Transistor Review

Review By Joey Carole

Transistor is the successor to Bastion from Supergiant Games, an incredible game which I highly recommend you check out if you haven't already.  Transistor, free on PS+ through the month of February, is a sci-fi action adventure about a singer named Red who lost the ability to speak, and a soul collecting sword with a voice (The Transistor).  The adventure take's place in the beautiful futuristic town of Cloudbank.  The art style makes Cloudbank look like a moving neon painting mixed with a graphic novel, a fantastic design that plays off the story well.

As the game begins Cloudbank is under attack from the "Process" a group of enemy robots commanded by the "Camerata" a small gang of would be scientists.  Red, a local in Cloudbank is attacked with the "Transistor" a glowing blue sword, when a mystery man throws himself in harms way to protect her.  The Transistor absorbs his soul and Red set's out on a journey to avenge her savior.

Red take's the Transistor as her weapon, companion, and narrator through this adventure.  One thing I really appreciate about this game is the use of DualShock 4 capabilities. Something many game's fail to take advantage of.  Your sword speaks to you in game and you can opt to have the voice play through the speaker in your controller. The sword pulses light blue on screen and your Dualshock 4 pulses light blue in sync, it gives the feeling that the Transistor is extending itself from the game world into reality.  This simple feature really helps encapsulate the player.

The combat system is a little overwhelming at first but as you spend more time with the game it becomes more clear how everything works.  I was slightly frustrated in the beginning with the lack of a tutorial but as I progressed and learned the combat system through some trial and error I appreciated the game's trust in me as a player to figure it out.

As you progress throughout the game you acquire new abilities, there are about 20 unique abilities in total.  Each ability has 3 different uses, a main attack, an upgrade effect, and a passive effect.  Once you reach a high enough level you are allowed up to 4 abilities at once, each with two upgrades and up to 4 passive effects.  There's so many ability combinations, you almost certainly won't try them all.

The combat isn't actually turn-style but it kinda feels that way as you're able to freeze time and pick a sequence of moves before letting the time resume.  The system works well with a cache of abilities at your disposal, and enemies that bring their own strengths and weakness's to each battle.  However some of the map designs occasionally gets in the way and I sometime's had issues getting the game to recognize which enemy I wanted to target.  In retrospect it may have been nice to have a larger variety of enemies to fight, but the ones you get to do battle with provide pretty fun gameplay

The soundtrack in this game is AMAZING.  Described by its writer/producer Darren Korb as "Old World Electronic Post Rock" it not only compliments the gameplay and art-style beautifully but plays great as a standalone album selling 48,000 copies within the first 10 days of release.  The game even features a beach like rest area titled the "break room" where you can flip through the sound track and stare into a visualizer esque starry night sky.

Transistor includes a new-game+ mode which I thoroughly enjoyed.  You keep all of your abilities on the second play-thru, fight tougher enemies, and the story ending gives some extra information that makes you want to immediately play again.  You will also have some challenges to complete if you want to %100 this game.  Not a very difficult game to finish at %100 completion, it took me roughly 16 hours.

Final Thoughts
Transistor is well worth your time, and even if I didn't get this free with PS+ I'd be willing to spend the money on it.  If you like a good sci-fi story, or your'e a sucker for cool looking games this is a must have.  It's worth paying for just the soundtrack in this game.  The combat system is a good level of complex but not confusing, and also feels rewarding.

Pro's

+Atmosphere & Art Style resembles a neon painting in motion

+Soundtrack is great standalone and compliments the game well

+Smart uses of DualShock 4 capabilities

+Extremely customizable combat abilities

Con's

-Map Designs sometimes get in the way of combat

-Enemies sometimes hard to target

-Could of had a larger variety of enemies

Score

9.3/10