Vladimir Rakhmanin reviews thatgamecompany’s latet effort…
Vladimir Rakhmanin
Staff Writer
OK, you know what? I’m going to stop you right here. If you want to make the most of this masterpiece, then stop reading my review, and buy the game. Trust me, it’s worth it. Unless Bioshock: Infinite manages to somehow be better than the original, this will be my Game of the Year. Honestly, Journey is that great – every moment must be savoured fresh, and if you are aware of some of the set-pieces beforehand, they will lose a lot of their impact.
Still here? Alright then. I guess I’ll have to convince you. And indeed, Journey is a tough sell in today’s world of grunting bald space marines and brown corridor shooters. The average video game player will ask questions like, ‘how long is it?’, or ‘how satisfying is the gameplay?’ Occasionally, some might ask about how rich the game’s story is. Unfortunately, Journey cannot be shoehorned in under any of these categories. The experience lasts about two hours, the majority of the gameplay consists of simply walking and the story is very ambiguous – not a single word is uttered during the entire playthrough. So what is it, then, that makes Journey so brilliant?
For a start, the game is absolutely beautiful. The main focus, guiding your Sherpa-like character to the summit of a giant mountain (without being told why) already sets up an important, almost religious tone to your journey – and yet it never feels pretentious, like in other ‘art’ games, due to the slight tone of playfulness sprinkled into your arduous task. The middle-Eastern art style looks great, and the soundtrack, which features a gorgeous cello theme, is also fantastic. I can also say that this game features the best sand that I’ve ever seen in a game – even better than in Uncharted 3. One particular set-piece that takes place during a sunset shows off the PS3’s tech in a way that I’ve never seen before, and those five minutes are some of the most exhilarating moments that I have ever played in a video game.
The pacing is perfect, a feat managed before only by Valve in Portal. There is no other way of describing it. The game is two hours long because it needs to be two hours – there is absolutely no padding. Some have criticised the use of collectibles in the game – many felt that this was a way of artificially lengthening the experience, but I think this works well because of another aspect which I will come to shortly. Over the two hours, you will cycle through an emotional roller-coaster, finishing off with a mind-blowing ending. So many games have disappointed me with their endings recently (*ahem*LA Noire) that it’s refreshing to see a story arc that is thoroughly planned out.
And now we come to the part of the game that gives it its legendary status – the multiplayer. This is not the multiplayer that you expect – occasionally, during the game, you will meet up with fellow pilgrims. You cannot communicate with them apart from a one-note chime that you can sing with the press of a button – the only thing you can do is recharge each other’s flying powers a little. But that’s it.
So what’s so amazing about that, you ask? I personally found that experiencing the wonders of Journey with a complete stranger to be an awe-inspiring experience. You will sing to each other, you will scream when something exciting happens, and you will wait for your new friends if they get lost. Nobody is asking you to do these things, and yet for some reason you will feel compelled to do them – you really begin to feel a sense of partnership to someone, no matter what their age, gender or nationality is. The game basically shows off all that is good about human beings. I had the opportunity to play with someone who had clearly completed the game beforehand, and he (or she) helped me to find all sorts of secrets, simply because they wanted to help me. This sense of partnership is also highlighted during the climax of the story, which you will just have to see for yourself.
Journey is absolutely brilliant. It lasts two hours, but those two hours are some of the most powerful you will ever experience during your entire lifetime of playing videogames. It’s serious but light, important but playful. Its use of multiplayer is revolutionary, and you will remember the people you will meet along your journey way more than the people you will have encountered in any other multiplayer experience. This is truly something you need to experience for yourself – if you don’t you will be missing out on a piece of video game history.
