It's no secret I'm a big fan of Xbox Live Arcade games. I own something like 70 of them and spend close to as much time playing them as I do actual $60 disc games. They are cheaper then full price titles and oftentimes just as good if not better. Bastion is one of the best I've ever played. A while back I did a top 10 XBLA games list and I've been trying to decide where it should fit on that list. Right now, I'm thinking #1.
It's such a harkening to old school games that I was immediately turned on to it. Isometric adventure games immediately make me think of Link to the Past and that is perfect for me considering it is one of my favorites. I watched a few trailers for Bastion and my passion for gaming got fired up. It looked like everything I wanted. When it was released I bought it immediately...then had to wait 2 days to play it. I was concerned the wait would lead to disappointment if the game didn't live up to my now quite lofty expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It really was all I wanted and more.
When you strip away all of the fanciness, Bastion is a pretty standard action/adventure game. You use various weapons and powers to fight through enemies, collecting little colored bits that you use to level weapons, all while trying to save the world. The gameplay isn't going to surprise anyone. It's the fanciness that sets Bastion apart from other similar games. The glossy delicious details. The most noticeable of these is the narrator. He is given a name later but initially he is known as the stranger. He kind of acts like a play by play announcer, generally talking about the area you are in, making comments about your actions, and basically filling in the entire story for you. His voice is that of a chain smoking jazz musician and it is perfect for the task at hand. I'm not going to say anything at all about the story because it is so good I would hate to ruin even the slightest detail. Just know that The Stranger tells the entire tale in his awesomely smooth voice.
The graphics in Bastion are excellent. A colorful world full of strange creatures, and lush and varied environments await you. The stages range from overgrown tropical forests, to burnt out industrial warrens. Each level expands as you walk on it, the ground rising up from the abyss below to fill in where you are going. It's a cool effect and it happens throughout the entire game. It is possible to fall off of the level but you merely take some damage and fall back in from the top of the screen, causing damage to enemies if you land on them. The enemy variety is pretty decent. Bastion isn't a terribly long game, so there wasn't a need for 100 different enemy types. There may not be a lot, but each enemy is well crafted and bring something different to the table. It never gets boring or repetitive.
Bastion is the perfect example of an arcade game done completely right. It's nearly perfect. In fact, the only major flaw I can come up with is that when it was over, I wanted more. Not that the game seemed short, I don't know if I could have ever had enough. The New Game + feature is nice as it allows a second playthrough with levels and weapons in tact, but I wanted more original game. I guess being so good that I wanted more game isn't technically a flaw, but it's the best I could come up with.
I feel like there is a lot more to be said about Bastion but I'd have to go into the story and I don't want to do that even a tiny bit. The game opens without the player having any clue what is going on and that is how it should be. I'd hate to think there is a chance at all that I could ruin the experience for someone so I'm keeping my mouth shut about it.
