Bastion

But he still just “rolled off, and fell to his death.”

Right off the bat, I'll just tell you this; this game is outstanding. In beauty, mechanics, and otherwise complete function, this game just works. Ugh, I love this game. Anyway...TO THE REVIEW!

You're The Kid, a survivor of the Calamity, and restorer of Bastion. You wake up after the Calamity where the world itself is in pieces and your very step brings the land back to place. With no reason of how things went down, The Kid traverses the land left to collect pieces of the Monument. Along the way, you find the narrator, Rucks, and to your surprise other survivors. There are twists and turns, like in every good game these days, which shatter your world(get it?). I can't and won't get into the specifics, because YOU SHOULD GET THIS GAME AND FIND IT OUT FOR YOURSELF.

This action RPG, in isometric format, serves just as much beauty from the art as fun in gameplay. You go around blocking/countering, shooting, and hitting shit with other offensive weaponry. Machetes, pikes, hammers, cannons, shotguns/muskets, pistols, and bows make up some of the weapons you may find along your way piecing this world together. You level up your health, enabling more space to put your distillery drinks, and by process of your journey, you upgrade parts of Bastion itself. There are the Arsenal, Forge, Distillery, Lost-and-Found, Shrine, and Memorial, all of which can be upgraded to get more use of the world and inhabitants. Change weapons, buy upgrade material/idols/weapons and skills, and so on per each location plays a great part to the customization of your playthrough.

The actual combat takes turns with how you loadout The Kid, either with close combat or ranged or ranged itself, the secret skills, two or so per weapon, are used in a pinch making the potentially horrendously difficult battles a piece of cake. With each paring, there will of course be different play style but what's best is the effect the narrator has per action you take. The amazingly graveled voice of Logan Cunningham, as Rucks, makes the game that much more enjoyable. With Logan's Sam Elliot-esque voice and presentation, the game takes off into a whole new world of interaction. Almost every move you make, Rucks is there depicting it in an ever-so sweet and stylized way. Some may say that it isn't that great, but this hasn't been done so well in any game to date. The first of it's kind, I might say, but won't because this is how narration should be done. This early gameplay video should be but a taste of what Logan brings to this already great game, but don't take my word for it. Figure it out for yourself.

I absolutely loved this game. One of the greatest purchases I've made in a long time. I can't wait to start my other playthroughs just to get that excitement and more awesome anecdotes for what I'm doing. Like I've said before, get this game if you want. It's $15 on XBLA, for the start of Summer of Arcade, and coming to PC later this year. It's a fun game with multiple ways for you to enjoy it. The music is outstanding, with a original soundtrack in the works, the art is drop-dead gorgeous, and again its a fun game. Hands down, one of the easiest reviews, in terms of scoring that is, I've done as of yet; 5 Scumbags out of 5.