Journey

Rating: 1 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)

Genre: Artsy; Sub-genre: Platformer

ESRB: E10 (I honestly don't know what makes it above an E)

Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): Not applicable/2

Developer: Thatgamecompany

Wiki page

I guess I stopped believin', Journey, because I really didn't find you to be that impressive. You are very pretty and have nice sand and snow effects for an Indie game, but your simple visual story was meaningless and you don't offer enough gameplay interactivity for me to consider you a game. I'm sorry if I'm rude, I'm merely going to be as short with you as you were with me.

Journey is about finding your way to Tuna Mountain... a mountain which does not exist.

There is no story. No emotion, personality, or conflict. No more so than a painting of a pretty landscape. Yes, you can take a lot of meaning from paintings... especially when a bunch of them comprise a two hour game. But that's not enough to call it a "story." The main character, who I assume is named Steve Perry, just walks towards a mountain. Normally I don't give spoilers, but that's literally the entire story. I didn't find an emotional connection because no connection was offered. What's more, despite being such a simple story it still managed to squeeze in a Deus Ex Machina. How deep and meaningful.

"Why are there now two of me? Is this a new power?" -my reaction to multiplayer

I daresay there's even less gameplay to be offered than story. Steve Perry is capable of really high, floating jumps and he can chirp loudly. The former is used for "duh video games" and the latter as his only means of interacting with everything. The jump is flowing and well-tuned and has the intriguing limitation of needing a power gauge to use it. But this is never developed into a complex mechanic. Neither is chirping. Ultimately, Steve spends the majority of his time just moving forward.

I must have forgotten that this game had multiplayer, because it surprised the hell out of me when it happened. Randomly in the middle of my game I noticed another hooded figure (with no gamer tag, chat, or messages indicating someone had joined), who I assumed was named Neal Schon. Admittedly, this was the highlight of my game but for the wrong reasons. I was watching Neal's movements, confounded by how human-like this sudden NPC was acting. Then while we were making our way up a freezing, snowy mountain he became irritated with my constant chirping. So he jumped off a cliff and died forever. I was saddened by this turn of events, and it wasn't until the end credits that the game told me that I was indeed joined by another player. "Neal," I thought, "You don't have the patience to walk forward for two hours? You must suck at video games."

This game has none of their hits on it!

Conclusion:

I'm not much of an artsy guy. I'll admit that. But this game just made me bored. I was actually glad it was so short! I'll give them credit for trying hard and doing something unusual, but I am not as quick to offer my enthusiasm as everyone else seems to be. And hey! I played Braid and loved it despite it's ridiculous pretentiousness. Why? Because it was FUN.

And if you want a PS3 game with pretty landscapes that makes you cry, try The Last of Us. THAT is quite a journey. Whew!