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With relatively little on show of thatgamecompany’s (developers of Flow and Flower) latest PSN title my excitement for Journey may be misplaced. But with an idea that appeals to me so much, coupled with the stunning aesthetic and thatgamecompanys pedigree, I can’t help but feel it’s a safe bet.

Set within a desolate desert world, Journey casts the player in as a lonely protagonist trying to find their way to a distant mountain. It looks stunning, with beautiful empty vistas spreading for miles, perfectly in keeping with thatgamecompany’s previous artistically aware titles.

Empty but beautiful.

What does separate Journey from thatgamecompany’s previous work is that it looks like a game. While the goal of Journey still seems firmly routed in the experience and exploration, the player character is… well a character, as opposed to an evolving amoeba or a petal. This more grounded protagonist brings with it more relatable abilities and ways to interact with the word, such as jumping and singing.

To reach the distant mountain it seems the player will have to make use of all the skills available to them as well as the fabric found in the world. Fabric in fact forms an essential part of the games mechanics, granting powers by collecting it, as well as taking on various qualities (such as acting as a platform) when ‘harmonised’ using song.

Most intriguing of Journey’s features lie in its multiplayer. Comparable to Demon’s Souls in its implementation, the multiplayer is an almost passive experience. With no direct communication between characters it is left to the players actions to display intent.

What is even more interesting about Journey’s multiplayer is that it will only be with one other, randomly selected, person at a time. Once a partner is seen in the world, a player can choose to approach them and interact or walk on, whereby eventually another new partner will eventually be drawn in to the world to replace the old spurned one. It is an interesting dynamic that appeals to my antisocial online gaming style.

Due sometime (hopefully) in 2011, I am going to remain excited about Journey until thatgamecompany does something to prove me wrong.

Whenever I have been asked about my most anticipated game of 2010 is I have answered Dead Space 2. It is an instinctive response; the original was far and away my favourite game of 2008. While I feel the game didn’t need a sequel science-fiction survival horror titles prove a rare breed, so I take them where I can get them.

I felt a pang of disappointment and annoyance as I started watching E3 footage Dead Space 2. Isaac Clarke, the games protagonist, has changed. Gone is the clunky practical engineer suit, replaced instead by a more ‘edgy’ outfit. I was sad at the loss of the old distinctive look, worried the game was to be bleached it of personality to attract a wider audience.

New meaner looking suit just feels more generic.

Happily I was wrong.

Whatever the reason for Isaac’s new suit its existence soon faded as I watched the footage. New environments from the games terrestrial setting were on show, most interest of which was a church. A blend of gothic architecture and the games own derelict industrial style were obvious in the building, making it feel familiar but hinting at a diversity that was absent in the original.

New enemies (Necromorphs) of varying sizes were also on show. Attacking Isaac, some of these other otherworldly forms were reminiscent of spiders while others looked like small children with gaping tooth filled mouths. Foes approached in larger numbers than the original game, making pace appear more frantic, another shift in direction for the game I will reserve judgement on for now.

I am eager to jump back into Dead Space’s fiction to find out more about its mysterious parasitic Necromorphs and the delusional Church of Unitology. My only major disappointment from the news out of the show was that the release date has slipped to 2011, but at least it January.

We did it, two shows in one month. Darren and I are back in the saddle and ready to take you on an hour of gaming and sandwich exploration.

Kicking it off with heaven and hell, we visit the KFC Double Down (pictured above) and the problems with Japanese sandwiches. Darren reveals his new found love of Robot Unicorn Attack in what we have been playing, while I do some quick hits on a number of my recent distractions. News features a few choice topics from the last two weeks, which I hoped would enable Darren to engage in conversation about contemporary games. I wasn’t very successful. Games as art is the subject of our main discussion. Inspired by Robert Ebert recent post that declared they could never be, we talk at length about the merits of games and where we think they sit within the spectrum of art and design. And, as always, we wrap up with Darren’s Old Games.

Enjoy the show, please leave comments if you have any and feel free to get in touch if you have any suggestions or questions for us here at DoFuss. Remember to check back for the next show in two weeks.

I Don’t Let Friends Have a Bite of My Sandwich. [ 1:07:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to my fourth rewrite of this, and really I am still not 100% satisfied. In my first draft I went through describing the gameplay in detail, then it was the plot, before finally I realised what I wanted to say. If you take nothing else away from this article take this; if you have never played Killer 7, and are interested in extending you understanding of gaming outside the standard main stream offerings, you should find a way to play this game.

The Killer 7 Syndicate assassins, plus Harman (center) and Kun Lan (center top).

Killer 7 is an oft over looked game, yet it stands as one of the most interesting titles of its generation, and remains refreshingly different to this day. It has been so long since I played the Grasshopper Manufacture game that I have to confess it is something of a blur. But despite the haziness of its details, the concepts (I feel) it touched on and its commentary on gaming have stayed with me, and continue to inform my view of games.

From the start Killer 7 defies expectation. Looking at coverage of it before release I expected a third person action game, instead what I got was an on rails experience. ‘On rails’ is a term that conjures preconceptions of arcade light gun games, controlled experiences that move players through the world as though on a conveyer belt. Killer 7 differed from this format, placing me as a train driver on the track rather than a passenger, but constrained none the less.

Killer 7's third-person camera and linear nature allowed for some dramatic framing of action, which accentuated the games cell-shaded style.

The importance of Killer 7’s guided play mechanic went beyond simple gameplay, speaking to an underlying theme, the predetermined nature of gaming. Each of the seven playable characters is manipulated by powers greater than themselves. Be it the player or the games omnipotent forces, their lives are not their own, indeed they do not even control their existence. As the player I was also subject to this control, as the game and designer manipulated me, determining my actions and their outcomes.

Ultimately the subject of the game is control and predetermination. Within Killer 7’s universe there are no powers greater than Harman Smith and Kun Lan. Established in opening scenes as old friends and rivals, these two are shown in a conflict that dictates the balance of world power. Locked in this endless battle (implied by the games near identical opening and closing scenes, set some hundred years apart) these two omnipotent characters manipulate governments and events in their struggle, assuming control of numerous individuals to achieve their ends.

To my mind these two characters represent Killer 7’s designers. Directing every act, the designer’s presence is rarely felt, but ever present. Like the almost god like Harman and Kun Lan, they influence every event toying with me as the player, setting me up and watching the events play out.

Harman and Kun Lan locked in their game of chess.

Sat below the battling forces sits the larger political events of Killer 7’s world. In the games alternate history the Earth is close to peace. With all militaries nearly eradicated, when the UN is hit by a Japanese terrorist attack they have to enlist the help of a private group. Harman Smith’s Killer 7 Syndicate (made up of seven top assassins) are the called in by the West to defend from the terrorist group named Heaven Smile.

These events form the board for Harman and Kun Lan’s ‘game’. With Harman backing the West and Kun Lan driving events in the East the two players are set to begin (again an idea mirrored in cut scenes as the two sit calmly playing chess). If these two forces represent the designers then the world events of Killer 7 are the game itself, leaving only the lowest level of the game to be established, that of the pieces.

It is the seven members of the Killer 7 Syndicate that form Harman’s pieces (while Kun Lan operates the Heaven Smile). This cast of seven characters formed the drama and emotional anchor that drove me forward as a player. Individual chapters focused on different members of the team and provided me with a back-story to build attachments. From the masked Mexican wrestler Mask De Smith, to the blind rollerblading teen Con Smith, each character had a story to tell that also shed light on their unique skills. Much like a pawn or a solider on the field, these characters knew little about the powers manipulating them but followed their path to its conclusion.

To enable me and my assassin to see enemies it was necessary to switch to first person, though I still don't know if the deliberateness of this represented how unnatural all game interactions are.

As I followed the games path I was manipulated. Slowly I began to see the correlation between the team of assassins and myself. Only able to see what was presented to me, I focused solely on how the stories events affected me. I felt a bond with the assassins, because they were in the same predicament, only able to see what was presented to them. Occasionally I would perceive the board behind the narrative, like the characters would see world events, but this did not concern me. It was only my own manipulated motivations that coerced my involvement. My attention was never focused on the director as I played. Perhaps this is why, after the final scene with Harman and Kun Lan, a screen splash appears proclaiming ‘Written, Designed and Directed by Suda 51’ to emphasis his connection with the two forces and highlight his power over me.

I appreciate how disjointed this may all seem. With so many interwoven elements it is a testament to director Suda 51’s initial vision that it hangs together as well as it does. Offering a peculiar narrative experience it has the feel of a David Lynch film rather than the typical disjointed Japanese story.

Killer 7 altered my view of gaming. From the self-awareness I perceived it having, to the realisation of how completely the director controlled my experience, it made me think differently about how I consume gaming media, and what it is capable of conveying. It is a shame the game didn’t reach a larger audience, no doubt a casualty of its own deviations form accepted norms. It offered a fascinating diversion from the status quo and while much of what I took from it may be due to an over active imagination, it is remains a thought provoking title.