9/7/2023 0 Comments Bastion game spin offI like this – it’s my first proper fight. “Kid’s stirred up quite a commotion by now,” he continues, as more gas fellas start to pop out of boxes around me. “Right back at ya,” says the voice, as the turret explodes. Turns out the saloon’s security system has taken me for a thief though and decided to open fire a quick pull of LT yanks up my shield and deflects the bullet right back at the dragon-headed turret that popped up out of the floor. I feel like I’ve got a full set of equipment now: my repeater for ranged combat, my old friend the hammer for some up close and personal action and now a shield. “He always wanted his ashes scattered here,” the voice informs me, as I turn him into a cloud dust just before a shield falls from the wall of the bar. A stone figure is stood on a platform towards the back and, as I approach it, the voice informs me it was the bartender: “The calamity got him before his drinking did.” I try to work out if there is anything I’m supposed to do with him, but I can see what looks like a bottle of potion behind him that I decide I want, so I have no choice but to give him the hammer. The voice informs me this is one of the town’s most famous watering holes. With my exploring outside done, I enter the saloon. I smile as I read the text, knowing that this game is so much deeper than the ‘at a glance look’ I originally gave it earlier in the day. “Kid finds a memento from a girl he knew,” says the voice, as I pick up “Somethin’ shiny.” I felt like I needed to know more about this girl so I pressed the back button to access the inventory (known as my pack). The ground I walk on consists of broken parts of a world, floating in the sky atop beautifully drawn backdrops that move around in the distance below me, with tiles and blocks floating up out of the abyss that present me with different paths to the Bastion and side areas containing secret items. It fits everything else about the game and its retro RPG-like play style perfectly. At this point I took the opportunity to have a look around the beautifully drawn world it has been a long time since I played a game from this view point – top down isometric – and it works really well. I travel onwards with the ground still forming up in front of me, leading me to an old repeater crossbow and a fountain were I can replenish my health. I meet my first enemy – a gas fella coming at me with a pick axe, no need to worry though, I swing my old friend: “Kid pops him gooooood,” says the voice. Some boxes block my way it’s no bother, just a simple press of B to smash them. “Finds his lifelong friend, just lying in the road,” he says, as you find your first of many weapons: a giant mace. He’s describing everything you do and see on screen in such an organic, almost jazz-like way that you become immersed in it to the point that you forget that you’re playing a game. Jackson when he’s at his coolest and Sam Eliot from The Big Lebowski. “A calamity,” he calls it in a cool, deep voice that I can best describe as sounding something like a mix of Samuel L. As I progress, the narrator fills me in on what happened, and what is currently happening to the world around me as I go. The world starts building around me as I run “Ground forms up under his feet, as if pointing the way,” says the voice – I think it was at this point that I decided I was already in love with this game. “He sets off for Bastion, where everyone agreed to go in case of trouble,” it continues, as I cross the threshold of the door and head up some stairs. His voice falls quiet as the camera settles on our hero, lying on the floor of a broken building which is floating in the sky I pause for just a moment, waiting to see if anything on screen will prompt me to do something. “Proper stories are supposed to start at the beginning, ain’t so simple with this one.” Bastion starts with a voice, a narrator if you will and he’s telling us the start of a story. Well, this year I’m calling it early: this year it’s going to be a game called Bastion. You know how every year there is an indie game that becomes available for download, a game that is a work of such absolute brilliance that everybody loves it? I’m talking about the games like Castle Crashers, Braid, Limbo etc. He wants to tell people about a story he heard… the story of Bastion.” “Our hero sits down, fires up his laptop and begins to type.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |