Journey Review

Ever since I played thatgamecompany's Journey back around April, I've been wanting to review it, but I'm not really sure how to approach it, since it's been reviewed many times, and they all basically say the same thing, but since I don't want my blog to die, I'll just sort of say whatever.

Visuals
One of the most critically applauded areas of the game is the visuals, and I can't disagree. They aren't quite realistic, but still are quite impressive - more like a painting than a photo. That being said, the distinct visual style doesn't take away from the immersion - in fact, it's executed so well that it really adds to the game. Particularly the ending scene (I won't spoil it, just take my word for it, or play the game if you haven't!). I think what gives it its distinct feel is the texturing, which is much more minimal than your average game. The only thing is, sometimes there are some wonky camera angles, like a nice view inside a block or something. But that doesn't happen if you don't try to put the camera there, I guess.

Audio

I'm sure you've heard before about how awesome the music is, and how it's really haunting and stuff. I don't want to reiterate, but it really is. There have been great video game soundtracks before, but I'd go as far as to say that this is the greatest video game soundtrack of all time. I mean, even the emotional ending of Puccini's La Boheme can't compare to the emotional ending of "Apotheosis".
One thing, however, that hasn't been mentioned are the sound effects themselves. There aren't an overwhelming amount, but they do their job nicely. They're convincing, and there are some memorable ones, certainly. I can't really complain in that regard, except maybe the player interaction noise gets annoying sometimes.

Story
I'm not really sure what exactly the story is, but that's a good thing, maybe. Obviously, you're trying to get to a mountain, but with all these ruins and cutscenes, it really hints at something deeper. It's not a huge narrative, but rather it implies that something huge and mysterious happened a long time ago. It really makes you think.

All that being said, I have missed one critical part, which is other characters. Remember, it is online, so you can encounter other people. In that regard, though, you might be a bit disappointed, because it seems quite rare now that I ever meet someone in-game, and even when I do, they leave fairly quickly. I guess I can't blame people, because with no new content, there's not really any reason to keep playing. For that reason, it kind of seems like thatgamecompany wanted to make an awesome online game, but they never really thought through the implications of doing so. "The curse of the online game", if you will.

Summary:
Awesome game, looks beautiful, great soundtrack, mysterious, a bit lonely, buy it now!

How To Play Riven On Mac OSX

I apologize in advance if I've accidentally already made a post like this one.

If you're a Myst-loving Mac user like me, you'll be very frustrated that you can't play most of the Myst games on modern Macs. When it comes to Riven, unless you're willing to wait for realRiven (StarryExpanse.com), there's only one option:

Thanks to the work of a few dedicated individuals, there is now a simple application which allows you to insert your Riven disc(s), and it then installs it so you can play it any time. It's very good, it works with Lion, Snow Leopard, Things, Stuff.
Anyway. So I tried installing it a few months ago, but, much to my dismay, when it finished processing all the discs, the files would self-destruct without warning. So I thought, well, I'll just copy the files over manually. It can't be that hard. I did so, and it was able to play. However, I hit yet another roadblock. Whenever it got to the point where my five-disc version would ask you to insert disc 1, the game crashed. So I decided, arr, the loot belongs to us, matey! In other words, I gave up and pirated the DVD version. It was so much easier. I have no idea why I didn't just do that in the first place. From there, I did the automatic install, and it worked perfectly. Summary: don't use CDs. Use the internet.
Anyway, I'd recommend this method for anyone who doesn't want to spend time looking for their disc(s), trying to get the formatting right or whatever you might have to do. Or, if you have a MacBook Air like me, or any other computer lacking an optical drive, do it as well! So, here are the necessary links:

Riven X:

Click me!

Riven DVD Edition Torrent:

Download!

And, if you've been in a coma for the past 10 years:

Shame on you! (just kidding)

Blah

Don't feel like explaining this one. Just go here and sign their petition of whatever:
http://demandprogress.org/

Machinarium

Hello. I realize it's been a while since I've posted, and one reason for that is that I have a computer anew. But enough about that. Since it's what I often do, I'm just going to talk about some random application or game that I like. And today, it has nothing to do Myst or Riven!

So, about this game. It's a point and click style adventure about this robot thingy. You must save your friend who is also the opposite gender, because apparently robots still have sexual attraction. Anyway, the whole thing is hand-drawn, and it solves a lot of the annoyances of other point and click games such as King's Quest. To name a few, you can't make the game unwinnable, and the implausible holding enormous amounts of stuff in your pockets theory is fixed by the robot eating everything, because apparently he's hollow. It also has a lot of neat ambient music, and the puzzles are usually not arbitrary. However, there are certain times that it seems like they put in a puzzle just for the sake of having a puzzle, unlike Riven where the team spent months trying to make everything seem real. That's not to say I don't like this game. It is a good game, but I'm afraid I still don't like it as much as the Myst series. Although Myst 5 wasn't that great. Anyway, yeah. It is a good game. If you're interested, you can play a demo or buy the full version here:
http://machinarium.net/demo/