Coming-of-Age With Life is Strange - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 11 October 2014 / 3,847 Views
Developer Dontnod's first outing, Remember Me, was an interesting, albeit rather mediocre action adventure game. Now for their second outing, which they describe as a "AAA indie title", Dontnod have decided to tackle the adventure genre in Life is Strange, an episodic coming-of-age story about two teenage girls, one of whom has the power to rewind time. With one of the co-founders and one of the lead developers exhibiting the game in a hands-off demo, I left the Square Enix New York Comic Con event rather impressed with how Life is Strange is coming along.
Life is Strange takes place in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Oregon, and draws much inspiration from the area in terms of art style and music. Most of the game's textures are hand painted, giving it a very surreal yet natural look that plays into the rewinding mechanics. While some of the textures come off as a bit muddled, as a whole, the visual style brings the small Oregon town to life. Though it needs a bit of work still with some visual aspects, there's plenty of time for Dontnod to make improvements.
Music stirs many emotions when it comes to movies and television, and Life is Strange hopes to accomplish a similar feat by utilizing music that is local to the area, specifically indie folk rock. The soundtrack includes published tracks from multiple local artists (although they can't be named for contractual reasons), as well as some new material recorded specifically for the game. Like the visuals, it helps to mold a surrealistic experience that instills the powerful emotions that are expected of a well-crafted coming-of-age-story.
The player takes control of Max from a third-person perspective and multiple objects in each different location can be observed or handled - it's very reminiscent of Heavy Rain, although without the motion controls. Objects are labeled with a distinctive feminine writing style that gives the world some more personality.
Central to both the plot and gameplay are the different choices Max can make while interacting with her friend Chloe and the supporting cast. However, with the ability to rewind time, the player can experience each different avenue a particular conversation or action may have before coming to an ultimate decision. Did you shatter Chloe's snow globe and piss her off? No problem, just give time a little rewind. Want to take the heat for the joint that Chloe's stepdad found instead of letting Chloe get slapped? Just rewind it. It's a great way for the player to experience what the entire game has to offer rather than having to replay the whole game multiple times, fulfilling the goal of creating strong, narrative-based gameplay in what the developers call a "modern adventure game".
While there will be a handful of puzzles, the gameplay focuses on becoming a means for the player to flesh out the relationships that exist between the game's characters through the many different paths and consequences. Dontnod also took into the account the fact that rewinding time could diminish the weight of choices by having short, mid and long term effects on the story and Max's relationships for each different path. Life is Strange is shaping up to be a charming title that has the potential to compete with the likes of TellTale Games.
Though much of the story is still unknown, the general premise focuses on the relationship between Max and Chloe. Max has just returned from a five year absence, and she now finds her former best friend Chloe to be a rebellious, blue-haired, pot-smoking teenager who has lost her father as well as one of her close friends. The game takes an in-depth look at the relationship between the two girls and how they adjust to being apart for so long, while sprinkling in some fantastical elements that revolve around Max's ability to rewind time and Chloe's missing friend.
Dialogue between the girls feels genuine and is acted well, yet some of the effect is lost because - perversely - the high level of detail exhibited by the character models unfortunately serves to highlight how visibly the voices don't come close to matching up with mouth movements. I know that the developers are natively French and the game is being designed based around their mother tongue, but at some points it looks worse than some of the most egregious JRPG translations. This can hinder the overall experience just like a good book with patches of poor writing can; it creates a disconnect between the reader and the story's characters. While the narrative holds a lot of promise, if this hurdle can't be cleared, it could prove detrimental to the game as a whole.
There's definitely plenty to be excited for with Dontnod's second outing, but recent shining examples of the genre like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us have raised expectations, so Life is Strange has a lot to live up to. However, if Dontnod can address the issues on display in the demo, then they could have a special game on their hands come early 2015, which is when the first episode is set to hit digital marketplaces.
