OFFICIAL Life is Strange (Review)

[RCoon]

Introduction

Life is Strange is an episodic story-orientated game, developed by DONTNOD, and published by Square Enix. It's not a game or title I'd associate with that publisher, but all the same, it seems some of the larger players in the AAA industry are branching out into different areas. It features five episodes, three of which have been released so far, and all five are being done in the Unreal Engine 3 (which seems to be showing its age at this stage). I would on the offset mention that this is much more of an interactive story with some "game" elements. Most of your interaction is within dialogue, but the rest is walking around and playing with the time reversal element that makes this title closer to a game. It's designed to represent the challenges and language revolving around being a young person still in education, and for the most part, DONTNOD seemed to have accurately represented teenagers as a whole, though in a select few instances it feels like they might have missed the mark by a couple of years. This game is for a select niche group, so those expecting a full on puzzle game-y game, this is not really for you. It's not a bad thing, it's just this game has been made for a specific market, which is something you need to understand before we go into this title.

To read the rest of this review, go to: http://www.nextpowerup.com/articles/life-is-strange-review/
To read the performance analysis, go to: http://www.nextpowerup.com/articles/life-is-strange-performance-analysis/

 

[rtwjunkie]

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you had more luck than I did. I never could get past the click and drag the photo on the desk in the first scene with the teacher. The mouse SIMPLY WOULD NOT MOVE, at all. It's as iff there is an invisible wall. Of course, you can't skip it, because as long as you're waiting to do that, the teacher keeps droning on..."Buehler?.........Buehler?...." cricket, cricket. Very frustrating. Yes, I did also try your method, just as the developer eventually replied to me. That's a no-go. Oh well, maybe in a year...

 

[RCoon]

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you had more luck than I did. I never could get past the click and drag the photo on the desk in the first scene with the teacher. The mouse SIMPLY WOULD NOT MOVE, at all. It's as iff there is an invisible wall. Of course, you can't skip it, because as long as you're waiting to do that, the teacher keeps droning on..."Buehler?.........Buehler?...." cricket, cricket. Very frustrating.

Yeah. First 60 seconds I was thrashing my mouse against a wall. Tabbed out and googled. Turns out there is a simple way of doing it, it's just not explained at all. Once the prompt is expanded, you hold the Left Click button and then drag the cursor over the text that say "Look" and let go.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Yeah. First 60 seconds I was thrashing my mouse against a wall. Tabbed out and googled. Turns out there is a simple way of doing it, it's just not explained at all. Once the prompt is expanded, you hold the Left Click button and then drag the cursor over the text that say "Look" and let go.

I edited above to state that I tried it as I understood it when dev answered me. I will give it another go, carefully following your explanation. I've rearely been that angry and frustrated at a game.

I must give the devs props though, for being responsive, even if I don't understand WTH they are explaining. At least they care, which is good!

 

[RCoon]

I didn't put it as a negative in the review, as it won't affect anybody, but for some bizarre reason GPU-Z did not want to log GPU usage while I was playing it 90% of the time Didn't happen with other games, so I got no clue on that one.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Ain't way too early... gosh I hate that lesbian idiot Chloe so bad... you cannot imagine how many times I missed to pull the lever

 

[rtwjunkie]

I didn't put it as a negative in the review, as it won't affect anybody, but for some bizarre reason GPU-Z did not want to log GPU usage while I was playing it 90% of the time Didn't happen with other games, so I got no clue on that one.

I can add one more game that doesn't play well with GPU-z: Skyrim. No matter the version number, they have never played nice for me.

Anyway, sorry to detract from the review discussion.

 

[RCoon]

Ain't way too early... gosh I hate that lesbian idiot Chloe so bad... you cannot imagine how many times I missed to pull the lever

It's OK, justice is served

Spoiler

At the end of the third episode she's largely crippled and in a wheelchair after having a mini-fit about how her life sucks because her dad died and it's totally his fault. You end up saving him by going back in time, except the change to that timeline means in her younger life she gets in an accident.

 

[Ferrum Master]

It's OK, justice is served

Spoiler

At the end of the third episode she's largely crippled and in a wheelchair after having a mini-fit about how her life sucks because her dad died and it's totally his fault

I know... I own the game too just as rtw... I played it last sunday... my GF was siting besides, almost puked at the pool scene

 

[RCoon]

I know... I own the game too just as rtw... I played it last sunday... my GF was siting besides, almost puked at the pool scene

I'm going off on a limb here and pulling at strands, but I have an idea how the game is going to end with you making a decision. The game links heavily to the butterfly effect; a butterfly flapping its wings causes a hurricane somewhere else. I reckon in the toilet scene when you take a photograph of that butterfly, that's where you cause the first changes in time. I reckon that if you hadn't have done that, Arcadia would be fine, no hurricane. Catch is if you go back in time and avoid that toilet scene altogether, well, that person in there gets what they get.

I haven't enjoyed a story-led game like this since Spec-Ops the Line, and that wasn't the peak of story-telling by any means.

 

[RejZoR]

Worked fine for me. It's a great game once I start playing it. I'm just so busy with everything I haven't yet started the second episode.