So, Life is Strange huh….
Were to begin with this one.
Life is Strange is a game (I use the term loosely, as it is more of a interactive visual novel) made by Square Enix the Big Boys of the JRPG scene. This is their first foray into the Choose-your-adventure, style game. This is interesting because lately TellTale has had a firm grip on that market. But Enix doesn’t disappoint with a touching and heart-warming story. Guaranteed to make you cry. At first I was hesitant to buy the game, every YouTuber and his dog was playing it. And it seemed super over-hyped to me. But when the Steam Sales hit and I saw the game for $9(first episode is free), I said heh why not? So I brought the game and dived in balls deep…..
The game opens with a huge ass tornado/cyclone thing rushing towards a town, with a bit of running around you wake up in a classroom. Thinking it’s a nightmare you continue on with class. You play as Max, a young woman/girl 9around my age) Attending Blackwell academy for photography. Max is an interesting character, she isn’t sexualized like a lot of Square Enix characters. Instead she’s a bland, flat-chested young woman with a shy aptitude, but inquisitive and curious at the same time.
After class Max decides to go to the bathroom and while she’s there she overhears a Girl and a Boy talking about money, things escalate quickly. With each getting more angry with the other. The boy then pulls out a gun and shoots the girl, dead. Max traumatized, freaks out and, wakes back up in the classroom. So what happened? Taking all answers!
It was a Dream sir?
WRONG
No Max discovers she was the power to time travel. She goes back to the bathroom setting of the alarm and saving the girl. This triggers more events, and leads into the main game.
The time-travel feature, or reversing time if you will. Is an very entertaining mechanic of the game. For Example, I accidently killed a dog through a spur of the moment decision, so I reversed time and chose the right choice. A lot of people would say this ruins choice aspects, but it ties in very well, and every accident has a consequence. That’s all you’re getting from me! I’m not giving you spoilers!
But I will tell you this, the game is a highway of emotion, with twists and turns, you’ll never see coming. And buy the end of episode two, ohhhboy(
). The game perfectly blends the genre with a fantastic new twist and like Undertale I belief it’s an experience everyone should enjoy. My only complaints with the game is that what max says in her head about things, like describing things is pretty stupid, and the dialog is pretty corny sometimes. But other then that, the game is beautiful.
My final thoughts on the game is this.
Don’t ignore it, don’t watch it, Play it.
9/10
Jacob.C.Schmidt