Bastion Preview
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While Bastion's presentation sets it apart from a lot of games out there, its core gameplay is a little more rooted in old-school inspirations and tried-and-true action-RPG formulas. You run around the isometric landscape doing battle with enemies large and small, attacking with a single button press. You can equip two different weapons, each of which has a dedicated button on the controller for making mincemeat of foes. It's a simple choice between ranged and melee weapons, and the animations that accompany each attack are quick and responsive. In the early goings, it's very much a game where you can get away with good old-fashioned button mashing.
But as you progress further into the game, that tack doesn't work anymore, which is when the layers of customization come into play. You'll routinely pick up new weapons, weapon modifiers, and personal attribute boosts, which all vastly alter how you or your weapons perform in battle. A lot of these have strengths and weaknesses, so there's very much a mix-and-match, risk-versus-reward element to the customization options. The new weapons you pick up feel quite different from one another, as well, like going from the giant battle hammer early on to a lightning-fast machete, or transitioning from a bow and arrow to a mortar gun. The arsenal selection feels good and varied, but the new weapons you pick up aren't really worlds better than the ones you start out with--they just seem like different offerings that work better in some situations.
