My Journey into Journey

User Rating: 8.5 | Journey PS3
By Flambemoi | Review Date:
I rarely buy games off of the Playstation network, but for some reason this one seemed to be calling my name. I don't know exactly what I was looking for or what I was expecting, but I had a good feeling about the game. It seemed...peaceful and calming. Just the kind of game I needed after playing battlefield 3 or after a long hard day at work (I work downtown so the concrete jungle is my world). After a seamless download and quick install, I was presented with a barren/deserted/lonely screen, only one button: Start Journey. So, I started my "Journey". First of all, I recommend playing this on a larger TV with surround sound pumped up. The landscapes and scenery are amazing. My first reaction was "wow, the PS3 can render a lot of sand!". The Journey starts off with visual instructional cues, such as twist the controller to look around, press circle button to release an audible note from your character etc... But that's about it. The rest of the game you discover on your own....well, you think you are alone until you see glimmer of white light, then you see figure off in the distance that looks like you dressed in a red robe and a red scarf. At first, you think, hmmm...I wonder if all the NPCs look like this in the game. Then you wonder....is this an NPC or a real person?! There is no visual indication that it's a real online live person, no name, no voice chat, just an audible musical note that seems to respond and reply to my audible notes. So, we journey together...the more we journey together the more I realize that it's a real person. There is no way that AI could be programed to interact with me in these ways. We soon developed our own way of communicating with each other, louder audible notes (achieved by holding down the circle button for longer) became words such as "Hey! look over here" or "watch out!" Smaller notes became "yes" and "no" and "let's go" or "I'm ok". During the Journey you will learn about the barren landscape and what happened to all it's inhabitants. I don't want to spoil it so that's all I will say about that. But I will say that the Journey seemed very short to me. But it was worth three or four play throughs to discover everything in the game.

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and enjoyed the peaceful calm slow pace that it offered. It really was an emotional journey that has to be played to be appreciated.

DZZ

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