<!--
	Title: Long Play's Journey Into Light
	Subtitle: Infocom's Tolkienesque Adventure Game
	Author: Roe R. Adams, III
	Source: Computer Gaming World, v9(6)
	June 1989
-->

<div class="float-left article-sidebar-dark" style="border: 3px solid;">
<table><tbody>
<tr><td>TITLE:</td><td>Journey</td></tr>
<tr><td>SYSTEM:</td><td>Amiga, Macintosh</td></tr>
<tr><td>REVIEWED ON:</td><td>Machintosh</td></tr>
<tr><td>PRICE:</td><td>$49.95</td></tr>
<tr><td>DESIGNER:</td><td>Marc Blank</td></tr>
<tr><td>PUBLISHER:</td><td>Infocom, Inc.<br>Cambridge, MA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

*Roe is co-designer of Wizardry IV: Return of Werdna and contributed to the design of Ultima IV.*

<hr>

*A shadow of evil has fallen over the land.* No, this is
not the beginning of *Lord of the Rings*, but of
**Infocom's** marvelous new game, *Journey*. The game
does pay an acknowledged homage to J.R.R. Tolkien's classic
epic throughout the story, though.

A black evil has arisen, threatening to cancel
out the world. Four stalwart adventurers leave
to save civilization. Along the way they must
find four stones held by each of the nonhuman
races: blue for Nymphs, green for
Elves, brown for Dwarves, and, naturally, red
for Wizards (We have always suspected that they were a race
apart from mankind). The four stones lead to the two other
stones which, in turn, reveal the secret hiding place of the
"one stone that rules them all!" Trees talk to you, orcs want
your body parts, and dwarves lead you through an underground
citadel where an unspeakable ancient horror lies
awaiting in the depths. The only items missing are the drums!

<img class="float-right-half" src="/public/img/articles/cgw-journey-review/journey-cover.jpg" alt="Journey cover">

All the time, the party is coaxed on by the master Wizard,
Astrix, who prods, cajoles, and provides hints about what the
party should do next. He also dies spectacularly whenever
the party makes a major mistake and allows evil to win. Now,
that is motivation to restore the game and try again!

Note, though, that only the veneer of *Journey* is
Tolkienish, for this game heralds the long awaited return of
*Zork* impresario, Marc Blank, to what should be the best
seller list. (Gaming Historians will please note that after much
heated debate, a panel of experts has finally determined that
*Border Zone* was actually written by Sir Francis Bacon). *Journey*
is full of delightful puzzles, superb prose, and finely
honed legends that will be a challenge to all levels of players.
The flavor of the puzzles harkens back to the Golden Age of
Infocom Adventures, and reflects Marc's long standing
status as a Master Designer. Ah, the Mill mines, the underwater
pools of the Nymphs, and the entire town of Zan, all
await those players who love fine puzzles.

The game begins with our party of four adventurers, already
in place as the game begins. If, however, any character's
name is truly offensive to the player, he may be given a
new one. Bergon is the big fighter, a good fellow to have in
a fracas. Praxix, the novice Wizard, has a pouch of reagents
for casting spells. Esher is the physician whose powers of observation
provide timely insights at crucial moments. The narrator
of the story is Tag, an apprentice food merchant, who
keeps track of inventory for the party. Nowhere are Tag's features
or talents really discussed, but you just know from the feel of
the character that he has Hobbit blood in him somewhere.

The jumpoff point for the journey is the small town of Lavos. The
town boasts a general store, run by a jolly fellow named
Webba, and the obligatory tavern. Be
sure to thoroughly peruse Webba's store,
noting any travel posters hanging on the
walls. It should be observed that, unlike many
other adventure games, *Journey*, has no excess
items. Every item that is not nailed down
in this game (and an occasional item that is
nailed down) is essential to solving a puzzle somewhere
along the line. The tavern is full of the usual small town beer
guzzlers who are very suspicious of outsiders. The party has
to nose around a bit to find anyone who will talk to them.

Outside of Lavos, the road forks. Here is the first challenge
of the game, for without an experienced guide, members of
the party start dying like flies. Were you one of the clever
players who secured the services of the disreputable guide,
Minar, back in Lavos? If you could not decide whether to
hire such an obvious rogue or not, consult the back of the
game box (whoever reads the back of boxes!), where it plainly
states, "You'll share the adventures of Tag, Praxix, Bergon,
Esher, and Minar as they solve puzzles . . . "

This might be an Infocom first, printed hints on the back of
the box.

The fork in the road is where decisions begin and it is appropriately
named as *Journey*'s storyline is constantly forking
into different bewildering arrays of "what ifs." The player is
strongly advised to keep a very large collection of well
notated Save Games. These will come into numerous uses
as the story unfolds and the player frequently slaps himself
on the forehead while exclaiming, "Oh no, so I was supposed
to keep track of [fill in the blank]." Only judiciously
placed Save Games will avoid the frustration of having to
replay *Journey* all over again to reread a special legend or
note a particular event in detail. Any player who has a printer
is highly encouraged to print out all of the rather lengthy,
but interesting, legends. A piece here and a subtle piece
there is often needed much later to solve a puzzle.

*Journey* would be a good text adventure game, but what
elevates it to the dizzying heights of a major work is Marc's innovative
command structure. No longer is the player
chained to yet-another-clever-parser. In this game, almost
everything is a Mac-like point and click. Each location brings
up a fresh series of options for the player. Choosing one option
may negate other possible choices or open up a whole
new set of options. Sometimes, an important option will be
in bold type, other times it won't. It is really important that
the "Look Around," "Examine," and "Scout" options be
chosen whenever available, although please note that sometimes
Scouts get captured and don't return! Such occasions
are good spots to Save Game before venturing onward, just
so the many flavors of paths can be checked out thoroughly.
"Get Advice" can solicit all sorts of interesting comments and
further options.

Other games have tried icon clicking before, so what
makes *Journey* so innovative? The answer lies in the manner
in which the different options light up and go away as
the game flows along. There is a very subtle, almost hypnotic
effect that sweeps the player along. You notice yourself
staring intently at the command screen every time you select
an option, because you have no idea what new options your
action might cause to spring forth. If you are not careful,
you will lose control to the game. In fact, you will probably
plunge down some clever dead end and Astrix will, yet again,
die flamboyantly.

A word about "Dead Ends" is necessary. Amusingly
enough, the manual emphatically states, "There are no 'dead
ends' in *Journey*." Actually, the game has many erroneous
paths that lead to the victory of Evil and Astrix taking the big
plunge from his high tower. Certainly, each of these paths
may be construed as a "Dead End"!

<img class="float-right" src="/public/img/articles/cgw-journey-review/journey-screen-shot.jpg" alt="Journey screen shot">

No game is perfect and there are three cautionary notes
about this one. First, really watch what spells you use to
solve a puzzle. The quantities of each reagent (earth, fire, air,
and water) are very limited, and new sources appear at rare
intervals. Several of the puzzles allow solutions utilizing any
of several spells. If the player does not consult his pouch's in.
ventory to see the current levels of each reagent before casting
the spell, the players may box themselves into a corner
later on in the game. The Second area concerns the puzzle
of how one speaks Elvish. The solution to this puzzle practically
necessitates either an eidetic memory or printouts of
the legends. Even then, the player must make a fairly long
leap into the realms of logic to come up with the composite
answer that is needed. Third, and last, is the puzzle of the
Wizard's Runes over the door. This puzzle is at least several
orders of magnitude below the calibre of every other puzzle
in the game. The player's should just type in singularly each
word in the rune phrase until they hit upon the correct one,
and ignore any thought about figuring out why, the effort
would be greatly wasted.

Graphically, the game excels. Unlike previous **Infocom** efforts
that dipped their toes into the graphic waters, Journey
takes the plunge. Propelled by Donald Langosy's superbly
sensitive graphics, the game lives and takes on three dimensionality.
The graphics do not need the gimmick of animation
to be impressive. Every new scene has a totally new
graphic and some areas where action occurs have multiple
graphics. For those elite who have access to a Mac II, there
is an extra diskette just for Mac II color graphics. The
graphics fairly leap off the screen at you. Breathtaking, indeed!

In this reviewer's opinion, *Journey* is the best effort to date
of any game designer struggling to find a new way for the
game to interface with the player. It goes a long way to
breaking down traditional preconceived notions about how games
should be structured. However, because it is so totally innovative,
**Mediagenic**'s marketing division (**Infocom**'s
parent company) was apparently hard pressed as to what
label to apply to the game, so they coined yet another new
one: Role-Play Chronicles. While it is doubtful whether any
consumer will be able to remember the fine distinctions that
separate all these adventure game marketing slogans from
one another, players should ignore the hype and buy "The
Beef."