...SALE - Steam Summer Sale - Day 9

Day-[9] hype!

Transistor - £11.24

 

"Discover the world of Transistor, a sci-fi-themed action RPG from the creators of Bastion."

Oh god I love this game so much that I want to marry the soundtrack! If you want a full breakdown of this then you can check out a review I wrote for it right HERE. To summarize however Transistor is a Sci-fi themed RPG from Supergiant games who also brought you Bastion, you play as Red and you awake in the streets to find the Transistor (your sword) and the two of you head off on an amazing adventure figuring out what's happened, listening to the beautiful soundtrack courtesy of Darren Korb, and stopping every once in a while to take in the stunning environment. Despite the game not having much in terms of replayability I really think that it's still worth it for this price 100%.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/

PAYDAY 2 - £4.59

"PAYDAY 2 is an action-packed, four-player co-op shooter that once again lets gamers don the masks of the original PAYDAY crew - Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains - as they descend on Washinton DC for an epic crime spree."

This game can be incredibly fun and violently frustrating and unfair all at the same time. You and your crew of either friends, strangers or AI will attempt to steal various quantities of money, cocaine, servers and such without getting killed brutally. The problem is that for somebody brand new to the game the only choice is to go in guns blazing and try to survive because you effectively stealth the heists in this game you need certain perks from the talent tree which are pretty high up. That having been said however, it's a lot of fun especially with your friends on teamspeak, it will all be going well and no-one will know you're drilling a vault open then BAM a civilian sees one of your friends, gets shot and then the police turn up to ruin your day even more. Very much fun. There's beginning to be a mountain of DLC for this game all of which you can get for an extra £10.08 and that includes The Big Bank Heist which came out a week or two ago and as far as value for money goes the £15ish it will cost for everything gets you a hell of a lot.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/218620/

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Directors Cut - £3.24

"You play Adam Jensen, an ex-SWAT specialist who's been handpicked to oversee the defensive needs of one of America's most experimental biotechnology firms. Your job is to safeguard company secrets, but when a blackops team breaks in and kills the very scientists you were hired to protect, everything you thought you knew about your job changes."

Deus Ex is one of those go to franchises for PC gamers, many are the nerds that will regale you with stories of how amazing the original game was, how it changed the future of gaming and in turn, the world. Some of them will also tell you how this recent one ruins everything they ever loved and practically murdered their families. I however, never played the first Deus Ex but I did play this so I'll tell you that it's a great game, it's a lot of fun planning out your access into the building through the vent on the roof then sneaking past the guard then thinking "Ah bugger it" and ditching all of that to run in guns out and super-punch people to death. The cyber-punk future setting is really well done and as you'd expect the world is very neon green. Personally I think Adam Jensen is a twat but that's just me and probably attributed to how I played him in the game (as a twat), it's a very good mix of action and RPG.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/238010/

Deal of the Day

 It's so damn lovely! I can't not recommend this, it may not be the longest game (clocking in at about 4 hours) but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the best games I've played recently. The combat system is intuitive and new, the enemy and world design is fantastic and the soundtrack is musical sex. Supergiant games have already got such a good track record now between this and Bastion that I can't wait to see what they do next.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/

Review - Transistor - PC

What is it?

Transistor is a tactical, isometric, action, adventure game brought to you by Supergiant Games the
creators of Bastion.



Gameplay


















Combat is a big part of this game and the mechanics lend themselves well to this, you can either take a very active and involved approach to the encounters or you can adopt a more tactical approach. When going for the active approach combat goes something like this…
Run around - Use different skills on enemies - Run around - Repeat
It isn’t quite as God of War(y) as it sounds but it’s a good approximation, on the other hand, the tactical approach certainly plays out a little differently..
Press Space to enter “Turn” mode - plot out the best movement course to the enemy - Queue up a flurry of attacks until your turn bar is full - Unleash hell - run away until you can use turn mode again
The thing that can take some getting used to with the turn system is accounting for where enemies will either move to or be moved to by your actions, you may hit with your first attack but the second, third and fourth may miss completely if you’re not paying attention to your planning. Either style will work and getting to grips with both will definitely serve you well through the game.
To keep combat interesting there’s a myriad of different skills and skill combinations for you to try as you progress, not to mention the various limiters you can activate to make the game harder and gain more rewards such as boosted XP and such.





Graphics

So. Very. Pretty!
I can’t stress this enough, this game is absolutely gorgeous. The environments are beautiful and varied, the character models are superb both in terms of their animations and design. The last time I felt this way about a game was when Journey came out and that was a bloody gorgeous game as well.


Audio

Again, just fantastic. Darren Korb who worked on Bastion returns again bringing an acoustic treat to your ears with what he describes as "Old-world electronic post-rock". 23 stunning pieces featuring returning vocalist/voice actress Ashley Barrett who just brings something hauntingly beautiful to the table as always. It’s not enough to just talk about the music though, the sound design is equally remarkable with every dash, slice and explosion fitting perfectly into the mix. If Supergiant keep going at this pace it will be hard to compete with them on an audio front, it’s hard to name a AAA game that manages to do the same (in this reviewers opinion)

Story




I will keep this spoiler free so fear not

Your name is Red, you’re a singer who has recently come down with a case of mutism and awoke to find everyone has disappeared. You immediately find a sword, the sword in fact, who will be accompanying you throughout your journey. The story of Transistor can be summarised as a quest for answers, you are thrown into this world with no explanation and your only means of figuring anything out is done via terminals scattered across the world or through the lore that is heavily embedded in each of your skills (which can be further expanded by equipping said skills in different function slots, active, passive or modifier).



The thing that sets Transistor apart from it’s predecessor is that unlike Rucks who narrates the actions from a spectator position - “Kid just whaled on rocks for a while” etc., Transistor (your sword) is there with you, involved in everything that’s happening. It’s a subtle difference but it’s what sets the narratives delivery apart and in some aspects for the better.

Yay or Nay

I can’t say enough good things about this game, I absolutely love it all and that much should be pretty clear by now. The only real problem I have is the same one that most people have and it’s the games length, I clocked it at 3hours 37minutes start to finish in one sitting, some people say 4-5hours.The game does seem to rely on the new game plus aspect and I think that’s it’s biggest short coming but then again for £14.99 it’s not too much of an ask.
I would love to see what happens if these guys could really let loose and give us something 10+ hours but I love the work they do already. Transistor is great and I would (and have) recommended it to everyone

http://supergiantgames.com/
http://supergiantgames.bandcamp.com/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/