So I've sat down a bit more and clearly thought out my final impressions with DONTNOD's first stab at the episodic adventure game genre. Life is Strange is a wonderful experience, filled with lots of details and emotional character moments.
The thing that first struck me about the game, in episode one, was how much time you had to roam about the areas and who you could interact with. Compared to TellTale's games which, I feel, have almost completely left their adventure game roots, I thoroughly enjoyed this side of LIS. There are a lot of clickable objects, and Max is ready to talk about all of them.
LIS's key feature is it's rewind mechanic and it's used to some pretty great effect. Sure, you have a few puzzles that are solved in the same way, but there are some neat moments that stand out such as rewinding
I would have liked more dialogue choices as those kind of slipped away as the episodes went on.
Musically, the main theme was very well done, and the closing music choices were also picked with a good eye, or ear, so to speak. Graphically, the game isn't pushing polygons to the max, but the art style and amount of detail that went into the environments was splendid. I especially liked the faux internet pages, camera shots, such as Max wearing her
Episode 4. There is a lot of color at use here, and it's a brighter game, even when it's trying to be dark.
Unfortunately, the lip syncing never quit found it's footing, and the plastic looking faces of the characters could sometimes get in the way of bigger moments. Faces need some more animation too, for sure.
The writing was weak at points, but of course, I'm not around younger kids that much these days so I may be out of the loop. However, Max, and her "Wowzers" grew on me though, as did most of the games other cast. Chloe had a nice arc, in which she pissed me off in
. Both the main VA's did a good job, and the only weak link would have to be David Madison, mostly because he was a bit too gruff and unintentionally comedic.
This game has the pleasure of making me play through the hardest 30 or so minutes that I've ever had to experience in a game before.
I still felt like shit.
Unfortunately, I feel like DN backed themselves into a corner with episode 5, and upon reflection, I didn't really like the ending. In fact, the more I thought about it the more pissed I got.
It's the Mass Effect 3 feeling I had, where I will still look back very fondly on the journey, but there will always be that bit of a grimy sand tasting end.
I fully admit that some of these disappointments come from expectations. I thought it would have been neat if there
Overall, I was sad that it ended, and I have been thinking about it a lot since finishing. This is pretty much the first game where I have watched Let's Play's on, and it's been really cool seeing the different emotions of people on camera. From a psychological point of view, it's even more interesting with some of the latter choices that you can make.
Congratulations to the team, and the voice actors fro creating something wholly new, dark, funny, and memorable. I knew this team had talent with Remember Me, and they really proved it here, with something that you can't quite find in other games today. It's that melancholic feeling of wanting to return to your youth, to say goodbye to old friends one last time, and have a chance to make things different. When a game makes me feel all of that, well, what can you do except smile, take a hella shitty selfie, and wait for season 2.
The thing that first struck me about the game, in episode one, was how much time you had to roam about the areas and who you could interact with. Compared to TellTale's games which, I feel, have almost completely left their adventure game roots, I thoroughly enjoyed this side of LIS. There are a lot of clickable objects, and Max is ready to talk about all of them.
LIS's key feature is it's rewind mechanic and it's used to some pretty great effect. Sure, you have a few puzzles that are solved in the same way, but there are some neat moments that stand out such as rewinding
so you're back in the principals office before the alarm set off or telling Chloe shit goes bad before meeting Frank in episode 4.
I would have liked more dialogue choices as those kind of slipped away as the episodes went on.
Musically, the main theme was very well done, and the closing music choices were also picked with a good eye, or ear, so to speak. Graphically, the game isn't pushing polygons to the max, but the art style and amount of detail that went into the environments was splendid. I especially liked the faux internet pages, camera shots, such as Max wearing her
hotdog t-shirt in
Unfortunately, the lip syncing never quit found it's footing, and the plastic looking faces of the characters could sometimes get in the way of bigger moments. Faces need some more animation too, for sure.
The writing was weak at points, but of course, I'm not around younger kids that much these days so I may be out of the loop. However, Max, and her "Wowzers" grew on me though, as did most of the games other cast. Chloe had a nice arc, in which she pissed me off in
episode 2-3, but managed to bring it back around in 4 (her apology when you go visit Kate was a nice moment)
This game has the pleasure of making me play through the hardest 30 or so minutes that I've ever had to experience in a game before.
Chloe's whole wheelchair segment was well done, and although the life/die choice felt a bit too dramatic a bit too soon,
Unfortunately, I feel like DN backed themselves into a corner with episode 5, and upon reflection, I didn't really like the ending. In fact, the more I thought about it the more pissed I got.
One ending seems like the one the devs wanted you to pick, and by proxy, it kind of makes a lot of your previous choices feel like they have less of an impact. The other ending feels under cooked and almost like it was thrown together in a night of programming or so.
Both of them seemed kind of weak actually.
I fully admit that some of these disappointments come from expectations. I thought it would have been neat if there
would have been some stronger elements of mysticism, but in the end the main issue was more of a crime drama.
Overall, I was sad that it ended, and I have been thinking about it a lot since finishing. This is pretty much the first game where I have watched Let's Play's on, and it's been really cool seeing the different emotions of people on camera. From a psychological point of view, it's even more interesting with some of the latter choices that you can make.
Congratulations to the team, and the voice actors fro creating something wholly new, dark, funny, and memorable. I knew this team had talent with Remember Me, and they really proved it here, with something that you can't quite find in other games today. It's that melancholic feeling of wanting to return to your youth, to say goodbye to old friends one last time, and have a chance to make things different. When a game makes me feel all of that, well, what can you do except smile, take a hella shitty selfie, and wait for season 2.
