While things are a bit slow, I'm gonna do a little mini feature called "That bit where...". It'll be me explaining some of my favourite moments in video games, both past and present. I'd like a little reader participation here too, so leave a comment if you've got a better moment from the same game, or suggestions for moments from other games. Also let me know if there's something you'd like me to write about or review, and I'll see what I can do.
LOOK OUT: SPOILERS
Obviously since I'm talking about specific moments within video games, I won't be avoiding any spoilers, so steer clear if you don't want to know what happens in the game.
The first game I'll do this for is one of my favourite games of last year, and you've heard me talk about it loads before, but it won't stop me keep writing about:
Bastion
"Then The Kid hears something he ain't heard in a long time...how's it go again? ...yeah, that's the one."
For me, the outstanding moment in Bastion, a game filled with outstanding moments, was when you visit Prosper Bluff.
"Some people just yearn to see the things they're told they can't...and that's why you go to Prosper Bluff."
You're there to try and find a piece of the core of the Bastion, a place where people can come in times of trouble, in order to make it whole again after The Calamity shook apart the world.
You follow what appears to be an old mining cart rail track, fighting off swarming, vulture-like birds, all just waiting to peck apart your body. Among them are much larger birds, who pick their moment and then swoop down on you. There are buttons to open the gates closing off your route, but pressing them causes parts of the world to collapse into nothingness. Things are bad, but all the while, just off in the distance you can hear this old, hypnotic wartime song, being sung by an unseen girl with an enchanting voice.
When you reach the girl, Zia, you may not have found a piece of the core, but you've found something just as precious: another survivor of The Calamity.
The song, combined with the setting and atmosphere sent shivers down my spine the first time I played it. If you haven't played the game before, I'd highly advise you buying the soundtrack edition if you're into music at all, because it is phenomenal. The soundtrack is also available for download here (the song from Prosper Bluff is 'Build That Wall (Zia's theme)', and you can get the game either on Steam or XBLA. Finally, you can find my review here.
Thanks for reading, and again, leave a comment if you like.
Bastion is the first game by indie developer Supergiantgames. It's an action rpg centered around your character, The Kid, who wakes up after a catastrophic event referred to as The Calamity which has broken apart the world. As you move around, the world forms around your feet, although there is an ever present danger of falling off the edge. This happened a few times as I was exploring, thinking I could step where I couldnt, or when I was dodging around during a particularly intense battle. The only penalty for falling off though is some fall damage when you return to solid ground, so it's not too frustrating, and there is a nice touch where you damage enemies if you fall on them.
The Kid sets out to find the Bastion, a place where people could go in troubled times, but when he gets there he finds almost nothing left of it, much like the rest of the world. He does find an old man, Rucks, who tells the kid they can rebuild the bastion if they find cores which have been scattered around the world. Rucks also acts as the game's narrator, who comments on nearly everything in the game, from actions the kid takes, to the weapons and buffs he chooses. There's a crazy amount of dialogue, I've played through the game twice now, and there were barely any repeated lines, other than the critical story ones. It's a testament to the hard work put in by the developers, in that half (or maybe more!) of this dialogue will never be heard by the player. This is all helped by the fact that the guy who plays Rucks, Logan Cunningham has one of the best narration voices I've heard in a game. You can hear him, and get a feel for the game in this trailer:
The action takes place in various locations around the fictional place Caelondia, which are accessed from the bastion via a skyway. Your job is to find cores which can be used to rebuild the bastion. Each core you bring back allows you to construct a new building on the Bastion, such as an arsenal to change your weapon load-out, a distillery to change which buffs you have, and so on.
At any one time you can have two weapons, a shield and one special power equipped to your character, and there are multiple weapons that you are slowly introduced to along your journey, and the game does a good job of teaching you the best way to use them as you discover them. Combat is an excellent combination of attacking, shooting, countering, blocking and dodging, and it feels very satisfying to pull off all of these fluidly to defeat a large group of enemies. You can find special items in the world, or buy them in the shop once you unlock it in the Bastion, which are used to upgrade specific weapons. Another way of obtaining them is to take part in one of the challenges tailored to each weapon, and if you do well enough in the challenge, you unlock a special skill for that weapon, such as a multiple barrage attack for the musket. Once or twice, the action on screen got a bit hectic, and I ended up spamming the dodge and attack buttons until I had killed enough enemies to figure out what was going on...but for the most part the combat is very impressive.
Bastion has an interesting take on a buff system, whereby the kid carries various alcoholic beverages with him. These have standard abilities such as granting higher damage or critical strike chance, but there are also more interesting ones such as gaining health when you successfully counter-block, or when you damage enemies with your weapons.
The most impressive part of the game for me though is the soundtrack, the story, and how it is told. You are introduced to a small group of characters, who, although silent you feel you grow to know them very well as you learn their past from various items which you find in the world. Most of the story is told through Rucks' narration, there are a few cutscenes, but mostly the narration takes place as you explore the world.
I mentioned the soundtrack, and it is indeed good enough to warrant a soundtrack edition of the game where you can get all of the songs in the game, which I would highly recommend. There is a level where you find Zia, a musician, who plays an absolutely hypnotic song which you can hear throughout the entire area. This sequence was worth the entire price of the game alone for me. There are several similarly poignant moments throughout the game, which break up the action beautifully.
As an aside to the main story, there are three extra dream sequences (four with the free DLC that was released today) in which the kid must fight off waves of enemies. These serve as a good way to make money, test various combinations of weapons, and on top of this the narrator provides extra back story for each of the main characters in between waves. There are online leaderboards for these sequences, which adds a competitive element to the game. The boards are ordered by the amount of shrines that the player has active at any one time. These shrines are similar to the Halo skulls which improve the enemies or decrease the abilities of the character. They can also be activated for the main story levels, with the bonus of gaining extra money or experience for each one active.
I've been playing the PC version of the game, and it runs like a dream, I've noticed next to zero performance issues. I have also been playing with a 360 gamepad, which makes controlling the character a lot easier than with the keyboard.
All in all, Bastion is a game with a beautifully presented world, solid combat and an excellently told story.
If those are things which appeal to you, then I advise you pick it up as soon as possible.
