Note: This article is mostly spoiler
free. Aside from explaining the protagonist's ability (which is the
main element of the game and probably the reason to play it) and a
brief outline of a few characters and plot points, this article is
about the tone, themes, and game-play elements of Life Is
Strange. The only major spoiler will be marked.
The renaissance of the point-n-click
adventure games has been assured by Telltale Games, with their
genre-altering The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among us
episodic series. Unlike the Lucas Arts and Sierra games of the past,
these series eschewed puzzle solving for a choose-your-own adventure
style cinematic story, told in five parts. With minimal objects to
collect, the episodic games focus on a mix of major and minor choices
which influence the direction of the plot.
Life is Strange is of this new
breed, even though it wasn't produced by Telltale. Other companies
have discovered that a popular series can be successful, and have
invested accordingly.
In Life is Strange, the player
controls one Max (short for Maxine), a sort of not quite emo, not
quite punk, not quite artist, who is slightly morose but incredibly
likable. She has returned to the quiet seaside town of her
childhood, Arcadia Bay Oregon, for her senior year of high school.
Her parents inadvertently separated her from her best friend, Chloe
when they moved to California at the beginning of high school.
The first day of senior year is Max's
eighteenth birthday, and in class the player is introduced to a
number of characters; from the photography teacher she admires, to
the sophisticated, spoiled bully Victoria. Feeling ill for an
undetermined reason she excuses herself to the bathroom. (Note Spoilers) There she
follows a butterfly into a stall, in an attempt to photograph it, and
witnesses a furious argument between two students that enter after
her, but don't see her. As the argument spirals into violent passion
the man shoots the woman dead. With a useless and desperate reaction
Max throws out her arm, and discovers she is back in class ten
minutes ago.
Through a number of short experiments
Max realizes she has the power to travel back a short period in time
and alter events. She returns to the bathroom and ensures the
argument is broken up before any violence can occur, erasing the
previous events she had witnessed.
The story continues through in the
idyllic, but otherwise normal setting of a small commercial seaport.
Yet everything is not perfect. Max has a series of visions about a
tornado threatening the town some days hence, while acquainting and
reacquainting herself with a number of people. In addition, a
beloved (but not beloved enough) student at the art school has been
missing for a number of months. These, combined with the development
of Max's new powers, her reunion with her old friend, and the danger
posed by the gunman from the bathroom, seem to complete the major
aspects of the plot.
Now, a series of initial observations
that will be reconsidered upon the conclusion.
Unlike the previously mentioned
Telltale series, the aesthetic design of Life is Strange
is uninspired and dull. Life is Strange uses the Unreal
Engine 3 which can be used to develop impressive visual effects, but
here the models appear lifeless, blocky, and unresponsive to the
environment. As regular gamers will know, hair is notoriously
tricky, and in one scene Max's hair remains a solid mass in spite of
a torrential downpour. While the appearance does not inspire
enthusiasm, the bright lighting, combined with a minor pastel style
meshes with the tone of the plot.
Choices are the main aspect
of Life is Strange. Each episode has five major decisions and twelve minor ones, all of which
supposedly effect the plot. In the settings one can chose to have
the game notify the player which conversations will have a future
effect. This is where the key game-play element is used. After
every consequential action or conversation, the player can rewind
time and explore other options. Occasionally, information collected
in a conversation will allow Max to go back and open up other
conversation paths. This creates a different atmosphere than the
Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us. In those games danger
was always lurking in the player's path, and many decisions were made
with a timer counting down (until you realize you can pause the game,
but don't, it totally ruins the atmosphere).
In Life is Strange the player
can examine both dialogue trees and ultimately reach the conclusion
they desire. It's cerebral instead of reactive, though that isn't to
claim that the choices are difficult intellectual problems. And of
course, just because the player has seen both conversations doesn't
mean one can predict the
outcome of any choice. In addition, there are a significant number
of morally ambiguous major decisions, and the game highlights this
aspect by having Max provide a few questioning thoughts about the
negative aspects of her choice. And in the final choice of Episode
One: Chrysalis there are four different outcomes that can be
discovered, offering a variety that TellTale games can't match.
As mentioned at earlier, Max is a
likable character, but is somewhat constructed out of cliches. This
feels true for a number of elements in Life is Strange, especially
the characters and the dialogue. The plot occurs in a high school
and Max is constantly complaining about how it shouldn't be like high
school, and yet the stereotypes common to high school are all there:
the gossiping mean girls, the nerds, the loners, the jocks, the stock
Christian character, and the socioeconomic divide. The dialogue
between them turns on agonizingly outdated and cliched phrases that a
forty year old adult apparently believes high schoolers are using
right now. Yet, occasionally, especially Max's internal monologues,
rise to above average, if still failing to be truly profound. When
the game isn't immersed in the depths of high school, it aims for the
profoundness of philosophy, but mostly hits the intellectual level of
an eighteen year old.
In conclusion, at the games worst, the
dialogue and characters clash on the ear of the player, but at its
best it uses its appealing protagonist to explore her thoughts about
growing up, the challenges of returning home, along with a unique
time rewinding mechanic combined with difficult decisions.
All of which will hopefully matter in
the end.
Life Is Strange
Series:
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