Bastion

 
Developer: Supergiant Games 
Steam Release: Aug 2011
Hours Played: 8.3
Similar To: Asura: Vengeance Expansion / Leap of Fate / Meltdown / Trigger Saint  
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
When first playing Bastion, apart from cryptic clues given by a Clint Eastwood type gruff-voiced narrator, very little is explained as to how things work. It's only as you delve deeper that you gradually unravel its intriguing features and qualities. If nothing else, Bastion is definitely a unique game. It is played in isometric view on hovering land masses in outer space with the landscape being swiftly constructed as you move along. You attack and kill enemies with either a melee or ranged weapon and collect gems as you go. Your safe-haven, or hub, is known as The Bastion which you return to after a session of slaying. It is here where you construct buildings and wherein you use those gems to upgrade weapons and buy potions.
 
 

BALANCE & PACE
The idea is to level up, get more powerful and destroy the more difficult enemies that you encounter later in the game. But does all this innovation and originality necessarily make it a quality game? Well, I did find the movement of your character to be a little rigid tinged with a laggy feel which added up to making the fluidity of the game a little stiff. Secondly while the mini-games in the form of proving grounds are a good idea, skilling up by completing them can seem like a bit of a grind. True, you get first, second and third prizes - a good indicator to tell how strong you are - but dispatching certain bosses can be a tediously long war of attrition while other battles can seem a bit messy. Particularly tough/hard-to-kill bosses can also make progression seem like a long distance away.


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
The main menu is artfully done with our hero staring pensively outward while sitting on his elevator chair. Accompanying this is an extremely melodic theme tune produced by that absorbing acoustic guitar. In fact, the soundtrack is one of the best ever in an indie game. The menu choices stand before him on a cream coloured panel. On pressing Start our hero is transported to the floating island known as The Bastion where he may enter buildings to do his upgrades. From here, you walk to a portal to the north and enter a map-screen where you elect to choose where to do battle next. You may redo cleared areas if you wish or enter a training ground to have a go at a mini-game to upgrade a weapon. However, all this is constructed gradually as you go through the game.

PROGRESS SYSTEM
Your character does not level up but progress is rather shown by how many of the 21 areas you have completed plus how many of the 12 proving grounds you have conquered based on whether you have gained 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd prize. As mentioned, this information can be gleaned from the map-screen after entering the portal from the bastion. Additionally, there is a leaderboard that shows how well you rank in one of four “dreams” plus your score and rank in Score Attack mode. Each dream requires you to attain 10 idols which are represented by certain symbols and these are crossed off in the leaderboard screen each time. Dreams can be accessed from the bastion but are quite tough so it may be an idea to focus on beating the 21 areas first.    

CONCLUSION
Bastion has received universal acclaim and is lauded to the skies but we’re all entitled not to jump on the bandwagon for the odd one or two games and for me I guess Bastion is one of those slight disappointments. Some games have a certain off-putting element or a mechanic that can make the "classic" tag questionable for some. There is no denying that the unique features and innovations put into Bastion make it a game of note and I did enjoy the way that upgrades and training grounds were a mystery at first and then gradually became more meaningful as you progressed. The soundtrack is also top-notch with some beautiful tunes included. I would just like to point out that other aspects of the game like the stuttery movement, average combat and the frustration of getting past certain monsters held the game back a tad in my book.