Review: Transistor

Review: Transistor

Quite some time ago I played a game called Bastion without any knowledge of the plot or reviews. I was blown away by the game in so many ways, from their robust combat system to the deep plot lines that will leave you filled with emotion. Supergiant Games is to thank for such an amazing game. After beating it, I went on to other games, replayed Bastion a few times and generally lived my life knowing that it was one of the best games I’ll ever play. Then the announcement of Transistor came out. I waited with bated breath for it’s release but unfortunately got distracted by life and was not able to play it at launch. After a steam sale came and went, I found myself buying Transistor at a discounted price. I began my let’s play series, Gameadelic with it.

Transistor is a sci-fi themed action RPG that invites you to wield an extraordinary weapon of unknown origin as you fight through a stunning futuristic city. via 

I finished the game this past weekend and now am ready to review it!

Artwork

Transistor is a beautiful game through and through, let’s focus on the physical beauty first. From the moment you begin your adventure in Cloudbank you find yourself staring at a wonderfully tragic scene of the main character, Red, kneeling over the dead body of a man the player has no knowledge of. Special lighting effects make the image come to life with pulsating lights, atmospheric particles floating carelessly around. Once you get to the actual game you are introduced to a very cold, modern age filled more of metal and technology than life. There are areas around you that convey emotions of dread, hope, rage, wonder, and so many more. They do all this without long drawn out cinematics, next gen graphics, or even full blown conversations between two characters. It’s a simple kind of beauty that speaks volumes. (Just like Red! :D).

Another aspect of art that I need to cover is music. The soundtrack for this game is superb. Ashley Barrett returns to sings and voices Red in the small parts that she actually speaks, showing us just how truly beautiful this woman is. After playing the game, I can not stop listening to the soundtrack.

Story

Most games will hold your hand for 10-40 minutes in the beginning of the game to introduce you to the world, buy into it and know what everyone is talking about from there on out. In transistor, this is not the case. The first scene is you kneeling over the impaled corpse of someone you knew. That person is sucked into your techno blade and then speaks to you, then reveals that you can not speak yourself. From context clues the player gathers the city, Cloudbank, is being overrun by these odd robotic creatures called ‘the process’. With that small amount of information you travel into the world fighting creatures left and right, learning new abilities, and checking in with the latest news. I won’t spoil anything but the game draws you in with it’s narration, Red’s gestures, character backgrounds you get to read about without being forced to know it. I promise you that by the end of the game you will be impacted in major ways by the character and the world around her. I honestly loved the world but had no idea what they were going to do with the story line, when everything was said and done I felt as though I was hit by a ton of bricks…in a good way…meaning that everything made sense and it felt right.

Combat

Great art, wonderful story, but how does the combat system work out? Well, it is actually pretty awesome. Transistor features a grid based system that dances between real time and planned movements. You begin the game with two abilities and the gain another two before you fight a major boss. At first I thought myself above reading ability descriptions and paid for it by difficult fights and cruel boss battles. After losing far too many times to even mention, I stopped, looked over everything and then found out each move had a unique feature. For example, a starter ability offers a short, quick attack that is short range, does only a small amount of damage but stuns/makes enemies vulnerable. Meanwhile you have another move that is long range, long cast time, and does a large amount of damage that does quite a bit of damage and ignores their armor. When used as a combo, most enemies are destroyed.

Every other level you gain a new ability that offers a new feature so make your play style custom to how you prefer to fight. Going even deeper, if you already have your four combat slots filled and still have abilities left over, you can place your excess moves with your primary abilities to give it an added bonus. There are also passive slots and limiters which make the game more difficult but offers boosts in Experience points. Because there is now traditional difficulty settings, the limiters allows the player to set just how much of a challenge they’d like while also being rewarded for their efforts.

Overall

Transistor hit all the right chords for me and I am it’s slave to all future games/fan fic/artwork/sound track/swag etc. Although Transistor and Bastion are two completely different games, I would have to admit to loving Transistor a whole lot more. Bastion is incredible but the songs, artwork, simple gestures, and storyline blew me away. I highly recommend this game to lovers of RPGs, indie games, inexpensive titles, and if you want to play a game that will leave you feeling terribly strong emotions.