Anime Reviews ⇢ Journey
Journey
Average Rating: 10 / 10

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Ratings: 1
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Content Overview
Violence: 2 / 10
Nudity: 1 / 10
Theo Theme: 1 / 10
Neg Theme: 1 / 10

Brief Description:
Journey is a video game that follows a robed figure journeying through a desert towards a mountain in the distance. Along the way the player can meet other players on the same journey. The two players can assist each other, but cannot communicate via speech or text and are not shown each others' names until after completion. It was released by Thatgamecompany for the Playstation 3 in 2012 and is rated E for Everyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(2012_video_game)
User Reviews
05/14/2012: Peanut [ Already Rated ]

I’m not what would be considered an emotional guy. I do have emotions, obviously, but I’m not the type of guy to show them. I also usually am not really moved by things that move other people. Things like movies, music, and books don’t really move me to tears even if they are heart wrenching for other people. I’m saying all of this to let you know that I’m not the type of guy who cries or usually comes close to being moved to tears by things when it comes to pieces of media except for a few exceptions. One of these exceptions is Journey, a game released Thatgamecompany for the PS3.
Graphically, the game is stunning. The character designs are iconic and the land scapes you wonder through are truly beautiful. The game is also very colorful which comes as a nice break from the gritty, browness (and browness is the best term to describe it) of other games on the market. This game probably contains the best use of the cell-shaded style of graphics to date and it makes you wonder why more games don’t make use of it. Certain scenes that stick out include skiing (if it could be called skiing) on a river of sand at sunset and the final part of the climb to the top of the mountain. Add in the amazing orchestral soundtrack to the game, and what you get are some jaw droppingly beautiful moments that will stick in your memory for a long time.
You play a person (thing?) in a red cloak who sees a shooting star fly past a mountain while wondering in the desert. You decide to take a journey to this mountain to see what’s going on and that’s the game. It sounds simple and, when you’re introduced to the controls, you can confirm that its simple. The only two things you can do is jump and “sing.” Singing lets you solve certain puzzles and communicate with people along the way. This along with the fact that you can’t die makes Journey an incredibly easy game to pick up for anyone. In other games, this could be seen as something to criticize. However, in Journey it adds to its appeal and fulfills the goal of the game to take the player on a journey. Even so you might be wondering what the appeal of a game like this is. After all, there is no real challenge in beating it. Two things take Journey from being an incredibly simple game of little note to an almost life changing experience (and I’m not exaggerating about that).
The first is the way it tells its story. Journey manages to immerse the player into its world by letting you see it and experience it. You see it because the cutscenes contain no voice acting or anything to read. You are simply shown some still scenes painted on a wall before you while a tall, white robed figure stands over you. What you make of this is up to you but, by the end, you see that your character fits into this grand story that’s been presented and the purpose for your Journey makes sense. Speaking of your Journey, you experience that part of the story yourself as you travel ever onward towards your goal which is, quite literally, looming off in the distance. You encounter every hardship your character encounters and, while there is no “threat” it doesn’t feel that way. You really get the sense that you could fail to reach your goal and, at one point, it even seems like your Journey has ended in failure. Added to the soundtrack, this gives the game its major emotional punch and keeps you enwrapped in what’s going on with the characters.
Which brings me to the second thing and that’s the way Journey handles co-op. If you’re PS3 is connected to the internet, you will occasionally run into fellow travelers called by the same mysterious white robed figures to the same mountain. These are controlled by other players around the world whose names you do not find out until the end of your journey. In fact, you can’t even communicate with them except by “singing.” On the surface, this sounds like it would be source of frustration but in practice it creates the exact opposite environment and actually brings the players closer together. There are plenty of stories out on the web highlighting this and, I have to say that Journey is probably the most civil multiplayer game out there. Even if you cause another player to lose their impressive scarf, they’ll still help you to progress through the game which is highly unusual for any game. In fact, from my own experience as well as the experiences of others, I would go so far to say that Journey is the completely devoid of the trolling and griefing that typically plagues multiplayer games where cooperation are required.
Journey is rare achievement in gaming and does its best to present this medium as a legitimate form of art. It's well made, incredibly moving and is one of the most unique experiences in gaming out there. If you own a PS3, buy this game and play it. You’ll be blown away with what you find. If you don’t have a PS3 but believe that video games are a legitimate form of art, then buy a PS3 and play this game. You probably won’t find a better example of that idea anywhere else. If you just like video games and want a unique experience, then pick up Journey. You won’t regret it.


Violence- There is a monster which appears that tries to eat the scarf on your character and that’s it.

Nudity- No Nudity

Theo- Nothing negative of note.

Negative- Nothing negative of note.

Added: May, 2012