Controversy Corner: Is Journey Really All That Good?

James O'Connor of MMGN: I find myself at the end of 2012, looking over lists of nominations before pulling people aside quietly and asking ‘I’m not the only one who didn’t think Journey was all that special, right?’, only for them to mutter something about having to go to the bathroom and quietly making themselves scarce, clearly shaking with rage. I liked Journey. It’s beautiful and quietly lovely in sections. But I did not love it, nor have I quite been able to come to terms with the ways in which everyone else seems to have loved it.

[Irishguy95]

It's dependent on who you are and who you partner up with.

Well lets see then.

To the Author, imo - the game can only truly be played the way it was meant to be on the first play through, since it's short and has only one way to finish it etc.

You say you were alone in it, it's simply tough luck. The experience was ruined by that and you'll never experience the game like I did, I agree doing the game alone would be dull, I played it once this morning and probably will not play it again (I doubt I will have the same enjoyment as doing it my first time with some guy called "Stuntman1234589" or something like that/some different numbers). I don't know if this game deserves Goty...due to the facts you mention, it could be quite dull doing it alone and it is dependent on that aspect. I had a great time with it anyway, but even at that...I don't think I could ever give something like this Goty, it's too unique, it's not much a of a game even. Hard for me to explain.

With that said, I recommend this to every gamer or...anyone even, try this game, my experience was worth much more than 12 Euro I can tell you that. If you don't get a person on the second level...restart the game

[KangarooSam]

Full SPOILERS below:

I disagree (although I won't click it). I didn't get into multiplayer until I went underground and I have to say, experiencing a vast open world all by yourself (and a few cloth creatures) gave a surreal feeling of living life on your own, kind of a "everyone's on their own journey" metaphor. Then when someone joined me I worked my way up that tower building what felt to be a strong relationship.

After all of our hardships together I lost him in the snow and was compelled to figure it out and complete the game by myself.

To me, it was a feeling that people will come and go from your life, great friendships will fade away, but in the end we all make it through the troubles and joy of life.

Funny thing is, after my descent I discovered I'd played with 7 different people and hadn't even noticed. Anyway, my Journey was special and it's been a couple weeks so after slaying some gods I think I'll get back to my Journey to him. ;)

[onandonandon]

Nah, I played through it on my own 1st ignoring others and loved it

[Riderz1337]

Yes.

[smashcrashbash]

Yes. Yes it is.That is like asking if Flower was good and the answer would still be yes it was.

[Veneno]

I felt Flower was a better game. The gameplay, music, presentation were all superior in my opinion.

*puts on helmet*

[cervantes99]

Journey was great, but Flower was better in my opinion too.

Both are fantastic and NEED to be played by all.

[rbailey]

To quote Daniel Bryan YES!!! YES!!! YES !!!

[Ezz2013]

YES!!! YES!!! YES !!! YES!!! YES!!! YES !!! YES!!! YES!!! YES !!! YES!!! YES!!! YES !!! YES!!! YES!!! YES !!!

even Daniel Bryan was about to scream NO!!!
but then he saw journey ..@_@

[Sp1d3ynut]

It's funny...your girlfriend was quoting Daniel Bryan just last night.

EDIT: @ below... LOL, touche'. :D

[360ICE]

That was Daniel Bryan. Get tested.

[PureSophistry]

No.

[Drekken]

I'm with you on this one. $15 for one hour of wtf...

[coolasj]

The 3 or 4 hours I spent playing with 2 different people were amazing. We both had a feeling of mystery and cautiousness. That experience will never happen again. And I'm okay with that.

[fermcr]

In all honesty, didn't buy it when it came out, but played it for 30 min couple of weeks ago at a friend's, got bored. I can't see what's all the fuss about. It's just not my type of game.

[Blackdeath_663]

this game strikes genuine emotion just with they way you interact with the environment and the people you play with. people who were unaffected by this can't seem to see the point of the game. i think the people who heard about this game being goty and were expecting some sort of great experience are likely to have been disappointed whereas the people who played the game early on out of curiosity would have had a wonderful journey doing so (no pun intended) or at least thats my theory anyway. regardless if you liked the game or not the money would have been well spent on the absolutely amazing soundtrack the game has, if anything journey could at least be a relaxing musical experience that is also interactive. for me this is definitely my GOTY

[KongRudi]

I tought it were fantastic. :)

Storywise, it depends alot on your own imagination, imagine a good story from the clues, it have a good story.
Imagine a bad story, it has a bad story.
The coop is also similar, imagine a good friend, your playing with a good friend.
Also the recharge jump-scarf function by sticking close to your friend is genious, it encourages people to stick together.

It gives you lots of memorable experiences both good and bad, but the bad ones never outweighs the good ones.
It's allmost impossible to grief someone, youre expeperience is allways shaped by your own experience, not on the other persons, but you work with other people.
One of the worst thing on one of my playtrues, were when one of the warmachines threw me far away from my friend in the windy snowy mountains - and I knew I'd atleast take a minute or so, to get back up to my friend.
I could see him stand and watch down on me, before turning and continuing his journey, I were devastated that he didn't wait for me.
I couldn't believe he left me, I just sat in the snow for 3 or 4 minutes, then some new dude with a huge scarf struggeling up the mountain, I chirped.
And saw him make a beeline towards me, I were so happy.
Everything were great again.

The sense of comraderie is the main thing wich makes this game special, compared to other games, were something usually happens to break the illusion.
In the start of the game with the desert, it's a lonely place and it introduces friends, just when you're lonely and the game has lots of good coop-functions, to reward you to play together. :)

[Davoh]

When the game was first announced and details were popping up about it, I imagined a near endless environment where you would travel, explore and uncover things, etc., and then in the distance you might notice another player. You'd enjoy this momentary companionship in the desolate landscape, be able to achieve things previously unachievable, and before you know it you'd both end up lost again until another encounter with someone else.
But instead we got a linear single player game which tbh is only special the first time you play it.

[Psychonaughty]

Exactly, I can't believe people are still raving about such a small and linear game, yeah it was beautiful but that does not make it goty material (maybe artstyle of the year). Dark Souls, now that's a game worth raving about for years to come.

[AznGaara]

Journey is an AMAZING game my Game of the Year but honestly it depends on the person and the situation. I experienced it alone with headphones on. No expectations. No distractions. It was honestly mind blowing how I felt at the end. But like I said, it all depends on who you are.

[Y_5150]

At first I was very cautious about this game, thinking it was overpriced but I bought it anyways! It was worth it. Really the only word that best describes the game is it's own title...Journey.

[goldwyncq]

Good but not the masterpiece that some people makes it out to be. Little big planet, Day Z, and Dark Souls have more innovative multiplayer experiences imo.

[Redempteur]

"My first playthrough was mostly done alone, with no fellow travellers popping up to share the trip, and it made me realise that there was a certain emptiness to the game."

and that's exactly how it works ..it's supposed to be lonely and feel empty when you travel such desolate roads with no partner and no one to show you the way and that's why journey works because your feelign change depending on how you experience the "journey"

Like it or not journey is a game that heavily change any player attitude when you've got a partner to play with

[sdozzo]

Agree with the masses or be harpooned.

[NBT91]

It's not a bad game any way you slice it.
Whether its "that" good will only depend on the person playing it but the game is well made in both its visuals, artistic style, charm and wonderful soundtrack.

[isa_scout]

I loved the game, but for some reason when I played it made be depressed, like I was a loner or something. Then when I'd find someone to play with they'd run off and leave me all by myself, I actually wondered, "What the hell is wrong with me, and why don't these a holes want to be my friend?" Games that make you feel emotions like that are few and far between, and that's why Journey was so amazing!!!

[from the beach]

Journey is a divisive game and no-one should feel pressured into saying positive things about it ... it's already been destroyed by some of the most astute critics so the writer here is far from alone.

[trovski123]

Journey is soooooo good!!!!

[cervantes99]

This game invokes an emotional response that very few games can. The game has two personalities - solo isolation and co-op partnership. I actually felt the need to help my co-op partner - kind of like a big brother or parent to a child.

Never felt that way in a game before.

[ginsunuva]

Journey is like a pH test: it separates the intellectual from the simple-minded.

[Blacklash93]

It depends on what you're expecting going in and if you can recognize and appretiate what a game like Journey is trying to do.

I found the game very beautiful, soothing, and strangely touching (I was kind of confused why I teared up a little at the end). Some will agree with me, some won't. Journey isn't for everyone and the many articles like this are examples of that. All we can really do is respect each other's opinions.

[smashcrashbash]

Most people hated it because you weren't blowing up everything in sight and that it was calm and controlled and depended on emotion and imagination.The same reason why people hated Flower. Any escape from destroying and killing and maiming everything is always bad to many people.Even if it was longer people would still have put it down for having no death or bloody killing in it or being boring. People play shooters whose SP is over in a flash and they aren't even as deep or emotional as Journey or Flower were but you won't find anyone calling them boring or complaining about length.I don't know who gamers think they are fooling.Am I really supposed to believe that you would want to play Journey or Flower doing what you are doing for ten or twenty hours and then you would say it was a good game? Please. You would just say that it was a boring ten hour game instead of a boring one hour game.Do you know how hard it is to portray a story for long periods of time without words or strong visual cues or emotion? People who do that with animation can barely do it for five or ten minutes but you expect a game to do it for several hours? Explain exactly how you would do that and keep the player entertained.