G'day there guys and gals!
With the high standard and want in the current gaming community for Point and Click games (especially from Telltale), many were skeptical of Life is Strange, myself included. I shall admit, I was incredibly judgmental of the game before I played it!
However, for the five years that I have been reviewing games, I have written them with one rule; you, the reader, receive a 100%, unbiased review. And if no one has told you yet, let me be the first to say thus so: Life is Strange is one of the best games of 2015 and more than worthy of the Game Of The Year position.
For those unfamiliar with the storyline and to save you from too many spoilers, you play as Max Caulfield, an 18 year old girl attending Blackwell Academy for her remarkable skills with photography, with an odd obsession with selfies and old technology. Yet after taking a photo of a blue butterfly in the bathroom and witnessing a girl's murder, she soon discovers she has obtained the ability to control time through herself and her photos, and this ability is one that will change the destiny of everything and everyone around her.
Gameplay basically boils down to point and click gameplay, with the addition of button control time travel to reverse or speed up time. In doing this, you may capture Optional Photos (for your diary, and extra Achievements) as well as aid your fellow students. As the episodes go on, you will face various other puzzles, from conversations and codes to opening new areas. Graphics wise are well done, there are some bulkiness to the characters, however the vibrant colours and the settings help to create a perfect mood, especially during small cutscenes or times when players lose control. Sound effects are great and give a definite modern feel to the overall games wheras the soundtrack is perfectly placed. Each song captures the mood, tension and emotional state of Max perfectly. Voice acting is one of the greater aspects of the game, the portrayal of young adults of today's era is done exceedingly well. It was clear from the first "hella" to cross my ears that the developers at DontNod have definitely done their research into Western Culture.
But what makes this game as brilliant as it is is the storyline. While the game admittedly starts semi-slow with many promises and Max discovering her powers, if the ending of Episode 1 doesn't intrigue you, Episode 2 definitely will, and from there, it will snowball as it did for me. The game covers incredibly sensitive topics such as teenage pregnancy and abortion, sex tapes and drugging, suicide, murder and more. The way DontNod has handled these topics (even offering aid to those with depression and suicidal thoughts via their website and game itself) is also something to be applauded for. The game's choices, admittedly, do feel slightly like Telltale's choices of "selflessness or selfishness" but do it in a way that you won't notice until you're completely finished with the game and debating over the choices you should make. Choices can be simple such as bacon and eggs or waffles (no I'm not joking, that's in the game) or choices you don't even realise you're making, such as multiple ways to complete a task. What leaves my jaw dropping from this is how the game both handles them and uses them to bring out pure, raw emotions; the slightest similarities to your own high school life/experiences can be seen in this game.
It's worth note that during all five episodes, I barely had any issues, the only being the standard achievements not unlocking via the 48 hour refresh issue as well as the slight delay of episode 5. However I found no game breaking and glitching issues of any kind. Being a episodic-release title and having no issues on release is an incredibly brilliant feat.
Huge amounts of nerdy references, a beautiful setting with horrible outcomes and plotlines, incredibly hard choices and all tied off with brilliant acting, sound effects and musical score. This game will bring you to bliss then immediately to tears.
In a world today where mobile games are the rage and Online Only titles matter, it warms my heart that the tradition of video games is still alive and well; the era of incredibly written, made and executed games is not over yet. With the Holiday season upon us and the onslaught of AAA games to come, if there is any game you would consider adding to your list, make Life is Strange one of them.
Sublimity in its purest form.
Out of 10, I give Life is Strange a 10/10!
Kudos to all at DontNod, Square Enix and all others involved in this excellent game!
Life is Strange is out now, with all Episodes out, for the standard price of $30
G'day there guys and gals!
(Please note: the final score of this review will not affect the original scores of the original content/DLC present in the Definitive Edition. To read the original reviews, click here for the game review, and here and here for the DLC)
Since the very first reveal trailer, I have had a passionate love for Dishonored; the steampunk setting accompanied by a rich world full of lore, assassination and a brilliantly made storyline. I'll be the first to admit my disdain for HD remakes: the current standard of remakes is not one I would approve of in the gaming industry today, especially so as my University studies have opened my eyes to the process of how they come to be approved of and made. So far this year, there has been only one remake I have praised for being remade into the current gen consoles. Unfortunately, I would not add Dishonored Definitive Edition into that list.
For those who have never heard/played the game, the storyline goes as this: you are Corvo Attano, the Royal Bodyguard to the Empress, Jessamine Kaldwin. The story takes place in a Steampunk-like world called Dunwall, which is riddled with the Rat Plague, a plague where rats infect humans into zombie-like walking flesh, riddled with the plague. After searching for a cure known to the other kingdoms, Corvo returns to the Empress and her young daughter Emily. But upon returning, the Empress is assassinated by Assassins, lead by a man named Daud, who also kidnaps her daughter. In doing this, Corvo is left behind and is wrongfully blamed for the Empress' murder and the kidnapping of her daughter.
Left to rot in prison for six months, Corvo is visited by The Outsider, an all seeing god-like man who lives in the Void. In watching Corvo, he gives him the gift of his mark, which besets Corvo with abilities unlike any other. And thus, Corvo sets off to seek revenge against those who killed his beloved Empress.
The gameplay and controls are as good as ever (although strangling people only to block is still a massive annoyance), sound effects and the voice acting audio appear to be improved ever so slightly whereas the music and the score are still as great as ever. I barely mention these because due to my 23 hours (so far) of experience in the Definitive Edition, none of these aspects appear to be upgraded at all. By now you may be asking "What about the graphics?". To me, these are the most disappointing feature of them all; Textures are still blurry, the frame rate is still locked at 30 FPS and screen tears are still present in the game! In all honesty, the best way to describe this re-release is that it's PC specs with all the issues of the console versions. The settings and the tone seem at the very least a little brighter and less "smudgy" than before, but in a city where a plague is infecting your populace and the city is falling into ruin, doesn't that seem more likely than bright blue skys?
The character models seem to have improved ever so slightly (especially Corvo's hands and mask) but other than that I cannot tell much difference from the PC/360 version and the updated game. The same can be said about the additional "free" DLC Knife of Dunwall, Brigmore Witches and Dunwall Trials on the disc.
What saddened me the most was the presence of glitches: my game froze four times due to the saving and loading screens, screen tears were ever present, especially in loading screens (The Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches also seemed to pixelate the most during this), while I also got stuck in walls several times, the weirdest being while swimming underwater at Daud's hideout.
Load times were also incredibly slow, so much so that I started timing my loads! When you start doing that out of boredom, you know something's wrong. For the record, my longest time was 1 minute and 42 seconds. While more hilarious than annoying, I can also mention the numeral amount of times I had corpses/unconscious people glitch through the walls and map itself. These only became annoying if they died in doing this. More often than not, they didn't, but it's still worth mentioning.
As this review is to be treated as a DLC review, I cannot in good faith give it the same score as I did the original, as the issues present here weren't there to begin with. There is the bonus of having $20 knocked off the pricetag if you own the game digitally (I cannot find any info on if you need the DLC too), but for people like me who prefer still buying discs, you're paying full price. And full price in Australia is basically five bucks short of the minimum full price for a brand new title game.
Overall, with deluxe AAA titles coming out in the coming weeks, especially another Bethesda title (Fallout 4) in consideration, once more I have been baited for my love of an (semi) old game being re-rendered for new consoles at a sub-par rate. Even regardless of the upcoming titles and other games such as Gears of War Ultimate Edition offering so much more quality at a lower price, I would suggest waiting for a price drop.
As a diehard fan of this series and someone eagarly awaiting the sequel, it truly pains me to be incredibly negative towards a game I love. Is the game itself bad? No, absolutely not. But I wouldn't be able to call myself a reviewer if I did not bring these issues to life. Forgive me Bethesda and Arkane, but this left more than a sour taste in my mouth.
Final score for Dishonored Definitive Edition: D+
Dishonored Definitive Edition is out now for the standard price of $75
G'day there guys and gals!
