Life is Strange

There has been a lot of chatter about this game. I've seen a post of how they had to find another voice actress for the prequel because they were currently on a union strike. I've also seen plenty of Steam sales for this game knocking off the mere $20 to $7. Like many of TellTale games, pieces of the game come out in "episodes" as they are being developed. Then when all the episodes are released, they let you play the first one for free. So I wanted to give it a shot.

Sadly, the game suffers heavily from mature tones. Teen drama is pushed to their limits as you watch things unfold in a college-like high school. You are introduced to some weird science revolving around an impending storm while having the ability to travel back in time. The world is out to get you (like any typical teen story) and there is nothing you can... besides making important binary choices. My biggest problem with the game is the constant foul language that is spouted not just verbally but written in the form of text and graffiti. But then again, something else was gnawing at the back of my head.

It might have been the way they handled time travel. You see, the game suffers from it's own fallacies. The game argues that you only have a certain amount of time you can rewind but the opening sequence shows you jump back about 20 minutes. Also contrary to the intro of the game, later you find out that you can teleport, even while carrying items, as the rest of the world rewinds around you. The game suffers from the illusion of choice when sitting down and thinking about the situation (which I hear you can do throughout the whole game) usually reveals a much better option. It's like how every teenager chooses to run into danger in a horror movie. This is your stereotypical high school where teenagers choose to create more drama for themselves.

Just look at some of the strange choices the game makes. Your first major action is letting your friend escape by setting off the fire alarm. You have 20 minutes. Couldn't you just warn her beforehand? Girls block your way into the dorm. There is plenty of room to walk around them. You don't have to setup an elaborate plan to dump paint on them. Someone gets locked inside their room by their roommate. I'm sorry. Let me repeat that and see if it makes sense. A girl locks her roommate in her own dorm. If this kind of thing happens in the first chapter, imagine what other things happen through the rest of the game.

I'm going to give this game a definite no recommendation. I heard the ending is awful like "it was all a dream" type of awful.

 

7-15-2017