Journey

Journey is the kind of “artsy” that makes sense in its own unique way.  Think of poetry, it does not mean the same to everyone and it is most definitely not for all audiences.  Your goal is to reach a large mountain in the distance, you will have to solve a few not-so-tedious puzzles along the way.  The tasks are pretty simple to begin with and the solutions are pretty clean-cut once you get in the groove of things.  The game might look slightly intimidating to hardcore gamers but that is just because their brains are not capable of working on an abstract level, I’m joking but people really say stuff like that.  Your beautiful journey will take you through various ruins of a long lost culture, the things you find among them will guide you as you progress.  Progress, meaning running around in the sand,  and possibly enjoying the sunlight with some ambient music going steady in the background.

I’m not a scarf person but, you might not be either but they are just another one of those sweet, soft pieces of this game that you can’t ignore.  Crimson fabric flowing in the breeze like drooping puppy ears with symbols marked on them is my idea of decoration.  At the beginning of Journey you will gain ownership of a scarf that is way more useful than your smart phone.  It gets longer, if it is magically charged you will be able to fly to get into those annoying little places that you might come across from time to time.  They are almost just as friendly as dogs too, rubbing up against your twig-like legs or just hugging you real tight when they are just glad to see you!

If the ambient music is not enough you can always sing.  Singing in Journey is used as a form of communication with the landscape or most importantly between you and your identical companion.  Your companion seems to appear naturally as you move on through the different areas of the game, this mysterious traveler remains largely anonymous but that only adds to the subtle allure of Journey.  It’s a different story if you’re playing co-op and the random person is a hippie talking about how “trippy” the graphics are though.  You will be able to tell, trust me.

The controls are admirably simple and rely on your horror-movie impulses that will shout out “I wonder what’s up with that mountain?” which works just fine considering that mountain is the only obvious destination.  The fact is, there is only so much one can say about a piece of art that can be interpreted in several different ways by many different people.  Journey certainly is a fresh take on gaming in an industry ran on action-packed shooters right now. Despite its unique approach the game has found a way into the imaginations of many.  Journey lives up to its name at the end of the day by taking  players on an adventure that can resonate and stay with them for a long time after it is all over.