After finishing Rayman, I found myself without a “currently playing” console game. Sure, I have a few that I’ve finished but not 100%ed, that I could have returned to (like Lego Harry Potter 2, Skylanders, or more Rayman), and yeah, I’ve Luigi’s Mansion on the go for “on the go”, and sure, I have The Wonderful 101 sat there unplayed… but I thought I’d play Bastion.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I’d been told it was good, and I’d read it was “a bit like Diablo” (which I’ve never really played), and some people said Heroes of Ruin was quite similar and I have played that, but I didn’t expect it to be exactly like Skylanders.
OK, that’s an exaggeration. But it is very similar. Levels set in the sky. A narrator. A hub world you gradually built on using items called “cores”. Lots of barrels and chests and boxes in each level to smash and get money from. Upgrades to your weapons that you spend money on. Characters that gradually populate the hub world. Similar weapons. No jump button. Similar enemies. Similar graphical style.
You may say it’s all coincidence. You may say it’s a disservice to say Bastion is like Skylanders. But the fact remains – they are very, very similar. In a good way. Because I liked Skylanders and I like this.
I’m not terribly far in yet, having only just rescued the first guy and built the first building on the east half of the Bastion itself. I’ve currently settled on the bow and machete as my weapons of choice, with a mirror shield as a special. I’m really enjoying plowing through all the enemies, and the narrator is brilliant (and doesn’t interrupt what you’re doing so much as on Skylanders).
