Final Post

I have decided to discontinue this blog, and write a different one instead. I have found, while writing the two posts of this blog that I have published, that while I enjoying playing video games, I have a hard time writing about them. I would spend hours working on one post, trying to word my abstract thoughts and feelings about a game, trying to use language more comprehensive than "the art is good." Instead, I am going to start writing a creative writing blog featuring pieces of fiction I will write. I think this blog will work out better than this one for several reasons, including these:

1. Requires less time per post to write.
2. More frequent posts.
3. More enjoyable for me to write.
4. Likely more enjoyable for the readers to read.

Thanks for reading my two game reviews. You can check out my new blog here: Austin's Writing.

Bastion

    Now here’s a kid whose whole world got all twisted, leaving him stranded on a rock in the sky. He gets up. Sets off for the Bastion.

An example of the beautiful graphics
in Bastion.

    After the apocalypse of the Calamity left the world of the Caels and the Ura utterly destroyed, hope for the world remains only in a sanctuary levitating in the sky, a floating island called the Bastion.
    In the game Bastion, you play as a character simply called The Kid. As The Kid, you must travel through what's left of the world, discovering what happened to cause such destruction, and what can be done to fix it. The Narrator, in a calm, smooth tone, describes what you see and do to you, adding a storyteller feel to the game.
    And just like that, the Bastion comes alive. Starts growing again. Growing stronger. Kid’s got to put its power to good use. Now the Bastion can send him even farther, into the Wild Unknown.

    In addition to the unique narration this game employs, the game is complemented with an excellent soundtrack. The musical style ranges from instrumental folk, to more classical music, to ethnic, to heavier rock. The song embedded to the right is perhaps the best one on the soundtrack - part folk, part lullaby, part romantic.
    The art in Bastion is excellent. The landscapes appear to be painted by hand, even though any part of the environment can change dynamically. As you move throughout the levels, smashing or shooting any enemies that get in your way, the ground assembles in front of you, making a path. Crates, bushes, rocks, and buildings fall into place, returning to their previous state before all was destroyed. In dying worlds, the ground falls apart beneath your feet, one chunk of dirt and grass at a time. The Narrator describes it all.

A battle is fought high above the
ground.

    The place is starting to fall. See, that Core the Kid took was the only thing making this particular rock stay afloat. Kid just keeps running.
    The game is played like an RPG, though it feels much simpler than one. You can gain experience and eventually level up from killing enemies, but that isn't the point of this game. This game is really about exploring a world that has been destroyed, and yet is still lush and beautiful. It's about enjoying the music, the art, and the narration as you progress. It's about trying out and customizing each of the twelve unique weapons the game has to offer. It's about becoming entrenched in a piece of art.

Purchase from Steam.
Try the demo using the Chrome browser.

Team Fortress 2

The nine classes available to play as in Team Fortress 2.

    For a game that was first released in October of 2007, Team Fortress 2 still has quite a large group of regular players. According to this page on the Steam website, at the moment that I write this, 42,000 people are currently online, playing Team Fortress 2. Of all the games in Steam's online catalogue, Team Fortress is the 6th most played, even 4 years after its release.

A Heavy, fists ready to take on his opponents.

    Team Fortress 2 is a first person perspective multiplayer shooter. Players choose to play as one of nine unique characters, and then, working with up to a dozen other players from around the world, fight the opposing team's players. There is no story or reason for the fighting, just an objective for each team and a large group of men carrying some very inventive weaponry. The goal of the levels differ widely. In Payload levels, one team tries to push a cart along a track to the end, pushing through defenses and mowing down opponents, while the other team does everything they can to stop them. In King of the Hill levels, both teams struggle to control the same building or other point of interest. Capture the Flag levels are played just like the schoolyard game, only with a lot more guns.
    One of the best aspects of this game is the characters from which the player can choose. Each is played differently from the rest, and has his own personality. The Heavy, for example, is a large, machine gun carrying Russian man, a humorous stereotyping of the Soviet Union in the 1960's. The Medic is a German doctor (more accurately, a mad scientist), who mostly stays to the back of the fighting, healing his teammates, but can also attack the enemy with his bonesaw or with a gun he carries that shoots a spray of syringes. The Engineer rarely attacks on his own, preferring instead to build a series of machines capable of attacking foes, healing teammates, and teleporting characters across the map. The characters are so different that switching control from one to another turns the game into a very different experience, breaking up any boredom.

The 'Nucleus' King of the Hill map. To the left is the heart of the
action, the point both teams are trying to gain possession of.

    In addition to the great character design (an odd thing to have in a game with no plot), there are several other elements of this game that I love. The art style is colorful and comical, and interesting choice for a war game. Humor is often evident throughout the game: in the lines that the characters occasionally say, in the art style, and in what little backstory is given. Perhaps the best benefit, though, is that the game is entirely free. The game's publisher, Valve, has recently done away with any cost to play the game, hoping to earn money off the game by selling special in-game weapons, items, and hats for a couple dollars each. Valve has been remarkably successful with this, and the game is earning a considerable amount of money for its developer, even though it is now free.

    Occasionally, while playing Team Fortress 2, something great happens. It can be a real thrill when a player, disguised as a member of the other team, sneaks up behind a massive enemy Heavy who has been terrorizing your team and quietly take him out with your butterfly knife. As a Demoman, an expert in demolitions and grenades, if you're skillful and careful enough, you can take out an opponent by "juggling" him in the air, setting off a new explosion underneath his feet right before he lands - quite an impressive feat if done correctly. Or, as a Heavy, you could become invincible at just the right time to destroy a nest of sentries and clear out the defenders of a point, leaving it open to be captured by your team. These moments come up occasionally while playing, and are very exciting when they do.
    Team Fortress 2 is a fast paced multiplayer game designed to be incredibly fun and addictive. This game has nearly unlimited replayability, and for the price, it cannot be beat. I cannot recommend this wonderful game enough.


 Download it for free on Steam.