REVIEW: Journey (PS3)

I was already a big fan of 'ThatGameCompany's previous work, having previously played both Cloud and flOw on the PC and subsequently Flower on the PS3, but that didn't stop me getting caught up in the hype surrounding their latest game: Journey. This is a game that has had the word "experience" applied to it more than any other game I can think of and pretty much every review that I've read has come across as utterly pretentious mumbo-jumbo about how the reviewer felt some sort of spiritual connection to the game, or burst into tears immediately upon finishing it.

Neither of those things happened to me, in fact my reaction upon "finishing" the game for the first time was to just stoically sit there... you see, I'd started the game late at night with the intention of playing a bit and then logging off. However, I'd sat through and played it all in one sitting, so by the end I was utterly exhausted, drained and bewildered by what had happened. I went to bed and could do nothing but think about what I'd just played. The next day, I played it again.... with the intention of playing a bit and then stopping. Again I played through the whole thing from start to finish! Basically, the game is utterly enthralling, moving and un-put-downable: this might just be one of the best video games ever made.

Lets get the technical stuff out of the way first, the graphics in Journey are utterly incredible. Technically they're impressive as it all runs at a silky smooth framerate and there are some impressive physics in place on clothing, things blowing in the wind and also the sand that moves realistically around your character as you make your way across the desert. This is obviously well optimised for the PS3 as most exclusives are. However, it's the art direction that truly impresses, as watching Journey is akin to watching a Hayao Miyazaki film or some sort of living artwork, everything exhibits a unique graphic style and the camera intelligently re-positions itself to ensure the game is always framed to show everything off. The lighting also deserves a special mention as light cascades and reflects off grains of sand and the mood created is amazing.

Sound plays a big part in Journey too, as it is the main/only form of communication with other players (which I will get to later), without any dialogue or written text you have only the chirps and melodies of the different characters to guide you through the game. The soundtrack is amazing and some of the best music ever produced for a video game, right up there with the score for Shadow of the Colossus in my opinion, which happens to be my favourite game soundtrack of all time.

Yet, when all is said and done, the thing you will remember most from Journey is not the incredible graphics or amazing soundtrack but the game itself. It has been designed to be played in one sitting, and the game length is very short to accommodate this - taking roughly two or three hours to go from the beginning to the end. But don't let this fool you, as it is a game you will think about and come back to again and again and again. You see, Journey feels quite different each time you play, and this is mainly due to the online cooperative component. While connected to the playstation network, the game will randomly introduce another player into your game, completely invisibly! You will not get any kind of notification that someone has joined your game, or even see them appear, you'll just catch a glimpse of them from the corner of your eye or hear them calling out over a sand dune and there they'll be.

This is the true heart of the game. The first time I played, when I was tired and inexperienced, I kept temporarily losing my partner as we journeyed through deserts, subterranean cities and other locations that I won't spoil. It wasn't until the end of the game that Journey revealed to me that I'd in fact played with a load off different people - that it had kept swapping them in and out as I went along. The second time, I met another player who had obviously done the whole thing a few times and he stuck with me the entire way, helping me find lots of the game's secrets and easter eggs. Both experiences were very different and since then I've also played it through offline, on my own, although this was a very lonely affair after experiencing the comradeship of having another person tagging along.

This is quite a hard review to write because, while I'd love to discuss how the gameplay works in different parts of the game, or my own interpretation of the plot, it would spoil too much. Journey is best approached ignoring the hype and pretending that you know nothing, experiencing it all fresh. It really is like nothing else around at the moment.