Life is Strange

Thoughts

I can't remember the last time a game won me over as much as this one did. Granted, if it didn't get off so heavily on the wrong foot it may not have had to, but I'm still impressed at how stark the difference in quality is between the first episode and the episodes that follow it. Life is Strange is somewhat infamous for it's awkward, 'hip' dialogue, written in a way that comes off somewhere between a low-rent Diablo Cody and a team of middle aged men doing their best impression of a teenager. Thankfully, like most of the writing, the dialogue finds its groove and has quite a unique voice by the end. The game as a whole is definitely more than its individual parts; the story is good with fairly large caveats, technically it's a bit of a mess and the characters are good to great while falling into cliched, broad archetypes almost without exception.

But I really dug my time in Arcadia Bay. From the early stages of the third episode I was hooked, looking forward to knocking my exams out so I could sit down and get lost for a few hours again. The episodes are well paced in length and just about perfect for a single sitting. The vaunted rewind mechanic adds just enough to the familiar Telltale adventure game gameplay that it stands on its own. Most importantly, I came to care about Max and Chloe, and (spoilerish) despite one of the two endings being obviously unfinished and feeling 'incorrect' as a result, I left satisfied. This is a game that is a bit of a slow burn and needs to be given a chance to get its hooks into you — but if you let it then you'll be well rewarded. Dontnod's first game, 2013's Remember Me, was a heavily flawed game with some good ideas behind it; they've refined those good ideas and gained a fan with this small town mystery/romance/sci-fi adventure. 

Plus/Minus

+ Well realised main characters (with great voice acting)

+ Fairly unique setting and ideas for a videogame

+ Enjoyable story with some good emotional moments

+ Solid soundtrack with well timed cues

+ Rewind feature is a fun addition 

+ Later episodes (mostly) make up for a slow start...

- ...but jeez, that first episode is rough

- Lip syncing is godawful

- Graphics can be nice at times, but it's not a strong game technically

- Some minor characters are walking cliches

- Story has issues with following internal logic

Overall

It's not quite something the main characters would call hella good, but it's an enjoyable and fairly emotional little game that hits a lot of notes other videogames would stray from. The decision to focus more on the personal stories works very well. Getting to play through it rapidly rather than having a long wait between episodes was to its benefit and I'd recommend it more now as a complete 'season' than I would have recommended individual episodes in the past.

Episode 1: 4.5/10

Episode 2: 6/10

Episode 3: 8.5/10

Episode 4: 8/10

Episode 5: 7.5/10

7.5/10

Technical Stuff: Played on a PS4. Copy was purchased by the writer (just before it went on PSPlus...). One full playthrough of the game and a bit of tinkering - approximately 16 hours spent.