Life is Strange is the new creation from Dontnod Entertainment, the studio behind 2013 cyberpunk action game Remember Me a game I enjoyed; if only for it’s fantastic ambition but a game I was acutely aware as I played was a bit shit. This time around they’ve decided to do a full 180 and create a game set firmly in the real world of an American College Girl’s life. Well, as close to that as a French studio is going to get anyway.
So, it’s an adventure game in a very similar nature to the work of Telltale Games. You control a young girl named Max who has been accepted to a very prestigious college called Blackwell Academy. You spend most of the game running around this college talking to people, taking pictures of interesting things and just generally checking stuff out. The twist with this is that early on in the game you discover you can control time. This lends itself to the dialogue moments and some puzzle moments because at any time you can reverse time and change the actions that just took place. It’s an interesting premise and quite a refreshing change from what I’m used to where a choice is locked in for good.
Right, the good stuff, firstly the game looks lovely. In terms of aesthetic I think the guys over at Dontnod have done a fantastic job (they do seem to do well with visuals over there, non!). You really do get the feel that the world is a living breathing college (or house). Lots of variety in the NPCs took which is fantastic. The problem is that there isn’t a lot of it. Along side this the presentation is also pretty tight featuring the lovely blend of calming acoustic music that makes you feel ever so slightly like throwing up. Some people like that kind of music so I can’t critique it too much I guess… I fucking despise it for the record. Think Juno… in fact just think Juno for this game in general. 
Now the bad bits, Voice acting is a little hit and miss. Sometimes it’s good and other times it’s… pretty bad. I’ll say the main cast are okay but a lot of the supporting voice work is pretty dire. Next there is the dialogue… Imagine a bunch of 30 year old men in a marketing room trying to appeal to kids in the most cringe worthy fashion possible. Well that’s what crops up time and time again. At points the game is gliding along, finding a nice flow and then bam! a line will come out with such cringeworthy-ness it makes you want to curl up and die. Another problem I had was that the game appears to be trying to tick every single cliche in the book. I mean ALL OF THEM are here. It’s like they decided to watch a series of 80s high school flicks for research and just couldn’t cram in all the cliches they enjoyed. Arrogant rich kid, bully jock, shy smart student, rich snotty brat girl, nice guy who is a push over, blatant lesbian main character with blue hair… oh, that last one hasn’t been confirmed yet.
So, overall it’s a well presented game but the dialogue can sum up in parts to make it a bit of a cheese-cringe-fest, and I don’t say that lightly. In fact if I could sum up this game in a word it would be ‘Nice’ it’s a ‘Nice’ game neither amazing nor terrible. Would I recommend you play it?! Sure, give it a shot. It’s not too long and I’ll give it credit for being at the very least interesting.
