GAMING NEWS: XNA is Dead + BASTION Review

Casually surfing the Game Informers website, I come upon an interesting report, titled: "XNA is Dead". Being quite noobish and technological inept, I was curious by what is XNA? It seems that the Microsoft XNA development platform is being discontinued, as reported by Game Informer's Joe Juba. Unaware of the consequences that discontinuation would cause, the report explains that this toolset enabled brilliant indie games such as Fex and Baastion to be made. Right then did this short report post caught my full intention. 

 

Far from being a hardcore gamer, knowing that the technology and toolset that made Bastion is discontinued made me slightly anxious. Bastion was an amazing game, which I can confidently say is a memorable and a highly recommended game.

 

THE GOOD

 

Narration  + Art style:

The moment you hear the first few words of the narrator as you move, the deep and husky voice resonates through your body. Combining the wonderful watercolour/cartoonish art style and power of the narrators words, will make the duration and ending to your journey meaningful.

 

Gameplay:

Simplistic, arcadic yet complex. The combat mechanics are filled with potential combos as you are given several different weapons and perks. The variety of weapons, will certainly enable you to itch your beserk-like nature or your sniping urge.

 

Length:

Being a relatively short game, would usually be a negative, however I found that the game's length is quite appropriate. It is short enough to remain replayable with harder difficulties and additional mini-games, while not being terribly long, that the emotional effects that you endure disappears.

 

THE BAD

 

It has been sometime since I've completed Bastion, which makes finding negative aspects difficult as I seem to clearly remember the good parts. However, I can make assumptions that may be seen as negatives.

 

Replability:

Due to the short campaign, some may find that even with the ability to level up all wepaons and skills, there isnt enough incentive to replay as the major factor of this game, which is the emotional journey is no longer present.

 

Nevertheless, I found Bastion to be a pretty balanced and harmonious game, which triple A titles do not seem to provide. A powerful narrator, wonderful gameplay and layout design made this small indie game a highly recommended game to play.