Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Journey

I finally got to play Journey. For reference, I think Flower is one of my favorite games, so I had high hopes for Journey as well.

I liked it. I thought it was fun and cute, like an experimental Disney film. Occasionally it was beautiful. I loved seeing the terminal mountain in the background. Like Flower, the musical cues were gorgeous and perfectly authored to keep themes dropping in and out at thematically appropriate times.

However, these horrible players kept popping into my game. They were unable to keep up with me even as I carefully explored all corners of the screen, and I ended up leaving them behind. I guess some other people had really great experiences with these mysterious figures who join their games, but I got people who just mashed the chirp button and ran around in circles and off cliffs. I felt a little bad about abandoning one person in the snowfields after we kept each other warm through tempestuous snowstorms, but uh, he ran right into a dragon’s line of sight. It’s like, why did you think the pipes were placed in the level? You’re supposed to hide and time it, not charge ahead and hope for the best.