Life is Strange Reviews

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

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 wants to make the choices he is faced with and he can usually rewind time if short-term consequences do not suit him.

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.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my review!! I don't really have much profound information to share about the game, but I can say that this game absolutely shattered my expectations.

In terms of the gameplay, it starts off fairly slow as you get acclimated and adjusted to the layout and attempt to grasp the storyline. The mechanics of the game are very simple, as you just interact with objects and people. The lack of physical abilities of the main character can be a little frustrating and tedious to deal with at times, but Life is Strange is more about the story line than the buttons being pressed.

I don't want to give away any spoilers to anybody who has not yet finished the story, so I'll try to keep this review pretty light and only speak on my personal opinions of the game and story itself.

Truthfully, I was expecting a fairly bland and mediocre story line given the way the first episode progressed slowly. I was charmed by the nostalgic feel of the small town of Arcadia Bay, but it didn't seem to have the punch needed to stay interested. However, upon reaching episode 4 and 5, I was absolutely hooked and I couldn't get enough. I ultimately ended up staying up early into the morning finishing the story because I just simply couldn't put the game down. The character progressions, the interactions, and the detailed and layered storylines were absolutely fantastic. By the end of the game I felt as if I knew the characters myself and went to school with them myself! I shed a tear at the ending of episode 4 and the end of the game and I was left pining for more Life is Strange before the credits could finish rolling.

As I was saying about the gameplay, it leaves a bit to be desired as the protagonist, Max, essentially has no physical abilities whatsoever, aside of course from the interactive options the game gives you when approaching a person or object. This caused me to be a little bored and frustrated when going through certain sections of the game, but the storyline kept me churning on through the moments of frustration. Also, the whiplash of trying to keep up with the story and not get confused in the last couple episodes was a little challenging at times.

Overall, I was thoroughly surprised by this game. My girlfriend wanted to see me play this game as it was one of her favorites. I was skeptical at first, but after having a go at Life is Strange, I recommend it to anybody looking for a quick 1,000 Gamerscore and a fun, captivating story to follow in the process.

PROS AND CONS:

Pros:

- Absolutely captivating and breathtaking storyline
- Relatable, simple characters
- Nostalgic feel of the small town
- Choosing your own adventure
- Quick, easy 1000 Gamerscore

Cons:

- Boring at times
- Slow progression to the first part of the game
- Very little physical abilities
- Little to no difficulty
- Finding all optional photos would be almost impossible without a guide

This game... what can I say.

I saw it cheap and i wanted the achievements. I'd never played an indie game i actually missed after finishing it, so much so I found myself listening to the sound track on youtube and replaying it.

the other reviews here go into the story so I won't instead, i'll focus on the presentation.

it's a character drama and like any good drama, it has great characters that you can not only relate to, but understand fully as we've all been there, throw in a sci fi twist of epic proportions and you've got a great story that is diverse and full of twists and turns.

the achievements are sometimes quite interesting, and do involve a bit of extra work inbetween the narrative but it won't stress you out, this is a truely enjoyable and rewarding game, story wise. there is a prequel and I've not tried it yet.. but I will..

I rate it 5 stars

Hi there, Hunter the professional game critic here; back again with another professional review.

So one day I said to myself "I kinda want to play an overhyped piece of garbage like The Last of Us" and then...my prayer was answered. Life Is Strange is classified as 'character focused' kinda like Gone Home is classified as an 'adventure' game. Its borderline false advertising but hey, Im not gonna stop them.

The Characters
The characters are the most amazing part of the game. Nothing anyone does makes sense. Like there is a part where a girl gets locked inside her own dorm room. So *drum roll* its time to play What The Hell Is Going On Here? Is it
A. The writers have no idea how doors work.
B. The characters don't know how doors work.
Or is it
C. The game does this to make you go on some bullshit meaningless task sheerly for filler content.

The characters are the essence of the story right? I mean we have Victoria who is a bitch sheerly to be a bitch. We have Justin(This guy is so lame that I forgot his name) that runs the school and just walks around with a gun while nobody questions it. All of the characters are extremely forgettable. I was playing Episode 5 and was on the plane and I just assumed that the guy sitting next to me was some random bald black guy. Nope, it was actually the principal. You know its bad if I mistake the principal for some random bald black guy. There are also more side characters with less substance than my bowl of cereal I had this morning.

The Story
If you thought the story would be any better than the characters in it, then you need to rethink your life. Max(the main character)gets time rewind powers. No context, no "this person gets powers for this contrived reason". Im struggling to make witty satire because everything about this game is sooooo BORING. The story is about Max and her friend, Chloe doing the most riveting tasks. Tasks such as wandering a barren junk yard to find bottles to shoot, going swimming in the school pool, and going to the diner to eat. The game literally involves you in such a meaningless task such as picking what you want to eat. Then the game has the gall to tell you that "your choices matter" and "there will be consequences". So tell me how picking the pancakes over the bacon affects my story. No really, tell me what that bullshit choice has anything to do with anything. "Huh maybe if I get the bacon instead, *insert side character here* won't die because I got a good serving of protein this morning".

The Dialogue
This is the biggest travesty in the history of videogames(aside from lootboxes, paid dlc, cut content to resell later, pre-order culture, and collectors editions of games that dont come with the actual game). The dialogue is ridiculously bad. Coming from someone that is 18, the characters sound nothing like actual teenagers at all. I knew I was in for a treat when in the first 5 minutes of the game some one says "now you are stuck in the retrozone. Sadface." Nobody fucking does that. Nobody says "sadface" in a verbal conversation. Its like the 50 year old executives said "Whats hip with the kids today? I know, emojis". Too bad none of them got the memo that emojis are for texting and not for verbal communication. You might think Im cherry picking but no, A L L of the dialogue is like this. There is another insightful line about guns "I belive in gun control, I believe I should be the one controlling the gun". What a good way to frame a polarizing issue in American society today. There is another scene (which is arguably the funniest part of the game)where Chloe being the intellectual she is shoots a car, the bullet ricochets back and hits her. Max then says "stupid gun". Yes blame the gun when Chloe was the one fucking around in the first place. None of the dialogue or writing or characters make any sense at all.

The Music
The OST isn't much better than the rest of the game. The score consists of shitty pretentious melancholy guitar songs. Thats it. Since this section would be too short otherwise, let me explain how badly the score is used. At the end of each episode there is this shitty montage shot where it shows all the characters going about their lives, and the game uses the music to try to coax an emotion out of you. I hate when music is used in a really condesending way to tell the audience how they should feel. Like I dont find anything sad about Chloe's dad cleaning the gutters (yes they actually show him cleaning the gutters in one of these montages).

In conclusion, its bad, its all bad. I know this is a more serious review compared to my other reviews that have satire oozing from the mouth. There is just not many places to make jokes here, the game itself is the joke. Apparently Im the only one on the planet that actually knows that it is a joke. This game is often compared to The Walking Dead and I can see why. They follow a similar gameplay loop but the difference is one is good and one is not so good. One has interesting characters that make me care about what is going on, and the other has 'bitchy teen girl character' and 'random teacher that looks like a pedo'. This game is probably best played drunk and with a few friends. You could make a lot of drinking games out of this; here I will make some right now.
Take a shot everytime someone says some cringy dialogue
Take a shot whenever the characters do something dumb
Take a shot whenever Chloe uses the term "hella"(only strongest livers recommended for this one)
Take a shot everytime Chloe uses the term "stepdouche" or any other variance of "stepdad"

Post Edit February 22, 2019: I know it's been a while since I wrote this but I was browsing the internet and came across a youtube video with this comment. All I have to say is that I warned you that it was for strong livers only...