Saturday, February 18, 2017

Game Review: Life is Strange

Have you ever said to yourself "if I could go back and do it again..."
That's essentially what this game is all about.
Life is Strange is a game that revolves around a girl (Max Caulfield) who returns to her childhood home town of Blackwell because she gets accepted to the prestigious Blackwell Academy for photography. But even in this beautiful little fishing town in Oregon there is some seriously bad mojo going on here!
Life is Strange  can best be described as a digital interactive TV series clearly inspired by shows like Twin Peaks.
I don't mean that in a negative way at all, this game is extremely good and once you get into it you'll find it hard to stop until you reach the end of the final chapter!
The game opens to Max in Mr Jefferson's photography class where she has a vision of an enormous hurricane destroying the town while Mr Jefferson is lecturing the class.

The first chapter "Chrysalis" introduces us to the characters of Blackwell Academy, you meet Max's childhood BFF Chloe Price, and a bunch of other students at Blackwell like Nathan Prescott the rich kid who believes he's untouchable, Kate Marsh a girl who's fallen victim to bullying due to a viral video from a Vortex Club Party, Victoria Chase the obnoxious rich girl that is the epitome of the mean girl stereotype with her mean girl minions, then there's the jocks like Hayden Jones,  and the geeks like Brooke and Warren.
By the conclusion of the first Chapter Max discovers her power to rewind time, is reunited with her childhood BFF and we learn how Chloe's life has taken a dramatic turn since her father died in a car accident, and we begin Max and Chloe's trip to discover what happened to Rachel Amber a student at Blackwell that's been missing for 6 months.
This game is Rated M for some very good reasons, this game is not for kids,,,not for blood and gore, but for much more realistic subjects, bullying, suicide, child abuse, drug abuse, school violence, kidnapping, rape, murder, death and how to cope with it along with a slice of socio-economic differences and how they affect people......heavy stuff folks!
Life is Strange came out as episodic DLC starting  in January 2015, this gem flew right under my radar but fortunately I was able to grab a physical copy of the game and experience this trip back in time to when I was in high school....so glad that chapter of my life is in the past. In retrospect it's absolutely hilarious how utterly pointless all the stupid drama was at that point in my life!
Anyway if you want to play a game that's more mature and emotionally engaging than so many games out right now check out Life is Strange!
8/10



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