Bastion Review

The Xbox Summer of Arcade started this week and they couldn’t have found a better game to showcase the event with the launch of Bastion. Read on to find out why.

You play as a character simply known as The Kid, he wakes up to learn that his land Caelondia has been devastated by an event called The Calamity. You task is to rebuild Caelondia to its former glory by collecting shards that are found across the land. The hub, which serves as an interlude between levels, is called the Bastion and here you can start to rebuild the land and converse with refugees you meet along the way and upgrade weapons and skills among other tasks.

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From the opening level you know this game is something special. The levels of Caelondia generally do not allow for much off the path exploration but the way the world appears by building the path in front as you approach gives an impression that you are in fact exploring as you never know what is ahead. It is a clever idea and works very well adding to the magical feel of the game. To further drive this feeling home, Bastion uses a dynamic narrator, brilliantly voiced by Logan Cunningham who will instantly remind you of Morgan Freeman. As you explore the world he provides an enchanting insight into the story as you play, also offering tips on areas and when you perform actions he will comment on them. It works amazingly well, you await and take in every word he calmly delivers, where in other games and their cut-scenes you will tend to switch off after the action and forget the story.

The game will take around eight hours to complete, a new game+ option is included which will add a few more hours. In the first half you will fight against the same bunch of enemies which did feel a little stagnant towards the end. The second half of the game brings in new enemies which have a more strategic approach to defeating them. By then you will have unlocked and used a number of the weapons found in the game and will know what works best against certain enemies. The controls work well with simple button presses or holds to perform actions, auto aiming ranged weapons worked particularly well. Overall the difficulty is quite easy, but for players wanting an additional challenge there are Idols which can be activated which alter the enemies characteristics to make them harder to defeat.

There are a total of eleven weapons which are found as you progress through the game. They fall in two categories; mêlée and ranged weapons, and may be upgraded with Materials found on the levels. They offer bonuses such as increased damage, faster reloads and increased critical damage. A single skill can also be equipped which include grenades, decoys and weapon based skills, only usable if you have that weapon equipped. Special potions can also be equipped, the number of slots depending on your characters level, they can provide increases to health, increased critical chances or an increased number of health recovery bottles to name but a few.The balance of tinkering should please both action and RPG fans, it is quick and easy to decide what to use while still providing enough combinations to find the best set ups if you wish.

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Aside from the story based levels are two more modes. The first are what I would call advanced training missions for the weapons you find. Completing each mission will reward you with up to three material or skills for that weapon depending on your performance. The second mode is essentially a survival mode called Who Knows Where, there are three levels in which you must complete each wave of enemy. They can be quite tricky to complete and the Idols can be activated to increase the challenge.  In between waves, the narrator provides some background story on The Kid which adds to the story, a nice touch!

Graphically the game looks great and the fixed isometric perspective is fairly solid throughout. The hand drawn animé style fits in perfectly with the style of the game. Level designs are varied and follow the themes very well, from Wild West inspired designs to marshland and surreal dream sequences. My only annoyance was that sometimes you can fall into a hole or off the edge of the level as you can not always distinguish between land and emptiness. Fortunately you only lose a small part of your health so it is a minor issue.

I want to dedicate a paragraph to the music because it is one of the highlights of the game. It has been a long time in a game where the music is something that gels the game together. The music takes on various genres and all sound great, but one song in particular will blow your mind. Without giving too much away, during a particular level you are exploring as usual and then what I will refer to from now on as ‘that song’ will start to play. Combined with that levels surreal theme and the music playing it gave me goosebumps, something I can’t remember any game doing for a long time. It is an exceptionally stunning moment and was instantly one of my most memorable in any game ever. Super Giant Games – release the soundtrack already!

If you have not already worked out a decision on whether or not Bastion is worth 1200 :MSPoints: I will make this very simple, stop reading and buy this game now! Back in 2010 when the game was announced, the developers said “Our goal with Bastion is to hit players’ emotional chords in unexpected ways, in addition to delivering highly responsive gameplay that rewards finesse and experimentation”. They have delivered on this statement 110% and added in some more for good measure, it is a truly amazing experience that will play with all your emotions!