perhaps the only few games that I recommend getting the OST as they are truly beautiful to listen to.
Graphics
Bastion opted for a more cartoonish art style, which is downright gorgeous. Environments are nicely varried, from lush jungles to frozen wasteland to ruined cities. Bastion is an artistic masterpiece and it is still a beauty to behold.
Being an isometric game, Bastion does not suffer much from low texture resolution. The textures appear crisp and detailed, further augmenting the beautiful art style. Although lacking the breath-taking vistas of Assassin's Creed or the painstaking detail of the Witcher series, Bastion brings to the table a certain charm through its art style. Bastion is a beautiful game.
So intricate, yet still managed to be simple.
Conclusion
Like I've said at the beginning of the review, Bastion is like a good and fulfilling meal. After the credits roll, I was left not wanting more Bastion. On one hand, I was left satisfied with the story and had my fill of the combat. On the other hand, I don't want to have more of that dull repetitive combat. Don't get me wrong, there is quite a high skill ceiling to the combat, but the lack of enemy variety really killed it for me.
All in all, I think you should know by now that I love Bastion. At $15, you really get more that your money's worth in this game, especially since if you can stomach the combat system, this game has a ridiculous amount of replay value. If not, Bastion is so often discounted during sales that you should have no problem finding it at less than $5. At that price, you really cannot go wrong with Bastion. This should be in everyone's library and if it's not, get it now.
