- In A Class All Of Its Own
I had heard a few things about Journey before playing it, but nothing could have prepared me for this game. It truly is in a class all of its own, from the very start.
You begin your "journey" as a red robed figure wandering through, what I can only imagine, are tombstones. You come across flying red and gold pieces of cloth who grant you the temporary magical ability to fly. The longer you travel in this world the more likely you'll find ruins, other magical entities, and floating powers to extend the length of your character's scarf to lengthen how long you can fly.
Along the way the player will encounter other travelers just like themselves, and the only means of communication are little musical notes. I found not knowing who the other players were made the game play experience better and much more fun than being unlucky enough to hear some little kid yelling into his mic, like with a lot of other online games. Only at the end of your "journey", in the credits, will you be able to see the list of the people you have met along the way. It can't really be explained in words how cool it was to help each other out and cheer in victory throughout each section of the game. It really has to be played.
The music is relaxing and heart racing, and the visuals show the unlimitness potential of the human imagination.
By the middle of the game I was surprised and impressed. The ending was the best reward at the end of wandering.
If you got to the end with another player) you and the other player walked forward towards the end of the cavern and it got closer together, your two forms seems to merge as you were forced to walk in front of the other. As the credits played and your robed figure was flown back from the mountain to the start of the map, I have to admit...some idiot left onions in my room.
My take on the ending is that the "journey" is finding peace of mind and potentially enlightenment. When your character reaches the beginning of the game again, it doesn't show you where they land, and I took it as each robed figure that reaches the mountain passes on to another life. When they do, a tombstone is placed as a reminder to new travelers of success. That's why the cycle continues infinitely.
Journey is a simple game, yet complex because it doesn't have instructions and makes you take in everything around you. It just goes to show that fancy cgi graphics and words aren't everything.
If you want to experience this game for yourself, it is a PS3 exclusive on the PlayStation Network.