Official Score
Overall - 70%
70%
The Big Journey’s relaxed and charming atmosphere will appeal to a wide variety of gamers. There might not be a ton of variety between stages, but this is one chill title that will make players feel good.
Catfishbox and Konstructors Entertainment, inspired by the LocoRoco series, have applied its physics based platforming to the world of fat cats in The Big Journey. This roly-poly game might wear its inspiration on its sleeve, but does it manage to stand out?
The Big Journey Review
Mr. Whiskers is a fat and happy cat that likes dumplings and his dumpling-making friend Mr. Choo. Everything is fine and dandy until Mr. Choo goes missing. This causes Mr. Whiskers to go on a journey to find him through nighttime forests, deserts, caves and more.
It’s a basic tale, but the simple shapes, colorful characters, and attention-to-detail will give even the most jaded gamer the warm and fuzzies. The brief cutscenes at the beginning of each world give Mr. Whiskers some character, and his interactions with the different animals and fellow cats is almost saccharine. This is one title that will make you feel good throughout.
To aid Mr. Whiskers in The Big Journey, players must rotate the world to the left or to the right. This will cause the little fluff ball to roll his way to the end of each stage. Dumplings can be found along the way, adding to his general mass. Though this feline friend can jump to higher areas, the shifting world will get you to where you need. It works surprisingly well, and we were never at odds with the controls. It’s not the deepest system around – no high level play or trick shots here – but what is present gets the job done.
Each world has different gimmicks to spice things up. Blasts of air, switches, water, bouncy platforms, and even plants that distort the controls are all present, though there is not a ton of variety. The lack of enemy variety and level quirks will make this two hour game run together a little bit. Sure, there might be a spider or a mole in certain levels, but things tend to run together after a while.
Each stage in The Big Journey can net players up to three stars, depending on the amount of time taken, the amount of dumplings eaten, and the amount of bugs collected. It’s pretty easy to max out all three without trying too hard, but we appreciate the incentive. Players can then use these stars to unlock additional cats, fleshing out their roster of feline pals.
The Big Journey’s relaxed and charming atmosphere will appeal to a wide variety of gamers. There might not be a ton of variety between stages, but this is one chill title that will make players feel good.
