Bastion

A few beers and one Steam holiday sale later, I found myself with a cheap copy of Bastion in my backlog. And although at first, I was pleasantly impressed with the variety of weapons and apparent longevity, ultimately these positives turned into not-positives.

The game's length is misleading in a distinctly Final Fantasy IV-style; at first, it looks like you have to find three of a key item, but then you have to find three more. Then as you proceed, you find that the one-item-per-level pacing gets munged by some levels being wild goose chases. And then you have to find six of some other key item. Maybe it seems counter-intuitive to complain about more-than-expected playing time, but the way Bastion repeatedly sets and breaks that expectation is distressing. And, with one or two exceptions, most of the levels aren't bringing anything new to the table anyway.

Which brings me to the weapon variety, in that it also isn't all that it appears to be. Although there are about half a dozen each of ranged and melee weapons, they only practically vary in terms of charging time and attack speed. I found my favorite weapons early on, and only changed once. You can collect key items and spend currency to upgrade weapons, but the differences still aren't drastic.

The larger point that I'm getting at is - though Bastion sure looks pretty, and has a nice-sounding narrator - there isn't enough depth of gameplay. At six-to-eight hours long, it feels at least twice as long as it should be. And even if it was a shorter game, Bastion's Unique Selling Point (its presentation) wears off as soon as the trailer is over.

Bastion isn't a terrible game, but it's extremely unremarkable. And if you play it to completion, it wears out its welcome a few times over.

Better than: Jumper: Griffin's Story
Not as good as: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Once again, I must say: fuck you, Internet!

Progress: Finished on Normal