Life is Strange Review
By: RJ (@rga_02)
- Life is Strange
- Developer - DONTNOD
- Publisher - Square Enix
- PlayStation 3 & 4, Xbox 360 & One, PC
- Rating - M
I’m personally not a fan of the output of Quantic Dreams and Telltale games. Beyond: Two Souls was a snore fest and Wolf Among Us was just a chore to play. My main issues with them would be the story and the gameplay. The gameplay is akin to what you would probably find in some Japanese doujinshi and the story is either nonsensical or I simply just can’t care enough to find out what would happen next. But Life is Strange is the opposite of that.
Unlike Quantic Dreams’ plots that would probably make Shyamalan blush, or Telltale’s approach to taking existing universes and just expanding on that, Life is Strange brings a familiar scene to the foray. It’s a modern day school setting that depicts realistic characters. Unlike faux Ellen Pages or Zombies, you see a girl living off her parent’s wealth. That loner sitting next to the lockers doodling. That jock who thinks he is the king of the world. You know, the type of people that you have seen back in high school. But at the center of it all, there is Max. Who personally, is the most relatable videogame character I have ever seen. She’s an artsy student who is witty and a bit sarcastic. She is probably either on her phone on taking pictures with her Polaroid. Regardless of gender, she in one small way or another was just like me. As cliché as this sounds controlling her made me feel like I was in this videogame. What she was doing I felt I was doing. Her choices were my choices.
Speaking of choices, they are done wonderfully. It’s presented in the same way as you would find in any Telltale game, but with a bit more freedom. There are a lot of items, people, etc to interact with. Each interaction big or small can shape how the whole story will play out. As I was playing, I would interact with everything that had a button prompt on it. And some of them actually triggered side dialog that was interesting to see. Most of them won’t determine the main outcome, but it’s nice to hear the little tidbits on the side as it adds to the whole lore of the game. Should you not feel comfortable with your choice or you are curious on what a different outcome would be, you can rewind up to a certain point. At first it is a bit gimmicky, but the rewind feature is crucial to how the game plays. To trigger certain events you must rewind and perform certain tasks. It’s a simple yet effective addition to a tried and true formula.
I can see a lot of people who will pass off this game as some pretentious hipster nonsense. But it’s my hipster nonsense. For once I actually felt like I was part of a videogame. I felt like I was Max, and at the same time, someone who was with Max along her journey. The opening cutscene already told me what is probably going to happen in the end, but I still can’t wait to see what happens next.