''Journey'' is an
arcade video game
An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
released by
Bally Midway in 1983.
Rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Journey
Journey or journeying may refer to:
* Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations
** Day's journey, a measurement of distance
** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road
Animals
* Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...
had enjoyed major success in the early 1980s, and Bally/Midway decided to ride this wave of popularity by creating an arcade game based on the group. Its release was intended to coincide with a US tour by the band.
This game uses digitized photographs of the members of the band:
Steve Perry
Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...
,
Neal Schon
Neal ( Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...
,
Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to:
Academics
* Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager
* Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...
,
Jonathan Cain
Jonathan Leonard Friga (born February 26, 1950), known professionally as Jonathan Cain, is an American musician and songwriter best known as the keyboardist for Journey. He has also worked with the Babys and Bad English. Cain was inducted into ...
, and
Ross Valory.
Gameplay
Controls consist of an eight-position joystick and a button. The objective is to collect the band's instruments, which have been stolen by crazed alien fans and scattered across five different planets.
Each level consists of five
minigame
A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...
s followed by a bonus round. The player chooses a minigame by moving the band's Scarab Vehicle onto the corresponding planet on the screen. Each minigame requires the player to maneuver one band member (depicted as a black-and-white photograph of his face on a cartoon body) through assorted obstacles and pick up his instrument, then return to the vehicle.
Electronically synthesized instrumental excerpts of Journey songs play during the minigames, and "
Lights" plays during the selection screen.
* ''Steve Perry:'' Navigate through a maze of swinging gates to reach Perry's microphone, then shoot and destroy the gates as they descend. Music: "
Don't Stop Believin'
"Don't Stop Believin' is a song by American rock band Journey. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the group's seventh studio album, ''Escape'' (1981), released through Columbia Records. "Don't Stop Believin'" shares writ ...
."
* ''Neal Schon:'' Navigate a cavern using a jetpack to reach Schon's guitar, then return to the exit while dodging or destroying rockets launched from silos scattered throughout the screen. Music: "Chain Reaction."
* ''Steve Smith:'' Jump from one floating drum to another; the first jump on a drum turns it from red to blue, while the second jump makes it disappear. Once all drums have turned blue, the player can collect Smith's drum kit and use it to blast through a swarm of enemies. Music: "
Wheel in the Sky."
* ''Jonathan Cain:'' Descend a series of ramps while jumping over moving hurdles to reach Cain's keyboard, then shoot lines of enemies that close in from opposite sides of the screen. Music: "Stone in Love."
* ''Ross Valory:'' Jump from one telescoping platform to another to reach Valory's bass, then destroy the platforms and dodge the projectiles they fire. Music: "Keep On Runnin'."
Completing all five minigames takes the player to a bonus round in which the band performs a concert for a crowd of alien fans. The player must maneuver a
roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...
character to stop fans from reaching the stage. If any of them do so, the crowd storms the stage and steals the instruments as the band flees, and the game begins again with increased difficulty. The music for this round is a looped excerpt of "
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," played from an internal cassette deck.
A collision with any obstacle or projectile costs one life and returns the player to the selection screen. When all lives are lost, the game ends.
Development
Although they have cartoon bodies, the faces of the members are shown as black-and-white photographs taken of the band while on tour. The photo technology was originally to be used in another game, which would take photos for the high scores. However, the game in question failed location testing when one player engaged in
exhibitionism.
Reception
In its June 2007 issue, ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' magazine named the game number 9 on its "Top 10 Worst Licensed Game Ideas (ever)".
See also
* ''
Journey Escape
''Journey Escape'' is a video game developed and manufactured by Data Age in San Jose, California for the Atari 2600 console, and released in 1982. It stars the rock band Journey, one of the world's most popular acts at the time, and is based on ...
'', another video game featuring Journey
References
External links
*
Extensive resource on the arcade game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Journey (Arcade Game)
1983 video games
Arcade video games
Arcade-only video games
Band-centric video games
Journey (band)
Midway video games
Platform games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with digitized sprites
Video games based on musicians