I'm sure you've heard plenty already, so I'm here to tell you it's great and you should buy it. It's beautiful, it's fun, and it has replay value.

Trailer.

I have always been a fan of story telling through imagery, and this game nails it. Hell, it goes beyond that. Even the game mechanics help tell the story. Honestly it makes me sad it is ps3 exclusive. It deserves a wider audience.

 

Sounds cool. I've been seriously thinking about getting it anyway from what I saw of the trailer, so this recommendation probably swung it for me.

 

As breathtaking as thatgamecompany's art style is, their games are super fucking weird, generally don't have any sort of intriguing plotline, and aren't challenging in the slightest.

Quite frankly, if I was going to force myself to play a repetitive exploration game that beats you about the head with expansive scenery, it would be Shadow of the Colossus... not this.

 

You shut your whore mouth about SotC. Easily one of the best games on the PS2, and you obviously didn't play it, or you wouldn't be saying jackshit against it.

Go play it. I don't care if you "force" yourself to play it, because I guarantee you that you'll be coming back to play it after the first time, and you won't have to "force" yourself.

 

I've played it, son. That was my point. Was saying that if I had to play an exploration game, I would rather run around and topple giant forest monsters than run around a desert doing virtually nothing.

 

Oh, then we're cool.

 

Yeah... it's very tryhard, and doesn't really infuse the elements that made Shadow of the Colossus so great. Imagery is only one part, but an inkling of the plot, the characters, the presence of something to do are all important to emotion. How less effective would the game be without the colossi, Agro, the woman who's in enchanted sleep?

It looks great and it's a very politically correct idea to hail it as innovative and artistic, but it's a poser.

 

I really loved the game. For me all the appeal lies in the co-op aspect. Everything feels incredibly isolated and lonely when you're by yourself, so when someone appeared I always got super fucking excited and ran up to them mashing the circle button. All the emotion of the game comes from this, working together with someone despite absolutely no communication, and the bond you can still form despite this limitation. The way the flight system works in regards to co-op is awesome too, if you work together you can fly indefinitely.

I don't understand why it's being compared to SotC at all, they're not remotely similar aside from being brought up in the 'games are art' debates.

 

The exploration thing is also key in both of them. Also, I think one of my favorite parts of the co-op aspect is when you find someone, and you both seamlessly work together to figure out a puzzle or how to get to one of those power-up glyphs.

And something that I really like about the co-op in this game; there's no names, no communication, just you and somebody else working together to figure out that area you're in.

Also, surfing on the sand as well as flying is fun. Surfing on the sand really reminded me of one of my favorite games - 1080: Avalanche on the Gamecube for those interested - which is also why I'm planning on picking up SSX, but that's beside the point. This game is not art because of the story or the graphics or anything else.

This game is art because you and someone you don't even know are working together towards a common goal, with no communication, and that's the beauty of it.

 

Finished it last week and took some time to think about it. Journey proves that games can be art if the developers start to make their ideas come true and not listen to corporate overlords who want another Call of Duty that sells bazillion copies in a week.

This game is pure show, don't tell. The player creates the story. After finishing it, I went on the internet and read about other people experiences - every one of them had a different interpretation of this story. From a wheel of life to nightmarish, eternal time loop.

Music in this game makes it a wonderful experience - it has the same feel as music from Flower.

Basically, if you own a PS3 and have some spare funds, just buy it.

 

I did some research on thatgamecompany, mostly because I loved Journey and was considering picking up Flower and flOw, and apparently when they make a game, they design it around a feeling, instead of an idea or an experience. I think more companies should do that, because Journey did evoke feelings throughout the gameplay for me. I was anxious in the caverns or when those faggy dragon-things were around, and I felt a real sense of awe at all of the environments.

And the music in these games... the final level took my breath away, in look, feel, and the music. My parents commented on what it sounded like.