Journey
Are games Art? It’s practically impossible to talk about a game like Journey without this old argument being brought up. I would always say yes and add the likes of Ocarina of Time, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Killer 7 and Okami to my list of examples when making my argument. May as well add Journey to that list because there is no way this game could not be considered Art.
Journey is presented beautifully and would hold its own against any work of art. But then there seems to be a problem with games that are Art. Ocarina and Okami aside games which are considered to be Art seem come up short as games in my opinion. Journey is no exception to this.
I’m going to start by comparing Journey to Shadow of the Colossus. Awesome as SotC is it is nothing more than 16 glorified boss fights on a dull, empty landscape. The only reason to explore is to find collectibles and there is very little stopping you. There are no basic enemies, no dungeons, no platforming, it’s just you on a horse following a beam of light to the next boss.
What does this have to do with Journey? Well set SotC in a desert and take away your horse and the 16 bosses and what are you left with? A dull, empty landscape devoid of anything to do but find collectibles. This is sadly Journey in a nutshell.
Essentially my problem with Journey is there is no challenge, no real puzzles, no road blocks to get by just practically empty desert ruins. It almost seems like there might be a threat but it’s so easy to avoid you never really put yourself in danger. There is no risk, only what the developers intended as a reward.
It is very good at letting you work out where to go but that’s only because you can’t do much else. Trophies bring a couple of challenges to do but most are centred on completing the journey, interacting with random people and finding collectibles.
There is only one part that sticks out in my mind as being a challenge and that is ruined by Journey’s other big problem. When you load up you are asked to agree to some terms and conditions. This is to allow you to interact with other players that are randomly dropped into your game.
There are two problems with this. One not everybody wants to play with random people online and two there is no way to turn this off once you accept. If you are signed in online people will be dropped into your game, whether you want them or not.
Back to that challenge one of the trophies asks you to cross a bridge without restoring it. You can jump higher and longer the more collectibles you pick up. Restoring the bridge is relatively simple and anyone in your game can do it.
This becomes a problem when a random stranger restores the bridge while you’re going for the trophy. You don’t get told who it is, there’s no way to communicate with them, you can be screwed out of a trophy (which is one of only three that are a challenge) through no fault of your own, purely because the game forces random people in your game.
Seriously options are not a bad thing, there’s no excuse for a stop people joining your game option.
Finally the journey itself is really short and can be completed in a single sitting. There is little incentive to do it again besides finding all collectibles.
Really Journey is a game that is all style and very little substance. A fine example of a work of art but as a game it leaves much to be desired. I also can’t get over the forced co-op play.
5/10
Journey is presented beautifully and would hold its own against any work of art. But then there seems to be a problem with games that are Art. Ocarina and Okami aside games which are considered to be Art seem come up short as games in my opinion. Journey is no exception to this.
I’m going to start by comparing Journey to Shadow of the Colossus. Awesome as SotC is it is nothing more than 16 glorified boss fights on a dull, empty landscape. The only reason to explore is to find collectibles and there is very little stopping you. There are no basic enemies, no dungeons, no platforming, it’s just you on a horse following a beam of light to the next boss.
What does this have to do with Journey? Well set SotC in a desert and take away your horse and the 16 bosses and what are you left with? A dull, empty landscape devoid of anything to do but find collectibles. This is sadly Journey in a nutshell.
Essentially my problem with Journey is there is no challenge, no real puzzles, no road blocks to get by just practically empty desert ruins. It almost seems like there might be a threat but it’s so easy to avoid you never really put yourself in danger. There is no risk, only what the developers intended as a reward.
It is very good at letting you work out where to go but that’s only because you can’t do much else. Trophies bring a couple of challenges to do but most are centred on completing the journey, interacting with random people and finding collectibles.
There is only one part that sticks out in my mind as being a challenge and that is ruined by Journey’s other big problem. When you load up you are asked to agree to some terms and conditions. This is to allow you to interact with other players that are randomly dropped into your game.
There are two problems with this. One not everybody wants to play with random people online and two there is no way to turn this off once you accept. If you are signed in online people will be dropped into your game, whether you want them or not.
Back to that challenge one of the trophies asks you to cross a bridge without restoring it. You can jump higher and longer the more collectibles you pick up. Restoring the bridge is relatively simple and anyone in your game can do it.
This becomes a problem when a random stranger restores the bridge while you’re going for the trophy. You don’t get told who it is, there’s no way to communicate with them, you can be screwed out of a trophy (which is one of only three that are a challenge) through no fault of your own, purely because the game forces random people in your game.
Seriously options are not a bad thing, there’s no excuse for a stop people joining your game option.
Finally the journey itself is really short and can be completed in a single sitting. There is little incentive to do it again besides finding all collectibles.
Really Journey is a game that is all style and very little substance. A fine example of a work of art but as a game it leaves much to be desired. I also can’t get over the forced co-op play.
5/10
posted by Master hunter at 1:42 pm
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