For those of you with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, though, “The Journey: Hunter Returns” won’t disappoint. This year, EA made its game mode even better by adding more plot twists, including one where you end up playing in the North American Major League Soccer after a brief fallout with your club in England. Last season, Alex Hunter’s life was based solely around competitions in his own country: the Premier League and the lower-tier Championship. It’s nice, then, to see his story expand to other places around the world, just as the life of a real footballer would. Not only that, but it makes a huge difference to be able to have him rock a variety of haircuts, tattoos, T-shirts and pants, something you couldn’t do in the original “Journey.”
Another thing that brings further realism to “The Journey” is that the in-game commentators, Martin Tyler and Alan Smith (in English), will talk about your life before, during and after each match you play. In one of the six chapters of “Hunter Returns,” for example, you become the subject of a rumor that claims you’ll be leaving your current team for Spanish giant Real Madrid. That prompts them to chat about how your teammates aren’t pleased with you, or how you’ve been doing in previous games. In general, details like that are what make “The Journey” such a fun game to play, and they help keep you hooked for hours.
Whether that happens or not, or how it does, depends on the choices you make throughout the game. You’ll come across different characters, like your coach, agent or various family members, who ask you questions that could have an effect on your career. Your answers can be either “cool,” “fiery” or “balanced,” and that will determine how others in your story view your personality. That includes your (Alex Hunter’s) social media followers, who can praise or troll you after games and interviews. Yes, even in a fictional world, the internet meme “Don’t @ me” still applies.
