It’s that wonderful time of year
again, the Steam Summer Sale is in full swing! Among the titles on sale over
the past few days, a special one caught my eye that I’ve been curious about for
a good while, “Life Is Strange”. LIS is
the story of a girl named Maxine Caulfield, who has recently moved back to her
small home-town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon. She’s a photography student with all
the stereotypical worries: class, boys (or one in particular it seems),
bullies, etc, but what sets her apart is when she discovers she can “rewind”
time. Now this is far from the first time a movie, book, or game has given
someone control over time, and the concepts they play with (chaos theory in
this example), remind me very much of the “Butterfly Effect” movies. Somehow
though, the game feels highly original in its execution, and breathes fresh
life into the genre.
LIS is split up among 5 chapters, and
currently only three have been released, so presumably the creators alone know
how it (might) end. Due to the “choice and consequences” system the game rests
on, every decision down to watering your plants can change how you’re perceived
by the other characters. In many cases you’re truly “damned if you do, damned
if you don’t”, so my choices are more directed toward just how much trouble I
really want to be in. Similar games, such as the Mass Effect series, ask you to
pick a clearly defined role of good, bad, or neutral, LIS asks you to pick whatever sounds morally acceptable to you, and
pray it doesn’t turn out too bad, and believe me, bad in this game can be
extreme.
No
matter which path you take, our heroine will often second guess your choices,
questioning whether or not we guided her properly, and audibly worrying to
herself through entire sequences. This is another thing that sets Max apart;
while you come to understand her and her moral stance, she is still very human
in that she considers the less moral path, such as wondering if instead of
comforting a disheartened bully, she should have done more to drag her down.
She knows it would be wrong, she clearly isn’t comfortable with the idea, but
she also sees how it could benefit her and win future confrontations. She’s
thoughtful, insightful, and one of the best written heroines in over a decade,
largely because of talented actress Hannah Telle (iCarly, Murdered: Soul
Suspect, Days Of Our Lives), who skillfully brings Max off the screen and into
our hearts. This girl isn’t a silent protagonist, her voice is not reserved for
cut scenes, nor is she endlessly looping the same obnoxious repertoire for
hours on end (Link and Slippy Toad, I’m looking at you). Her commentary is
always relevant to the scenario and worth a listen if you want to understand
her world and interactions better.
Minor
hiccups aside, the graphics are beautiful. As of chapter 2, I have yet to find
an NPC that looks exactly like anyone else. Seemingly irrelevant characters are
given names, demeanors, and a reason to exist in this world, just as much as
Max does. Square Enix deliberately made graphics a secondary concern against
the story and acting, which seems a wise decision, since the only real problem
I’ve noticed is poor lip sync on the characters. If this was the “lower”
graphic option, I’m curious what the advanced graphics would look like, not
that it needs an upgrade.
All in
all, “Life Is Strange” is an immensely well produced work of art, filled with engaging
characters, an intriguing story that keeps you guessing, and incredible replay value;
I can’t wait to see how the tale progresses as the final chapters are released.
5/5 Stars!
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| Three cheers for clever references! |
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