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Life is Strange
PC (Steam)
It's Hella Stellar
4.5/5 stars
Adventure games have been given a second life of late, thanks, in part to the great reception of Telltale Games started with The Walking Dead in 2012. Dontnod, based in France, got off to a rough start with Remember Me, a PS3 exclusive (later ported to Steam) that was released to mediocre reviews and likewise sales. After this nearly bankrupt the studio, they decided to a judicial reorganization, and went with public funding for their new IP, a Square Enix game that resulted in the episodic release of Life is Strange. While Remember Me was (pun intended) mostly forgotten, Life is Strange resulted in numerous awards, including the BAFTA Games Award for Best Story, the Peabody-Facebook Futures of Media Award and The Game Awards' Games for Impact Award and, as of May 2017, has sold over 3 million copies.
Presentation: The look of the game is solid. The game runs on the improved version of the Unreal 3 engine. While early episodes can have some lip-synch issues, overall, the look and feel of the game is served by its visual style. Characters all have a distinct look and feel, be they main or background characters. The music is mostly provided by Jonathan Morali of the band Syd Matters (who also provided some of the in-game music as well) and has a very indie/folksy feel that perfectly suits the game. The game often tries a bit too hard to include teen slang and gets a bit too hipster-ish for its own good, but I never felt it was bad enough to take me out of the experience.
The best aspect of the game, by far, however is the excellent vocal cast. Hannah Telle does a great job as Max, as she is the voice you'll most often hear, whether she's commenting on squirrels, pancakes or an impending apocalypse she may or may not be the cause of. She had to do a lot of dialogue, and never seems to miss a beat. But Ashly Burch is the true standout. Having pretty much only known her as the voice of Tiny Tina in Borderlands and Oriendi in Battlborn (both who are, shall we say, a bit on the extreme end of the spectrum), Burch was exceptional at the rebellious Chloe, and won a few awards herself in the process. The rest of the cast shines as well, from Don McManus as the hard-ass David Madsen to Dayeanne Hutton as the bullied Kate Marsh. All told, one of the best experiences I've had from a vocal cast in a long time.
Story: The game begins with a storm - a huge tornado, in fact, seemingly about to wipe out your current home town of Arcadia Bay, OR. Max, our protagonist, has been accepted at the prestigious Blackwell Academy, in order to put her skills at photography to good use. She grew up in Arcadia Bay but moved to Seattle. After waking up in class, taught by acclaimed photographer Mark Jefferson, she begins her typical day but this day turns out to be anything but typical when her bathroom break leads to the appearance of Nathan Prescott, who belongs to the most powerful family in Arcadia Bay, threatening a blue-haired girl that quickly gets out of hand leading to him pulling out the gun and killing her... only for Max to wake back up in the classroom and realize that powers unknown have given her the ability to rewind time.
Her first order of business is to stop Nathan from killing the girl, but this sets in motion a series of events that drives the rest of the episodic story. The blue-haired girl turns out to be Chloe Price, her best friend growing up, but who Max has been reluctant to reach out to following the death of Chloe's father and her subsequent relocation. Chloe is investigating the disappearance of Rachel Amber, a popular student at Blackwell who has gone missing, and a close friend despite the fact they would seem to share little in common. She suspects Nathan of having something to do with it, as he runs the popular kids' Vortex Club, as well as supplying drugs, and he is a fan of dosing people, Chloe included, who managed to escape. Things are complicated by the fact that Chloe's new step-father, David Madsen, also happens to be the head of security at Blackwell, and is plenty paranoid (and super in to surveillance) about what is going on at the school. As you're attempting to solve this mystery, an increasingly bizarre series of eco-events occur - snow falling, a mystery eclipse, animals dying en masse - all still seeming to lead up to the storm that will wind up destroying Arcadia Bay, and all tied to your newfound powers.
The game features plenty of other characters: Warren, Max's friend and consummate geek; Kate Marsh, another friend who is despondent over a viral video that shows the highly pious student engaged in questionable activity at a recent Vortex Club party; Victoria Chase, the classic snob bitch who has everything Max doesn't and is intent on making life miserable for seemingly everyone else; Frank Bowers, local tough and drug dealer who also has a deep connection to Rachel, as well as a debt to settle with Chloe. The game gives you plenty of chance to interact with these (and other) characters, and the choices you make determine not only how they react to you, but literally who can live and die. Even though the entire game leads to one, concrete end (or ends, I should say), that doesn't mean your other choices are without meaning. The rewind feature let's you go back only so far, once the major choices are set, you have to live with that outcome, for better or worse.
Gameplay: This is more like a classic adventure game, of the point-and-click variety, updated for modern times. There is a lot of dialogue, but the game wants you to explore. Nearly everything can be clicked on, and some of the best parts of the game are hearing Max's thoughts about the various items around her - whether they're seemingly inconsequential or not. You can also talk to nearly everyone as well, and it gives you more than enough choices about whether to be friendly, ambivalent or cold to people. One of the great running gags throughout the entire game is that a fellow student, Alyssa, keeps getting hit by various objects (football, toilet paper, pool noodle) and though it has no huge affect, you can choose to use your power to "save" her or simply ignore it and go on with your life. The game is full of these little touches, things you can affect, dialogue choices you can correct and lives you can change. For every big decision in the game, there are ten more little ones you can choose. The adventure genre can only go so far, but Life is Strange still manages to make it feel fresh.
Plus, unlike the more recent Telltale games, there are no quick-time events and, even if you "die", the game simply stops and allows you to rewind until you get things right. Not having to deal with a game over is actually a pretty good thing here. There are a few puzzles, but nothing too complicated. The game never truly punishes you, but, believe me, certain choices will make big changes to the future and you may not like all of them.
Replayability: While the ultimate outcome of the game seems set, the game still gives you plenty of choices (big and small) to change and it gives you more options to try. There are also the hidden pictures to try to find in each chapter as well, giving you reason to go back and experience things all over again.
Overall: Some may say a better title for this game is Hipster Chick Simulator, Now with Time Travel! But those people can eat a dick, the game provides an exceptional and moving story that few games ever achieve. If you like your games to be as emotional as they are engrossing, put this on your list immediately.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
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