{"id":770,"date":"2012-02-12T14:10:03","date_gmt":"2012-02-12T04:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oc-gamer.moobaa.com\/?p=770"},"modified":"2012-02-12T14:10:03","modified_gmt":"2012-02-12T04:40:03","slug":"time-for-another-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oc-gamer.moobaa.com\/?p=770","title":{"rendered":"Time for another break…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the fact that posts have been pretty infrequent and erratic lately, it’s time to take another little break – the Adelaide Fringe<\/a> is starting soon, and will soon overlap with the (now annual – sigh<\/em>) Adelaide Festival of the Arts<\/a>. So, in an effort to not get myself into a blogging black hole (as I did last year), my gaming goes on the back-burner for a month or so.<\/p>\n

As I seem to write<\/del> cut’n’paste every year, though… please stay subscribed & keep reading. I’ll be back soon after March 18, and (if you were, like, really<\/em> desperate for something to do) you can follow my exploits on my other blog, Festival Freak<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Apart from the blog re-design (or phase one of the re-design, anyway), I have a parting gift: great things for you to spend money on!<\/p>\n

Having listened to (or read) a bunch of best-of-2011 information, I became intrigued by Bastion<\/em> – and, with a half-price sale on XBLA a few weeks ago (and a relatively low TA-ratio), I figured it was a relatively low-risk opportunity to try something new.<\/p>\n

And, to be honest, it’s absolutely bloody brilliant.<\/p>\n

The presentation of Bastion<\/em> is the first thing that struck me, with beautiful hand-drawn graphics evoking memories of (but not as minimal as) the gorgeous Braid<\/em>. The second thing that hit me was the wonderful<\/em> sound design – the soundtrack is stunning, the use of sound effects perfect. And then there’s the gameplay… and that<\/em> just happens to tick all my boxes. A little bit of isometric action, plenty of levelling up, and OCD-triggering collection-fests. Just perfect!<\/p>\n

So there’s the first thing you should be spending some cash on – Bastion<\/em> (on the 360<\/a> or PC<\/a>). I actually feel guilty that I bought it at half price! And even if you – for some bizarre<\/em> reason – don’t like Bastion<\/em>, you can still grab the soundtrack<\/a> for US$10.<\/p>\n

The second<\/em> thing you should spend your money on is… well, it’s a cracker. My love of Tim Schafer and his team at Double Fine<\/a> is pretty unabashed, and as soon as I heard that Schafer had started a Kickstarter project<\/a> to raise money for a new adventure game… well, I was sold.<\/p>\n

Watch Tim’s video, and you’ll be sold too:<\/p>\n