Quick Look: Transistor

Played 80min so far, really like it. Looks and sounds so good. Love the atmosphere.

Argh, I haven't been this excited to play videogames in a while.

I heard the narration syncs to the lightbar on the PS4 controller. I'm jealous.

Man that main character walk/run animation is not great looking. It's pretty distracting.

Other then that will check out eventually. Hearing about some issues on PC though.

Lots of interesting comments about whether you can give a negative opinion or not! In my view it is the 'comment section' which is neither a designated a 'praise section' or 'moan section'. So write what you want, just dont be a jerk! Personally I struggle to see whats so amazing about this game, but thats more a product of journalistic pump up meaning that i can feel myself coming at the game with a 'lets see if it deserves it' attitude. Thats probably unfair but at the end of the day I dont have enough money or spare time to try it out without being 100% sold and it is unusual enough that i cant look it and think 'i know ill enjoy it'.

Never understood the hype for Bastion, it just never clicked with me at all, even after a few hours with it. This seems to follow suit.

@phalex: Thanks, I knew I'd heard it somewhere.

What is with all the negativity here? This game looks beautiful and fun. I loved Bastion, I'll pick this up as soon as I can.

Game runs great on PS4 for me and I haven't seen anyone else say anything bad about the ps4 version.

A bunch of people are having problems with the PC version stuttering and crashing, though.

I loved Bastion and I'm loving this game too.

The combat is lots of fun.

About 90 minutes in and loving every second of it. Running animation is a bit wierd but the fight sequences are incredibly addicting.

Damn this looks so fun, I can't wait to get into this.

That scene that plays at about 23 minutes in is probably my favorite moment of the game, and just about any game, ever. Something about the art style and music fit together so perfectly.

So this game has no 1440p option, and that sucks pretty hard. It doesn't look very good on my 27" monitor. Really really really disappointing.

does anyone else get the screen staying blank on pc and only the audio playing when it fades to black as it goes to a different area/cutscene?

12hrs until my download is done...

Okay, for some reason I forgot this was coming out, but man am I gonna play the hell out of this now.

I honestly didn't expect the music and this game in general to be so noir. I guess I'm a little let down.

I'm loving the game so far. I'm about 2 hours in. The combat is a lot of fun and the story has me interested. Visually beautiful, and the music is great. It's shaping up to be one of my favorite games so far this year.

It makes good use of the PS4 controller. Having the narration come through the controller's speaker (you can turn it off if needed), as well as the light bar flashing along with the narrator actually pretty dope. It sounds gimmicky, but I enjoy it. Apparently the PC version has a flashing light bar as well if you play with a DS4 hooked up.

Wanted to add really don't like the punishment for dying. Losing your abilities? Seems kind of shitty.

"Dense" is a good description. Lots to absorb when you first jump in.

The lack of commas in the subtitles is greatly disturbing.

Damn, Drew and Vinny should have run this quicklook, they seemed to actually know what stuff in the game did.

No idea why this game isn't available on PS3, if not on the Xbox Live.

Greg Kasavin seems to me, justifiably in a long line of often misunderstood and overlooked kindred Russian romantics (Pasternak, Tarkovsky, etc.). His literary roots and influences are far more deep and substantial than he seems to let on, in the medium that doesn't reflect his sensitivities well.

Okay, no word of a lie: This whole time, I thought "Transistor" was this game:

Most people commenting don't get paid to say interesting/anything to gain an audience/entertaining things about games. I don't see how they can get anything out of being inflammatory in comments. That being said, the notion that Jeff is being funny while people commenting are being mean is noteworthy. Back in the Whiskey Media days I feel like users of the site came for the personalities, knew those personalities were into nonsense, and just stayed away from stuff that was not for them. Now, possibly because the site is more popular, has a deal with CBS, and may be drawing in Gamespot users, I see many more comments that boil down to "look at me, this game sucks, I'm better than you for thinking it sucks, and better informed about the artistic merits of things despite my inability to do anything other than say they suck. I'm awesome!" The site was never so antagonistic previously.

@jbird: I agree with your point about the comment section. A negative opinion should be just as welcome as a positive one. But it really isn't. You're treated by some like you are insane if you don't immediately buy into/get the hype surrounding something. An explanation of your criticism...your opinion...is demanded immediately, lest ye wish to be cast aside as mere troll. Although even if you explain it's never good enough.

People aren't voicing negative opinions just to feel superior. It's not about shitting on something someone else loves. It's just an opinion. Some of y'all are up there with those ridiculous folks threatening editors for negative reviews.

Speaking of opinions, I'm not feeling this game. For similar reasons as why I didn't enjoy Bastion. The sound and art design is great (it was enough alone for me to at least give Bastion a chance), but unless something isn't coming across in this quick look or the streams I've been watching, the gameplay does absolutely nothing for me.

Time to fire up the PS3

@toxin066: Its not on PS3

@amyggen
@efesell

At the time I had just read the Joystiq and AV Club reviews, both of which were pretty cold on it. I actually am surprised it's getting good reviews elsewhere. Seems like a total snooze.

No dog in this race, but I do find this particular observation interesting as I have long thought that was EXACTLY what people heard when someone denigrated something they liked. That even if it was just a critique of the thing in question, it was taken as a personal attack on their own intelligence, taste, and sensibilities for having liked it. You describe it as a person petulantly showing off, which likely describes a lot, on the other hand a member of various defense forces would probably have the exact same view of a person critiquing their love.

The game looks absolutely amazing. It also sounds also pretty damn good.

Somehow it sort of gave me a Japanese game vibe with the art and somewhat strange narrative. Then it sort of reminds me of Bioshock.

Not sure if the combat will holds up or become too intense tho.

Yup, sold. Gotta beat Bastion first.

Brad, to answer your "it's hard/tricky to rock a rhyme" question: I think you might be thinking of the "Beavis and Butthead Experience" CD. It was Beavis that kept saying "it's hard" and they corrected him. (Just started listening to the new podcast and wanted to mention this before I forgot.)

Because that's a conversation that he's having with people WHILE it's happening live in video or audio format and one of those games just so happens to come up

Jeff doesn't actively go and seek out Shenmue, Nights, KI, etc. videos or message boards just to complain about the games in text format

Watching Brad not use Jaunt in turn() mode is excruciating.

Commenters are given a platform to comment. So long as they aren't being complete dicks and crossing the line, they're free to give their opinions on the content in question, good or bad; at least it's pertinent to the discussion. So, if people want to express a negative opinion on Transistor/new 3D realms game in the comments, I don't see the problem; again, so long as you aren't crossing the line too far to the point it's plain offensive/ bullying.

As for Jeff, why would he need to seek out forums, when he has a global platform he can do it on? Furthermore, he exhibits a rude opinionated behaviour in a way the other guys do not, so if it seems like I'm singling him out, it's because he singles himself out from the rest of the group. He rarely states things as "in my opinion", and he comes from a background where he once believed game reviews were 'objective' and wrote them like they were shopping lists. Behind the comedy, is someone with very serious opinions about games and the culture. I won't buy the "he's just trying to be funny" arguement - he's being just as serious as the people who troll on message boards, except he's doing it in a public conversational format where he gets paid for it, but it doesn't make him above reproach, especially when his comments offend people, and worse still, promote Internet bullying and troll-like behaviour.

Played about an hour of this earlier this morning. I expected Bastion 2.0, yet arrived at a completely different experience somehow better than Bastion, all in that one hour. I only stopped so I could watch this Quick Look and have breakfast. Seriously, if you can spare $20 for this, do it.

I thought Bastion was an interesting game, but I'll probably never play through it again. I also didn't like it as much as everyone did. I have played 2 hours of Transistor now and I have to say that the actual game in this is a lot cooler and more interesting than Bastion was. I enjoy playing this game. Still don't really get what the story is about, as I didn't with Bastion though.

@zevvion: Bastion took an hour for me to get used to the visual style. The first area is particularly wierd for my eyes. Glad I went back to the game and pushed on, had a blast the rest of it, the other weapons you unlock are pretty fun with good and varied combos. But yeah, opposite to most games where the first hour is great, then not so after that.

Having the same issue with my own 27", I hope a higher resolution gets patched in because I'm actually liking the gameplay more in this than I did in Bastion which means I might actually finish this unlike Bastion. Something about the strategy aspect that the pause feature introduces is drawing me in more than I expected

Does everyone on the internet have to state "in my opinion" about something they don't like or do like? Of course it's their opinion, why do they need to state it?

This is the internet. It's nothing BUT one big opinion

Also, if his or anyone else's comments about a VIDEO GAME offends them on a personal level, then they take this hobby much too seriously.

I love the fuck out of Yoshi's Island, but I could give two shits less about Jeff thinking it's a terrible game. I just disagree with him in my mind and move on. No need to yell at him on Twitter, send an email or go on a message board to tell him how wrong he is.

I don't own a PS4 (I can't play the game), but loved Bastion (one of my fav games in years). So instead I went out and bought the soundtrack for Transistor from iTunes.. and OMG is it good!

Makes me think of Twin Peaks and other things by David Lynch.

Sooooo Good!

Super cool game. I'm enjoying the combat system and the whole function stuff a lot. I'm not very far yet, but I think I like this game even more than Bastion.

Nice job, Greg Kasavin.

Played this for a few hours, I love the way you can customize your skills and the way the tactical combat is designed. Really fun stuff.

I didn't really enjoy Bastion that much. It had some great art and music, and some neat combinations of that media in the story. But I just thought the game itself was kinda monotonous. I can't quite tell how much I would like this game since it seems sorta the same. Like the time stop is new for sure but its still seems very Bastion-y.

I think I must be in the minority, but I simply thought Bastion was "fine". Also, I'm not particularly interested in playing this either; the art style and the gameplay don't grab me. I'm happy for Supergiant's success and am glad GregK has been able to make games, but it's just not appealing to me.

@gbrading: I didnt like bastion, i thought the naritor was good, but the gameplay wasnt.

Interesting to see how many people didn't like Bastion here. I thought most people within the GB community had taste but I guess not. I really enjoyed everything about Bastion from the gameplay to the presentation and to the incredible music. For me, the gameplay really came into its own once you gained more weapons and levelled them up as well as activating all 10 idols to add more of a challenge, especially in the challenge rooms.

I think the whole presentation of this game looks so good (UI stuff, how color palettes of everything work together, little details in the world) that I stopped the video after 10 minutes. I'm gonna go buy it when I have time to play a game.

Brad/Vinny combo = best content on the site. Lovin this game!