I'm maybe halfway through Bastion, and so far I'm seeing what everyone loved about the game.
The game is set in a fictional land that has experienced a horrible calamity called...well, The Calamity. I don't know what said calamity is so far, but the game is unfolding at a nice pace and I'm certainly intrigued. The gameplay is mostly beat-em-up with a little bit of RPG and platforming mixed in. The platforming is extremely annoying, as it isn't based on jumping but on trying to stay on these floating platforms. With the angle the camera is at, this gets old fast.
The art style in the game is very intriguing. It's not quite Windwaker-style cell-shading, but it is very cartoony. The characters and environments look like color versions of Alice in Wonderland illustrations, or any old-timey stories I suppose. It's simultaneously fanciful and dangerous; nostalgic and ominous.
The most heavily-lauded and famous part of Bastion has to be the narrator. Everyone was going bonkers over this interactive narrator who comments on everything you do. At first, I really didn't like him. The constant commentary annoyed the hell out of me and I really wished I was just playing a pretty beat-em-up. He's started to grow on me, however. They made him funny and sardonic. He isn't snide exactly, but he does have an edge to his voice that makes it feel like he's told this story a few times and has no patience for shenanigans. I still don't know if his inclusion is as revolutionary as everyone thought, but it is certainly entertaining.
I'll come back with more next week when I have a little more to say. Stay tuned.
