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Prince Rolf
162,266 (98,367)
TA Score for this game: 1,316
Posted on 21 May 15 at 18:09, Edited on 26 May 15 at 09:55 |
This review has 32 positive votes and 2 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Hello internet this is my first review, so first I would like to ask people to comment on my review and if you think its bad or even good to please tell me what I can do to improve this review. After this being said let's start my review.
With the recent successes of point and click episodic games like: the walking dead and the wolf among us. It's no surprise that Dontnod Entertaintment is trying to grab its fair share of the succes. These point and click games are mainly being played because of their great story, character progression and because of the autonomy given to the player. Life is strange focuses exactly on these strong points of these kind of games.
The game revolves around an 18 year photography student called Maxine Caulfield mostly refered to as Max. After moving away years ago from her hometown Arcadia Bay she is finally back to enroll in Blackwell Acadamy, a highly praised college for its brilliant students and its photography program. After an ominous vision and a shocking scene in the bathroom Max discovers that she is suddenly able to rewind time. From that point her life alters drastically, imagine after making a poor choice rewinding time to change your answer or finally putting that bully in its place after you have tried a few things. These are examples that can be used in the game and actually work pretty well.
Rewinding time is the main element of the game and is simply done with the push of a button (two if you dont have allot of patience). Rewinding time will allow Max to change her answer to something more appropiate (or less your call) and to undo her actions after hearing the possible short and long term consequences. The rewind feature also gives you a chance to steal items, warn people and take optional pictures as Max and her inventory aren't affected by her rewind powers which make the rewind option more useful than initially thought.
The story told (so far) is a brilliant one showing the consequences of Max' time altering abilities and her choices made. Small things like a plant being dead or healthy and big things like saving people. Choices need to be made carefully. Sometimes short term solutions might turn out much worse later on or long term solutions might turn out horrible at that moment.
The graphics of this game are nothing special and will probably work as a repellant to the high graphic demanding gamer. The lip syncing is fairly poor and it might irritate some gamers. But putting away the game in the box too ugly too play would be doing the game a disservice as its positive points outweigh the graphics by far.
The character progression in this game is one you can lose yourself in just wanting to know more and I caught myself multiple times feeling guilty towards fictional characters in a game. It feels every new episode that the writers find new and creative ways to direct your character in.
Talking with characters feels a little less satisfying in life is strange than other point and click games as quite a few conversations have only two options to choose from which makes the conversations feel minimal. However with the time travel feature you can talk to people who are simply annoyed with Max and then give a clue to what Max has to say to actually talk to him/her. By rewinding time she can then get a third option to say and the conversation ends the ''good'' way, making everyone in school like your character exactly how you wanted your life to be in high school. The upside is that if your concentration focuses away from the game you wont miss a choice as there is no time limit to answer a question (imagine that in a game where you can travel back in time).
The worst part of an episodic game like life is strange is the waiting time between episodes. Dontnod Entertaintment tries to release a new episode every two months. But it has not been able to actually live up to that. It's still faster than telltale but still no one likes waiting.
The achievements in this game are 11 collectible achievement and 1 story based achievement per episode. In contrast with Telltale's achievements which are all story based(excluding the wolf among us). This makes the achievements a little more satisfying as you actually have to put in some effort in collecting those achievements. The collectibles in the game are certain pictures you can find in the world. Some specific choices need to be made by the player to actually get all pictures but if you dont like the outcome just rewind after the picture and continue the game.
To sum up the review
Life is strange is an amazing game, telling a story in a way that after the episode you already want to play the next episode. Next to its amazing story and excellent character progression the time rewind feature is a nice addition to a point and click adventure game which gives the player more autonomy over the game which for players like myself helps in enjoying the game even more. Graphics are pretty decent but certainly not the best and lip synching is of poor quality but nothing that cant be overlooked by the story driven gamer. The achievements are nothing special and arent particularly hard. Obtaining 100% on this game isnt hard with the help of a guide. This game is a must have for people who love to play through a good story with their personal influence sprinkled over it. I dont advise the hardcore FPS action gamer to play this game as it rarely shows action driven scenes or the high graphics some people need to enjoy their games.
+great story
+excellent character progression
+rewinding time is a nice addition
-wait between the episodes
-lip synching
score: 9/10
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Korewahondes
189,326 (82,075)
TA Score for this game: 1,316
Posted on 16 August 17 at 15:45, Edited on 16 August 17 at 15:50 |
This review has 3 positive votes and 3 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Life is Strange appears to be an excellent narrative experience. Life is indeed strange at the beginning of the game for young Max Caulfield who is about to live an extremely intense week between her reunion with her childhood friend, her classes at Arcadia Bay’s Blackwell Academy, her investigation into a missing student, her various interactions with her classmates and of course the discovery and the use of her power to rewind time. I will not tell anything more about the scenario but it is captivating and deepens throughout the episodes, even if it starts slowly.
In terms of graphics and artistic direction, the game is stunning and one level above Telltale productions, without actually being beyond reproach technically speaking. The musical atmosphere is also very good and LiS allows the player to take time to choose and listen to some specific songs.
Generally speaking and unlike a Tellgame game, LiS is a contemplative work that offers out-of-time digressions to just sit down, enjoy the sceneries, take stock of what Max has just lived and then go again to discover the environment by gazing at the numerous points of interest that are available: posters, items, secondary characters, electronic devices and so on. The player also has as much time as he/she wants to make the choices he/she is faced with and he/she can usually rewind time if short-term consequences do not suit him/her.
Besides, Max writes a diary that is often funny to consult and in which she states past events. The text messages she exchanges with other characters are usually well chosen too. In short, the atmosphere the player is plunged into is well done.
As for the gameplay, it is minimalist but it is of course not what makes history in LiS. Each of the 5 episodes offers a lifespan of 4 to 5 hours, which includes the time to interact with the environment as much as possible and to find all the optional pictures to take and thus to unlock all the achievements of the game.
In the end, LiS is a rich, captivating and really immersive experience that offers appealing characters and a well-structured story. I have spent excellent moments playing the game and now I am really looking forward to putting my hands on LiS Before The Storm, even if it is developed by another studio.
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