Top 75: Transistor
Making an ordered list of any media is pointless and masturbatory. I’ve done this a few times over the years. I enjoy writing about things I love, and I like having a structured activity like this that can be drawn out over several months. It gives me a reason to write, which i desperately need.
This list is entirely subjective and, as much as I’d like to, I can’t give a detailed methodology for this because it’s mostly a gut thing at this point. Games are so different from one another, and trying to sort out my feelings now vs then about a game I loved 30 years ago makes this all a fool’s errand.
Is Super Dodgeball better than Hellblade?* Fuckin’ who knows?
Fittingly, no game is more precariously positioned on this list than Transistor.
Transistor is like a romantic comedy where the persons involved often don’t get along, then everything comes together in a dramatic climax at end of the film. Some people will tear up and leave satisfied. Some will think “That’s fine and all, but these people still don’t really seem to be great for each other?”. Some people will do both. That’s me. Transistor is The Notebook, and I’m filled with warm tinglies at the thought of it while still having doubts about the overall package. Suck it, Ryan Gosling.
Transistor, like all SuperGiant Games games, is a work of art. A real feast for the eyes and ears. The moment to moment gameplay, specifically the combat, leaves something to be desired. It’s the Ryan Gosling and the blonde from Mean Girls part of Transistor. The art, music, and voice acting are the James Garner and Joan Allen parts. The end of the movie is like the end of the game.
I wish I liked The Notebook so this all held up better, but here we are.
Anyway, Transistor has SuperGiant’s usual best-in-the-business production. Darren Korb, Ashley Barrett, Logan Cunningham, and the rest of the team do their best to draw me into the world and make forget that I’m playing a video game.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on why the game’s combat left me wanting. On paper, a highly customizable blend of turn-based and real time action is a slam dunk. In practice, I thought the pace of combat was too messy, it didn’t have the satisfying flow of an action RPG or the meticulous precision of turn-based.
That ending though. I remember saying “What the FUCK?!? WHY???” out loud. I stared slack-jawed at the screen as the credits rolled and the music played. And I cried when the credits reached their conclusion. I’ve watched the ending a few times since then and teared up each time. That’s my lasting memory of this game, and that outweighs whatever mixed feelings I may have about the moment to moment gameplay. It’s a capital-M Moment that I will carry with me much like special moments from books and movies throughout my life.
All the cutscenes for Transistor. Spoilers, obviously.
*I’ll let you be the judge. But the answer’s “yes.”