Journey's Unique Multiplayer

Multiplayer in video games is a very interesting thing. For some games, it's the one of the primary draws. This is especially true of racing games, sports games, fighting games, and shooters. In those contexts, it's competitive, the various players are working against each other and only one player (or team) can win. I typically am not a fan of that type of multiplayer, but there has been a title or two in days past that have drawn my attention.

Multiplayer can also be of the cooperative variety, where the different players assist each other to accomplish tasks. In some games, the cooperative multiplayer is separate from the single-player part of the game. Sometimes that means a separate set of missions. Sometimes that means that the cooperative part is stored on a separate save. However it's done, multiplayer has always something that the player opts into. A choice is made at some point, they either select a menu option to take part in multiplayer or they tell their friend to pick up the other controller and join them.

Journey is a very unique game in many ways, but one of those ways is in its approach to multiplayer. For one, the only way to opt out of the multiplayer would be to forcibly disconnect your system from the internet. You see, after you have completed the introductory section, which literally teaches you the five things that you need to know about for the duration of the game, the game will find another, random player who is at the same point in the game as you and decide that you will play together. A white mark will appear on the edge of the screen that is typical of so many games to indicate that there is something of interest in that direction. When you turn the camera to it you will find someone else who looks almost exactly like you.

Your clothing becomes more detailed as you accumulate trophies and the gold accents crawl up it.

If you didn't know it was another player you might think it was an NPC. You can't type or talk to each other and aren't shown the other player's name. The only ways that you have to communicate are through your actions, which are limited to movement and singing. Some accounts I've seen so far have talked about how they communicated with the other player. One such account said that they adapted to echoing two short chirps for "Ready?" and "I'm ready."

It's a very interesting experience. On my first playthrough I had two companions with me for my journey. The first went away after the first section but I got a new one just as I started the second section. Working together, flying around, and solving puzzles together made it a unique experience, like two children playing together even though neither can talk yet. We explored and made our way to the top of the mountain together. Sometimes we would go our separate ways and get separated, eventually not being able to see each other. If that happened, one of us would sing out a loud note which would inform the other of our location, and the other would respond and we would move towards each other.

Deserts are only in the beginning of the game.

In my second playthrough, I wanted to spend more time exploring. This meant that I would often run away from my partner to look at things, and they wouldn't wait for me. I wouldn't have waited for me either. So I spent a good amount of time in the game without somebody with me. It completely transforms the experience. It makes you feel alone. The world in Journey is not an inviting one. At it's best it's neutral about your presence and becomes hostile towards the end. Having somebody else there with you, to experience what you're experiencing, makes the entire gameplay experience different.

Furthermore, since there's no way to talk to one another, you can't harass the other player. You can't grief them. You can't inconvenience them. There aren't any tasks that you can't complete yourself, so you can't even let the other person down. Those who do fear potential harassment, at the end of a playthrough, after the credits roll, the game does tell you the names of everyone you played with.

One thing that I find particularly interesting is that as you gain trophies (the PS3's version of achievements), your character's robe becomes more ornate. Because of this your robe acts as a sort of indicator of your knowledge of the game. None of the trophies have a prohibiting skill requirement, they're pretty much all about finding things. So if you see someone whose robe is particularly adorned, then they know where much of the game's things are and just might show you where they are. In fact, as of this writing, I'm one trophy away from having all of them, and that trophy requires that I spend a week not playing the game. Once I have that, I'll have earned the platinum trophy and I plan on going through the game showing other players where things are, and hopefully they'll pass the knowledge on themselves.

Playing Journey has been a fascinating experience in more ways than way. It has really challenged ideas that I've had about multiplayer, storytelling, and achievements. I'm very curious about how the concepts used in it could be put in other games. Could Journey's anonymous multiplayer be put to good use in other games, such as cooperative shooters? What about a game, such as a shooter, where you "sign up" for various missions and the game picks a random partner for you to play with. Turn off the friendly fire and the ability to communicate and you could potentially have a rewarding experience. It's an interesting thought, and it's something that I really hope to see some day again in the future.

Lumines and Super Stardust Delta Impressions

Click for full size w/ double the vertical and horizontal resolution.

Super Stardust Delta
Super Stardust Delta is the followup to one of my personal PSN favorites, Super Stardust HD. Super Stardust (of both varieties) is a twin-stick shooter like the immensely popular Geometry Wars but instead of being played in a bounded rectangular area it is instead played on a sphere, meaning that the player (and the enemies) cannot get trapped in a corner. Super Stardust HD featured three main weapons as well as a bomb and boost capability. Super Stardust Delta has brought that down to two main weapons and has added the Black Hole and the Missile Strike which are activated by touching either the touch screen or the rear touch panel.

One of my major problems with Super Stardust HD was the lackluster boss battles. When the bosses for the later levels were two of earlier bosses, you know you have a problem. SSD has really stepped up the boss battles to be interesting, fun, and different. Furthermore, reducing the number of weapons to two (Gold Melter and Ice Splitter; now called 'fire' and 'ice') was a great decision because Rock Crusher and Ice Splitter were basically the same thing. Ice Splitter just had a narrower spread and a longer range.
I haven't had a great opportunity yet to try out the new special weapons, Black Hole and Missile Strike, but I'm definitely finding an increased usefulness for boost, especially since it doesn't consume your special moves anymore.

The game also includes several minigames to play around with the features of the system. The first game I tried had waves of asteroids fall and in order to break them up, one must press on both the front and rear touch screen to squeeze them to pieces. This was a simple enough minigame and was fairly neat.

The second minigame had me using the front touch screen to move around a blue disc. The object was to avoid being hit with red enemies while killing the blue enemies. The large problem with this is that having my finger over the screen obscured my vision, which is all too critical for a game Super Stardust, especially when you are red/green colorblind. There are more minigames of varying quality, but the real fun is with the main game.

The music tracks are remixed versions of the Super Stardust HD tracks and that's a good thing. They've retained their high quality and addictiveness in the transition to the Vita. The game allows you to play each level individually or back-to-back in the main mode, it also has three difficulties and allows you to play the game in a "Pure" style, as in without the Missile Strike or the Black Hole abilities. All in all, Super Stardust Delta is a much better game than Super Stardust HD and any Vita owner who enjoyed the original or who just enjoys shooting things should definitely give this newer installment a try.

Note: I highly recommend going into the menu and remapping the controls so that the back touch screen doesn't do anything. You will thank me when you don't get hand cramps from trying to avoid touching the back screen. Normally this isn't a problem but since the action in the game lasts so long and is constant, it becomes quite the issue.

Click for full size.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony
Ah, Lumines. Lumines was the game that caused me to want an original PSP, and was the only game that I bought for it at launch. That little game and I have spent so much good time together. From the moment I started it and "Shinin'" by Mondo Grosso started playing I knew that I was in love. Fighting, making my way to the end so that I could hear "Lights" was a journey, and a difficult one at that. I've also enjoyed Lumines II and Lumines Supernova.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony is another entry in the Lumines stable of games . There are a few things that it does differently. To begin, the special chain block doesn't require the formation of a square to activate, it just needs an adjacent square of the same color. This makes it easier to use, but it will often be used at times when you're rather save it. There is also a new shuffle block that when it lands will randomize the color of each block that is connected to it. I haven't been in a 'late-game' situation yet where I've had too many block on the screen. However, I imagine that if I get into one, this block will greatly help me bring that down.

Another interesting addition to the game is the introduciton of avatar abilities. In the past, Lumines has allowed you to select an avatar to represent yourself. However, the avatar has been purely cosmetic. However, in this installment, each avatar has a special ability that can be used when it is charged up. The abilities charges depending upon your performance. The standard avatar ability makes the next piece have a chain in one of its blocks. I haven't actually played around with other avatars yet, but I definitely look forward to seeing what the other ones can do. Avatar abilities are activated by using the touch screen to tap the picture of your avatar and they differ between single- and multi-player modes, for balance.

The other important component to Lumines is the music. In past games, I've found that the best skins are the ones were based on licensed songs. Lumines: Electronic Symphony seems to have realized this and has included a wide assortment of licensed music to base skins on. As such, the music in L:ES is very good. It tends to be more in the foreground than in previous games, but I consider that a good thing. Past music in the games sometimes just felt like a collection of sound effects that were triggered by your actions. Now every song has a good driving theme supported by great effects.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony  is a great game that I wholeheartedly recommend if you own a PlayStation Vita.

If only this song were in it:

Games and Love: Shadow of the Colossus

This is my first post for Critical Distance's Blogs of the Round Table for February. The theme for February is Love. For this post I will be talking about one of my favorite games of all time, Shadow of the Colossus.

[[spoiler warning for Shadow of the Colossus]]

It's no secret that I love Shadow of the Colossus. That game was an incredible experience for me, and I will never forget it. When I think about love being conveyed in a video game, I think about Shadow of the Colossus. I believe Shadow of the Colossus conveys love so strongly because it does so without words.

Mono, the girl
Shadow of the Colossus starts off as the story about a boy who steals a magic sword so that he may gain access to a strange land where he can resurrect a girl, whose name in Mono. We are never informed about the boy's relationship with the girl, but I'd assume that they were in love, given the apparently similarity in their age. Other possibilities are that they are siblings, possibly twins. But it's not the nature of their love that matters, it's the quality.

When the boy reaches the land he is told by a spectral voice that calls itself 'Dormin' that it can bring back his love, if the boy slays the sixteen colossi. Without hesitation and without question the boy embarks on this quest. As the game progresses, the boy becomes weary. He looks dirty, corrupted, and has a much more difficult time getting up after he is knocked to the ground, but still he presses on to resurrect his loved one. Eventually the quest consumes Wander, and he struggles for his life so that he may see her alive again. You truly know that he would do anything and everything in his power to bring Mono back, because he truly loves her.

And while the game is about the love a boy has for a girl and his struggle to bring her back, that's not the love that the game fosters. There is another love.

Agro, the horse

Agro is your trusty steed througout the journey. He carries you wherever you need to go, as far as he can. There are even several boss battles that could not be done without him there to help you. He's even different from horses in other games. He's more intelligent. When navigating through a narrow passage, you don't need to steer him, he'll avoid the sides and lead you through. As I played the game, I came to care deeply about Agro.

This connection that you have to Agro is facilitated by the game's controls. When you're controlling Wander, you just tilt the left analog stick in the direction that you want to go, as you do in any other video game. Agro doesn't control the same way. When you are riding Agro you use the X button to kick your heels and go forward and use the left analog stick to steer left or right. Many people complained about this control scheme, saying that it was awkward and made going long distances frustrating because you had to keep pressing the X button. But what this scheme does is it make you connect with Agro the way you would a real horse.

You, the player, have to form a physical connection to Agro. When I walk, I tell myself to walk and my body doesn't disobey me, unless I trip or something. Compelling and animal to move is a very different story, and Shadow of the Colossus forces you to communicate with the controller in much the same way that Wander must communicate with Agro. Then you add in Agro's very realistic rendering and animations and you have one fastastic video game horse that puts any incarnation of Epona to shame.

When you call out to Agro, Wander's tone is different depending upon how far away Agro is. If he's far enough away, the call is loud and almost sounds desperate. He's your only companion in this strange, harsh land, and you need him. You need him to survive. You need him to complete the mission.

I grew to love Agro. I could feel Wander's love for Agro, and I could feel Agro's love for Wander. Every time you defeat a colossus, Wander passes out and wakes up in the temple where the game begins, and every time Agro is there, coming back to find/meet you. He knows that you'll be there and travels back to the temple by himself so that he can be with you and help you on your journey.

Before the final boss, there is a bridge that you have to cross. As you run across it on Agro the bridge starts to crumble. You can't make Agro go fast enough and as you're just short of the end Agro throws Wander off of him so that you land on the other side and he...he falls into the gorge, plunging into the river below.

It was at that moment that my heart sank and I felt absolute rage. This last colossus was going to die so that Agro, my friend's sacrifice would not be in vain. After killing the last colossus and fulfilling some final scene responsibilities, Mono is alive in the temple. Then, at the front of the temple you hear it, the sound of a horse's hooves. Agro had somehow survived the fall into the river and made it all the way back to the temple one last time, limping, to be with you. Mono takes Agro and the two of them make their way to the top of the temple to presumably live out their days together.

That, dear readers, is a love greater than any that has ever been conveyed to me in a video game, and it's one I hope to never forget.