REVIEW: Transistor (PS4)

Since picking up my PS4 I've been after some good games to play on it, and aside from the usual Sony favourites (Infamous, Killzone, etc) there hasn't been a whole lot to pick up and enjoy. It was this vacuum of next-gen titles that lead me to pick up a few indie games knocking about on the PlayStation store, such as Child of Light (*excellent* game!) and Fez (couldn't get into it). Transistor was a new release at the time and despite a bit of buzz and some stellar reviews it had completely slipped under my radar, which is a shame because it is, in my opinion, probably one of the current flagship games on Sony's new console. I've not played the first game by the developer, Bastion, so can't compare this with that, but I can and will compare this to Diablo in that it feels like a "rogue-like" dungeon crawl in many ways. If this sort of thing appeals to you know that Transistor is also aesthetically equal parts Bladerunner and Tron, and if all those things float your boat then read on; I might have found the perfect game for you.

The protagonist of Transistor is nightclub singer 'Red', who has had her voice taken away from her (presumably her throat shot out) during a midnight bloodbath, after which she wakes up and vows revenge on the cadre responsible. To aid her in this quest is the eponymous Transistor, a large blade-like construct that absorbs the 'soul' of anyone it impales; starting with the poor man Red digs it out of. From then on, the Transistor doubles as your guide and all-purpose weapon for the remainder of the game, handily giving you tips and strategic advice delivered with husky-dry voice acting through the PS4's dualshock speaker. It's a very interesting concept and one made good use of during the game, as the Transistor chirps away filling in the backstory surrounding events and offering advice about what to do next, you can communicate with it as Red by visiting one of the many 'news kiosks' scattered throughout the world and typing on the keyboard. The world of Transistor is beautifully realised with gorgeous hand-drawn graphics in an evocative future-noir veneer; characters are designed so that they look like they've just walked out of a Philip K. Dick novel.

However, despite the interesting premise and cool visual trappings, it's the gameplay that really delivers the good stuff, and this is where Transistor really shines brightest. Differentiating itself from other rogue-likes, the game has a strategic-RPG element in which you can freeze the action and plan out a sequence of moves or attacks, depleting a time meter as you go, until they're unleashed upon your foes. Approaching combat this way means that you suffer a cool-down period afterwards whereby you can't attack or perform special actions for a few seconds, but it's a fair trade off against the standard real time hack'n'slash (also available if you want). These carefully planned 'turns' are one of the game's strong points, the other is it's amazingly deep upgrade system in which each unlocked item can be used either as a special power, a modifier to an already existing power, or as a character buff. This encourages constant fiddling as you stack upgrades on top of each other; the results feel quite limitless and probably beyond the bounds of a single playthrough. Indeed, as soon as I finished the game I made a mental list of all the things I'd like to try next time in 'new game plus'.

Another great thing about the game design is how it treats death and failure. If your health should fall to zero, rather than immediately throwing you into a continue-from-checkpoint scenario, Transistor simply carries on by stripping you of one of your special abilities. This is actually more devastating than it sounds as often the game would switch off the weapon I needed most and relied upon; Red can get the ability back however after registering at a handful of different save points. This system was ingenious and forced me to constantly swap out abilities and special powers, mainly because I "died" a lot. To further add depth to the already abyssal systems in place are 'limiters', which are actually downgrades of your character and abilities; the trade-off is that you level faster or get tastier more destructive rewards if you're victorious. I hope I'm communicating the sheer amount of control given to the player in this video game, and despite the isometric graphics this game feels *very* "next-gen" compared to all the safe triple-A games from the major publishers. Transistor is a great game, and one that is confidently executed by an indie studio that really knows how to make an interesting and deeply rewarding original experience.