The there-less Journey

Posted by on March 19, 2012 in Reviews

I can groove on a good arthouse game. I don’t mind short, experimental, or inscrutable. I’m the kind of guy who thought Bastion was deep, The Path was meaningful, and Gravity Bone was transcendent. I might even play Dear Esther one day. But Journey, the latest release from the creators of Flower at thatgamecompany? I’d rather stay home.

After the jump, indie cred revoked

Journey is nothing like Flower, which was a unique spry tale of wind, color, and redemption. Journey is yet another game in which you control a little dude who sometimes jumps. Most of the time, you just push your stick up and watch him move languidly and sometimes ponderously past scenery. It’s certainly a pretty game, if somewhat monochromatic. It imagines an exotic (i.e. Middle Eastern) culture of sand and cloth, except that these people have sharp points where their feet should be and they’re polytheists who believe in reincarnation.

The eponymous journey takes you over minor puzzles, underneath threats, though a limp-to-the-finish finale, and into a supposedly rapturous conclusion. Along the way, the story is illustrated with line drawings and presided over by a tall luminescent god creature who’s part of a committee of god creatures who show up at the end to, um…well, that’s for you to parse. The point seems to be some sort of circle of life affirmation about how the journey matters more than the destination, so you should probably play a second time.

It’s often picturesque and occasionally rousing. Your pilgrim on this brief hajj wears a burka, with a scarf thrown on for good measure. The scarf is actually Journey’s only claim to an interface for how it measures how much jump juice you have. You also have preternaturally wise alien/cat eyes. Think Jawas, but lithe. It’s great character design in search of a game. A couple of times, Journey made me want to play SSX. But it mostly reminded me of some of the dull and barely interactive bits of Uncharted 3. I think the lesson here is that deserts are often poorly suited to games without dune buggies.

There’s no challenge and no real gameplay, which isn’t necessarily a criticism. It’s sort of like Shadow of the Colossus without any colossi, or Ico without the little girl. It does have multiplayer, though. Other players run around in your game pulling your switches, mashing their circle buttons to activate the “hey, over here!” beacons, and basically going the same place you’re going without any meaningful way to interact with you unless you both know Morse code. How’s that for a metaphor for online gaming?

2 stars
Playstation 3

UPDATE: Read the official Journey review FAQ here!

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  • http://larsenb.tumblr.com Larsen B

    Is it possible to “Like” specific turns of phrase? “Jump juice” is a good one.

    As with most games striving for ‘art’, it’s all a bit Emperor’s New Clothes. I saw an experience and you saw mechanics, Tom. Such is the way it goes.
    If only it had been more Emperor’s New Groove. Maybe next time.

  • wisdomchild

    This confirms my suspicions. Having been entirely unimpressed by Flower, I feared the worst, but hoped for the best.

  • Cinn_

    nice troll review

  • Frederik Vaassen

    You can’t imagine the frustration I felt when reading you didn’t like the game. I guess that’s an indication of how much I personally loved Journey; I thought it was such a wonderful, deep experience that I wish everyone would enjoy it as much as I did.

    But alas, I know that tastes differ, and just telling them they’re “wrong” won’t make people change their minds.
    Just… those of you who haven’t played it yet? Don’t dismiss it. Give it a try, keep an open mind. Journey might turn out one of the most inspiring gaming experiences you’ve had in years.

  • Ben

    nice troll comment , here is a troll reply

  • http://profiles.google.com/vileta2 David Vileta

    MAXIMUM TROLLING: ENGAGE

  • Alan

    I wonder if your experienced was colored by an ineffective partner. There aren’t many ways to interact with your partner, true, but they can recharge your jump-juice by hanging close or charging up a note, which for me was reason enough.

  • SonGokan

    Oh a trolling Review, goodwork

  • Yamcha

    i can’t unterstand, why metacritic and gamerankings added quarter of three reviews, it’s a fucking shame

  • Minorityfool

    Totally Trolling…yep a totally trolling comment for your totally trolling review.Journey is Majestic,you Trolltastic Reviewer.

  • Gunit1624

    And yet another troll review from Tom Dickhead.

  • Hossolox

    I think he’s not trolling… He simply missed the point. I personally loved the game ( a lot) but i think it’s not fit to everyone.

  • Cory Sponseller

    I really enjoyed Journey myself. I found it *constantly* picturesque and *often* rousing. I admit however that this may be significantly due to my experience as a game artist.

    I can’t disagree with much of your review though. I would have to be pretty indulgent to conjure sophisticated meaning from the game, and I think the puzzles and linear progression actually detract from the game just being a really good toy-like ‘play’ experience. If the takeaway really is something about journey > destination, then the gamey elements confound that message.

    Still, I think this game stands as a valuable contrast to those many other games that purport to offer an epic journey.

  • Josh Merkle

    In my opinion, people that don’t like Journey fall into one of two groups. First, gamers that just don’t appreciate an artsy game. These gamers are generally drawn towards more gritty “in your face” games such as Battlefield, or God of War. This doesn’t mean they are any better or any worse, just that artsy games probably aren’t their style. The other group, I believe, does not fully take the time to understand and appreciate Journey’s emotional.. well, journey. The game is empty and void of life by design, not by chance. You are meant to feel utterly alone and Journey does just that. And as for the multiplayer, it is exactly as it should be — having a glimpse of another faceless traveler in the vast, empty desert. The comfort that you are no longer alone on your journey, the companionship. Journey is a game for those deeply in touch with their emotions, or for those that will, just for a moment, allow themselves to open up and let new feelings take over.

  • http://larsenb.tumblr.com Larsen B

    I’m having a hard time working out if it’s Playstation 3 owners who have trouble with dissenting opinions or if it’s the “Games Are Art” crowd.

    Hey, you know when you see some modern art and think “how is that art? I could have drawn that!”

    This is very much the same thing. I hope people don’t think you’re being purposefully contrarian when you tell your friends you just don’t get it.
    PS. You’re a philistine.

  • playahater94

    Reviewer was paid by Microsoft, or a troll. Or both.

  • Juan Pablo Bouquet

    Tom, your stuff is so good that through the years I grew to love it when you trash games that I find amazing. This is no exception.

    I think you make some very good points. I feel we all want Journey to be a timeless classic, even though is just so very very close (but not yet there). 

    For all its shortcomings, like the underplayed cooperation or the shallow platforming, I did enjoy it immensely.

    Great review.

  • luke

    MAXIMUM INSECURITY ABOUT ONE’S OWN OPINION: ENGAGE

  • luke

    Coming right after Larsen’s comment, I can only hope this comment isn’t serious.

  • http://bulletpointsblog.blogspot.com/ Anjin

    I really hope that there is some way to determine how many hits come to this review from Metacritic.

  • Ben

    Comenter was the developer who decided that feet weren’t imporant in a game about walking , or a troll. Or both.  As a PS3 gamer I’d recomend to you Yakuza Dead Souls. Just beat it this weekend and it sounds like it has more story than the Journey.  Plus, zombies .

  • Pogue Mahone

    Is it spring break already?

  • KeysE2S

    And yet your solution to alleged click-bait is to post a comment.

  • Avtar

    Pretty vacant.

  • BradRapstars

    It’s beautiful. Just like there is a crowd of defenders for any hyped up console exclusive, every game with indie or art cred, has a fleet of fools leaping to it’s defense. We’ve already seen several examples of the classic baseless stand by defense “You just like, don’t get it, man!”. Keep on taking those bong rips, and thinking that shallow, nearly nonexistent games are deep and wonderful pieces of art, just because the developer said they are.

  • wisdomchild

    You were *so close* to getting that into haiku form.  The middle part should have seven syllables, though.  Try this:

    I can’t understand/Why aggregates link Tom Chick/It’s a fucking shame

  • wisdomchild

    This touches on my primary issue with thatgamecompany’s oeuvre.  I don’t want the developer to tell me how I’m supposed to feel, or what’s supposed to happen, when I play their game.  It’s akin to an artist coming up to you while you view a painting of theirs, saying “well, here’s how you’re supposed to feel when you look at my painting.”  The work should stand on its own two feet.  And the characters in Journey can’t even do that, since they have no feet.

  • http://gaslampgames.com/ D Baumgart

    To pipe in the games-as-art thing as a degree carrying fine artist working in videogames: It’s possible to both be art and not be very good art at the same time. 
    (I haven’t played Journey, so I can’t judge. I just want it to be clear that a game being  ”art” does not say anything about how good it is at what it’s trying to do.)

  • tomchick

    Great comment, Coren.  I’d love to know more about what you found deep and inspiring about the game.  I don’t say that in an “oh, yeah, prove it” way, but because I’d love to hear it.  I feel like this is the sort of game I should love, but that I’ve been passed over by whatever made it work for folks like you.

    And I agree that anyone interested in small artistic games that do things differently should totally take a chance on Journey.

  • tomchick

    I actually had a few people stick close to me.  And it was interesting watching people work out what to do with the ping button.  But is there ever a point in Journey when your partner serves any mechanical purpose?  In other words, is the multiplayer just window dressing (look, we have multiplayer!) or a thematic point (you can’t go through life alone)?  I don’t feel like the other player ever helped me.  Do we keep each other alive during the snow slog or something?

  • Matthew Distaulo

    Gamers usually argue how silly video game reviews are because they all use the 7-10 scale and most of the reviewers utilize groupthink and sound like they didn’t finish the game.

    Well, not that I agree with this review, but I enjoy people with different viewpoints and opinions. Tom’s a troll just because he’s not in love with a game you are? I don’t get it.

  • tomchick

    Agreed, Cory, especially about your final point that epic doesn’t have to mean 30 hours long. :)  I also really liked the artwork, but I would have liked to see it in a better “game”.  I don’t mean that to be disparaging, but because I like the idea of a more fleshed out world drawn in this style.  

    Of course, it’s a bit unfair of me to want Journey to hew more closely to exploration games like Out of This World and Omikron, but I feel the art style totally would have supported that kind of design.

  • tomchick

    Well, since I feel my bona fides as a guy who appreciates artsy games have been firmly established, that leaves me in the latter camp. :(

    But I like your take on the second group of people who don’t like Journey.  It explains pretty well your takeaway from the experience.  Well said.

  • tomchick

    “What’s a Philistine?”

    (Obscure movie reference ahoy!)

  • tomchick

    That means a lot, Juan.  Thanks for the comments.  I wish more folks didn’t judge the value of an opinion based solely on whether they agree with it.

  • Orion Sea

    i agree with some of your critiques, but i think it is a mistake to categorize journey as “game” before seeing it as interactive art.  i feel like mister chen is very aware of the removal of play mechanics, and when assessing somethings quality in a review i feel the creators intent should be taken more into account.  i’m not trying to question the validity of your review at all, but instead simply suggesting that this is a “game” that i feel is asking the player to reevaluate how we as a society of gamers appreciate interactive experiences.

  • Michael

    I enjoyed this review, even though I also enjoyed the game. I think there are some of us gamers who enjoy a relaxing, pretty experience where you don’t do a lot. Sounds odd, I know. I found the art style and sense of loneliness quite moving. I had a companion who was very helpful at first. Then as we got to the snow level he/she sat down in the snow and crumbled. I felt a loss. Not the same as real life, but the same as when a painting evokes a similar feeling. So I’m a fan as a result; but I can totally see why this game doesn’t appeal to everyone. And NOT because they “just don’t get it.” We are all different and like different things. One reason I don’t think you can say whether any art is good or bad except as you experience it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1114592966 Gezer Oz

    Are you shitting me? How the fuck did this get on Metacritic? It only has 4 paragraphs and is poorly written.

  • http://larsenb.tumblr.com Larsen B

    If that’s considered an obscure movie, then there are more philistines in society than I had even imagined. And that includes your mother’s brother.

  • Superslug

    I seem to remember you saying you don’t think games are art tom. What is the distinction between an artsy game and a game that is art?

  • tomchick

    Oh dear, now you’ve gone and done it! But, no, I don’t consider videogames art. I don’t consider most forms of entertainment art.

    But more to the point, I don’t really care what someone does and doesn’t personally define as art. Like love, religion, honor, and various other values, that’s a personal decision that doesn’t really need to be publicly debated.

  • KeysE2S

     ”trash games that I find amazing”

    I completely get that you’re not venting your spleen about the review. That said, as another long-time TC reader (be it Fidgit or QT3), I’d like to point out that 2 out of 5 stars isn’t trashing a game. That would be 0 out of 5. It’s been my understanding that Tom has set out to use then entire spectrum of a quantified review system, rather than the 70%=C- one that most reviewers seem to adhere to. So I read 2 out of 5 as below average.

  • Ben

    Now, my book, “White-Hating Coon,” don’t have none of that bullshit. The hero’s name is Maleekwa, and he’s descended from the black tribe that established the first society on the planet, while all you European motherfuckers were hiding out in caves and shit, all terrified of the sun.

  • Reviewer needs to get a life

    “Hey, there is no guns and shooting, I’ll give this game a 2/5″

  • Trolololol

    It’s official you are a hipster and a troll.

    I will take back this statement if you can name ONE POPULAR game that you have reviewed that matches the consensus of other review sites.

  • Alan

    As your scarf freezes and you lose jump juice, they help you retain it. But during the worst part you can’t do much more than tweet at them.

    But no, the coop is incidental.

  • PS

    The co-op is not incidental – it is key to the experience. Their fleeting arrivals and disappearance just goes to emphasise your lonliness in this desert. Your ability to communicate only through chirps not only limits you, it emphasises your similarities – this other person could speak an entirely different language, and yet when you’re in the cave together and both scared of the creature, you’re feeling the same emotion and sharing that fear through ‘chirps’.

    I wonder – when you’re completing a marathon with a friend do you ask ‘what purpose are they serving me’? Why are they here? They’re there to urge you on – to experience the Journey with you.When they disappear, I felt a heart-wrenching, where I had become attached to the experience I was getting with this nameless person.Journey is all the more powerful without ‘mechanics’ – more people can enjoy it, and mechanics don’t get in the way of what it’s trying to portray. It’s my fave game of the year, and can’t help you missed the point. Maybe for the sake of it? 

  • Superslug

     Fair enough, however if Journey is an attempt at being art rather than entertainment is it fair to review it as entertainment just because most other things controlled with a dualshock are entertainment?

    Because this is the internet I feel I should point out I mean that as a genuine question that I do not have an answer for.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jj-Barrington/22605751 J.j. Barrington

    You should stop reviewing games. Troll or whatever, I honestly don’t care. But reviewing is definitely not one of your strengths.

  • APirateArrgh

    Tom – kind of sorry you didn’t enjoy the game as much as some of the rest of us.  I was actively looking forward to this game and was not disappointed.  But it is relatively more linear than I expected.  I wouldn’t have minded the ability to wander a bit more aimlessly in any direction, which I remember was one of my earliest guesses about the game when it was first announced.

    That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Journey. The first time largely alone. The second time primarily with a companion. And the third time with the same companion the entire game.  

    One of the lines, I think from the G4 review that encapsulated the online experience the best was a line where the reviewer states that with the online play you’ll see players being the most human to others.  Especially when compared to online play in almost any other game (there are a few others – like Lil Big Planet).  In my second playthrough I went falling off the side of the mountain and my companion followed after me to help me back up the back way. He could have continued on – there was no shame in that. But he followed me down even though we couldn’t climb back up that way. 

    Personally, I like the initial impression of vastness in the game (even if the sandbox we play in isnt quite as vast as the vistas imply).  I like the discovery of the cloth creatures and the kite like creatures and the implied story buried underneath it all that we all get to glimpse – like the fallen civilization buried under the sand. I like that we have mechancial cloth dragon beasts that are actually terrifying and devestating and unbeatable by your tiny little journeyer.  And I like the implications about where the dragon beasts actually came from — but the story is open to interpretation.

    While the “game” elements are possibly thinner than other games — the platforming isn’t hard and the game play is fairly linear.  When you start exploring and looking for hidden things, there’s a bit of looking around to do. I think what is resonating more with people is the story itself.  If you want more gaming, than you’re possibly going to be disappointed especially if you’re also not resonating with the story.   But for some the story or the experience is as much a part of the game as the gameplay. 

    I enjoy Journey.  Perhaps more than I enjoy Flower.  Flow – didn’t like at all.  I enjoy Journey for what it is and for what it isn’t.  For me, it was the right balance.

    But its also not going to be that for everyone.  I liked the review. I disagree ;)  At least I play Ascension obsessively. 

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