Journey Review

[Woodsey]

Just finished the game. Whilst it is absolutely gorgeous, and the sound design fantastic, I can't say I found the metaphor particularly interesting or at all original.

Likewise, whilst I like the idea of simply coming across a complete stranger and working with them, in practice I didn't get much emotional resonance from it. The closest I came to feeling anything, really, was when...

Spoiler

... I was climbing the mountain and I started to freeze, whilst the person I was with had disappeared before the final climb.

But even that was very brief.

I don't think that's helped by the fact that a lot of parts seem to be quite obviously scripted and, whilst you meet people, whether they're there or not means fuck all. I don't really care because I don't need the other person there.

In short: gorgeous, but not original in it's themes and not bold enough (or perhaps simply not able) to follow through on it's key feature.

It's through this interaction with your fellow traveler that Journey reveals its astounding depth. Without the ability to so much as point or draw stick figures, you manage to form profound connections with your companions, interpreting a complete personality from little more than a few musical tones and the length of their scarf.

I find that surprising: bar one person who was wearing a different cloak, I could have sworn blind I was playing with the same person the rest of the time, when at the end it told me I'd "met" 5 or 6.

It's simplicity fails it, because there's nothing to latch on to. Everyone pretty much looks like everyone, sounds like everyone, and behaves in only one of two ways (walks with you or doesn't). I don't care about them in the same way I don't care about background NPCs.

By contrast (and this may seem a bit of an odd comparison), I'd say the co-op campaign for Splinter Cell: Conviction is, in fact, much more effective. I remember playing it with a complete stranger with neither of us using voice chat, and we played through the whole thing. There was no verbal communication, but the game pushes you to work with one another enough so that come the end, you do actually care somewhat about what's going on and about what happens to that other character.

With Journey, you can't fail other players, and other players can't fail you. It's meaningless.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Please go play it

T-T

I Can't!! and i really want to!!

*sobs*

 

[Slackv]

I don't think that's helped by the fact that a lot of parts seem to be quite obviously scripted and, whilst you meet people, whether they're there or not means fuck all. I don't really care because I don't need the other person there.


With Journey, you can't fail other players, and other players can't fail you. It's meaningless.

And that's why the game works. You have played it and come away focusing on the multiplayer and that you don't need a companion. And true, a companion is not needed, but the presence of another player going through a shared experience leads to some amount of emotional bonding. (I wonder if they are hitting on the same mechanisms that make email/on-line communication more emotionally open/raw.) This tells me more about your personality, that you are the kind of person that believes in standing on your own more than having another person to help or to even be around.

It's simplicity fails it, because there's nothing to latch on to. Everyone pretty much looks like everyone, sounds like everyone, and behaves in only one of two ways (walks with you or doesn't). I don't care about them in the same way I don't care about background NPCs.

Just an FYI, The differentiation is in the chirps each player makes. The symbol that shows up is unique to each player (and different on each play through). I didn't know I'd 'met' 9 different players on my run through the game.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

After reading Susan's review (despite getting slight warning vibes out of the gushing, if wanky video portion), I rushed out to buy Journey.

What a waste of money.

A 90-minute, first year college wank-fest of pretentious art house crap.

It felt like something that would have passed as a technology demo just some five years ago, but never anything more than a free game, let alone a "full priced" arcade game. 12 Euros for what amounts to a

Spoiler

inept, wildly self-important metaphor of life and death, only to swing back and repeat itself

Ugh.

It's called "journey" but there's barely anything there to qualify even as a prologue. Never once does it feel like you're taking a long trip anywhere. Sure, scenery changes, but it happens at such a fast rate that it feels like the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. "Summer went to autumn, autumn to winter, winter skipped summer and went straight back into autumn again."

Yes. It looks pretty. One of the prettiest games around. But no, it does not create some kind of "bond" between players, because the level design doesn't reward co-op experiences besides the obvious "you're stronger as one!" imagery.

What it results to is a wannabe short film, a very pretty cut scene that allows the player to every once in a while walk to the next pretty cut scene, with little investment in anything and nothing to gain.

Sure, it'll be a hit with the art-gang, the hipsters and the critics that love the sound of their own voice. But as for having that "thing" that makes gaming, well, gaming? Hah. It would need to be a game first.

"a wannabe short film"

It does look like that.

Judge the game for yourself.

I disagree with everything Spider Jerusalem has said, but that doesn't mean he's wrong.

The only person who can form your opinion, is you.

Yeah, but opinions aren't formed in a vacuum. It is a bit of a fiction to say we are all individuals, our opinions come only from within, without outside input. It is a common fiction though, especially pushed in "individualistic" America.

On the game, I'll check with friends if they have it, and see what its price is like. A 2 hour game isn't going to get a lot of moolah from me.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

NOTE TO DEVELOPERS: See this? This is 3D with something called "ART STYLIZATION", it's not about realism or gritty brown/grey filters for your gritty shit that you've pumped out of the video game genero-tron these past 6 years that all look the same.

It's how games used to differentiate themselves in the 8 and 16 bit era.

(I know none are reading this but I can dream)

Mmm, differentiation in art style is quite important. I've got very tired of almost all fantasy games looking like wow, and then there is the fps genre to consider. Urgh.

 

[sazzrah]

Journey is fantastic, and yes it is worth getting a PS3 for. Not to mention all the other excellent exclusives PS3-less gamers are missing out on.

But CHRIST, one misinformed game journo reports that PSN is being renamed SEN and other journos too lazy to check the facts for themselves still keep referring to it as SEN! It was never true, it was misinformation. Your PSN account (just your account) became SEN to streamline Sony services across multiple devices, the PSN still exists exactly as it did before, name and all. Did you not notice that when you turn your PS3 on??? Not to mention it's all over the Playstation Store.

So please, stop referring to it as 'SEN' - you're misinforming people. It's PSN. It never changed and was never going to be changed! People just can't read press releases properly.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

I keep hearing more and more about this game and I do want to play it // Sadly my time is limited so I don't get much gaming in these days but when I get some free time, and when I'm at the girlfriends place as she is the one with the PS3 // For now I will have to be content with listening to the music of the game off youtube

-M

 

[90sgamer]

This wins an award for 'most overrated game.' The visuals are terrible. Textures are low resolution, models and assets are low on the poly count, and despite this, the games runs in 720p with no perceptible anti-aliasing. The sound track wobbles between 'good' and 'forgettable.' The art style is generic and not terribly different from other cell shaded-style games. The story is abstract and neither the protagonist or the player has a dog in the fight. It goes without saying: there is little emotional impact. More than any of those technical, quantifiable things: it just isn't fun to play.
I have a feeling a certain reviewer is trying too hard to give credit for the indie/art card being played here.

 

[Busard]

I keep hearing more and more about this game and I do want to play it // Sadly my time is limited so I don't get much gaming in these days but when I get some free time, and when I'm at the girlfriends place as she is the one with the PS3 // For now I will have to be content with listening to the music of the game off youtube

-M

It is really really short, you can finish your first run by the time you finish watching a movie. The cool thing is though, you can do several other runs and the experience will always feel different. Journey became one of my favourite games for it's simplicity of delivery as well as musical and visual narration.

This wins an award for 'most overrated game.' The visuals are terrible. Textures are low resolution, models and assets are low on the poly count, and despite this, the games runs in 720p with no perceptible anti-aliasing. The sound track wobbles between 'good' and 'forgettable.' The art style is generic and not terribly different from other cell shaded-style games. The story is abstract and neither the protagonist or the player has a dog in the fight. It goes without saying: there is little emotional impact. More than any of those technical, quantifiable things: it just isn't fun to play.
I have a feeling a certain reviewer is trying too hard to give credit for the indie/art card being played here.

That's gotta be the shallowest and ill-informed statement i've seen on the thread. Especially trying to attack a game on it's polycount and resolution in freaking 2012 (and to no avail too, since Journey is not really lacking in this aspect except maybe slow anti aliasing but that takes nothing away from the game). It's kinda like these gamers who listen way too much Jimquisition, thinks he's actually right most of the time and should've stopped playing the medium for a year or two

 

[Susan Arendt]

This wins an award for 'most overrated game.' The visuals are terrible. Textures are low resolution, models and assets are low on the poly count, and despite this, the games runs in 720p with no perceptible anti-aliasing. The sound track wobbles between 'good' and 'forgettable.' The art style is generic and not terribly different from other cell shaded-style games. The story is abstract and neither the protagonist or the player has a dog in the fight. It goes without saying: there is little emotional impact. More than any of those technical, quantifiable things: it just isn't fun to play.
I have a feeling a certain reviewer is trying too hard to give credit for the indie/art card being played here.

Or maybe I just had a different experience than you. I went in expecting to dislike the game and was quite surprised by my reaction to it. Just because you didn't have the same experience doesn't mean I'm "trying too hard."

 

[Nelson Goodrich]

Well I'm back and I followed your advice and bought Journey. I just finish it and I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for making such a compelling case to buy this game because without it I don't think I would buy it. This game cost 15$ and is the shortest game I have ever played, but also the most beautiful game I have experience. Totally worth it. Thanks Susan, and please, Keep up the good work!