How often have you said something you immediately wished you could take back? Or done something you immediately wished you could undo?
Life is Strange gives you the option to live that fantasy in a seriously flawed masterpiece.
The ability to rewind time is a nice mechanic, and the fact that some decisions won't affect you until much later - complete with a warning ahead of time letting you know that - makes it even more important. There are times when I wondered about the serious long-term implications of the thing I did. Was it wrong to take a photo of Kate being harassed by the security guard instead of yelling at him to leave her alone? Or would it have long-term benefits? There are quite a few choices with non-obvious outcomes.
The mechanic is gradually used in more clever ways over time. Once you learn that Max can "teleport" by rewinding time without moving her own physical position, it opens up a few creative possibilities that I won't spoil.
Unfortunately, the possibilities are limited by the story. You don't have the freedom to travel everywhere, but only to explore your immediate surroundings, look at stuff, interact with stuff, talk, and rewind time. In other words, this is no open-world game, or even one with selectable locations.
That said, the areas are loaded with tons of detail, lots of little details that bring the characters to life and reveal more about them, and the ability to immerse yourself in that world is awesome. You can read text messages on Max's phone (both ones she sends and receives), and review any previously seen pieces of evidence and information. It's a great feature that really brings the world to life, along with the amount of graphical and audio detail. Each location just feels alive.
Some of the more creative potential uses of Max's time travel power, like going back to point in the distant past to create an alternate universe, occur only in the story and not through player action.
The story is damn good, and I must say, I had opinions about the characters just like everyone else did - especially Chloe, who I really liked even with her flaws. And I really cared about my choices, because I cared about these characters.
Which, I imagine, makes this "game" a success. An experiment well done. I just hope the concept gets expanded upon someday.
Max does what we all wish we could do
How often have you said something you immediately wished you could take back? Or done something you immediately wished you could undo?
Life is Strange gives you the option to live that fantasy in a seriously flawed masterpiece.
The ability to rewind time is a nice mechanic, and the fact that some decisions won't affect you until much later - complete with a warning ahead of time letting you know that - makes it even more important. There are times when I wondered about the serious long-term implications of the thing I did. Was it wrong to take a photo of Kate being harassed by the security guard instead of yelling at him to leave her alone? Or would it have long-term benefits? There are quite a few choices with non-obvious outcomes.
The mechanic is gradually used in more clever ways over time. Once you learn that Max can "teleport" by rewinding time without moving her own physical position, it opens up a few creative possibilities that I won't spoil.
Unfortunately, the possibilities are limited by the story. You don't have the freedom to travel everywhere, but only to explore your immediate surroundings, look at stuff, interact with stuff, talk, and rewind time. In other words, this is no open-world game, or even one with selectable locations.
That said, the areas are loaded with tons of detail, lots of little details that bring the characters to life and reveal more about them, and the ability to immerse yourself in that world is awesome. You can read text messages on Max's phone (both ones she sends and receives), and review any previously seen pieces of evidence and information. It's a great feature that really brings the world to life, along with the amount of graphical and audio detail. Each location just feels alive.
Some of the more creative potential uses of Max's time travel power, like going back to point in the distant past to create an alternate universe, occur only in the story and not through player action.
The story is damn good, and I must say, I had opinions about the characters just like everyone else did - especially Chloe, who I really liked even with her flaws. And I really cared about my choices, because I cared about these characters.
Which, I imagine, makes this "game" a success. An experiment well done. I just hope the concept gets expanded upon someday.