LIFE IS STRANGE: CHRYSALIS (Video Game)

    Video gamers!!! It’s very clear that the world of video game at this moment is grossing and making more waves than movies ever did and will ever do. 2014 ended with delicious games like Call of Duty: Advance warfare, Assassins Creed: Rogue, Far Cry4, Lara Croft and the Tomb of Osiris. Right now 2015 started with Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, Resident Evil HD, Dying Light, Life is Strange and lots more

   If you are a fan of Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls, The Walking Dead, then you will dive this title “Life is Strange”. I know so well people are skeptical when it comes to games with female protagonist but c’mon Tomb Raider didn’t escape that niche as Lara Croft thrilled us so well kicking guys butt.

   Sometime last year I saw “Life is Strange” trailer. From what I saw I concluded “this is not just a game it’s a movie”. Only for my guts to be correct when I watched the walkthrough (gameplay). I was forced to make several researches on the game and here are my findings. 

“A deeply naturalistic, playable indie movie” –Gamesrader.

    Life Is Strange is an episodic interactive drama graphic adventure video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment (developers of Remember Me), and published by Square Enix.  Life is Strange is a five part episodic game that sets out to revolutionise story based choice and consequence games by allowing the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.

   You play the character Max, a photography senior who saves her old friend Chloe from a gunshot by discovering she can rewind time. The pair soon find themselves expose to the darker side of Arcadia Bay as they uncover the disturbing truth behind the sudden disappearance of a fellow student (Rachel Amber, who supported and consoled Chole over her father’s death when Max left town). Meanwhile, Max begins to have premonitions as she struggles to understand the implications of her power. She must quickly learn that changing the past can sometimes lead to a devastating future.

   There are several creative features that will blow your mind in the game.  

• A beautifully written modern adventure game
• Rewind time to change the course of events. 
• Multiple endings depending on the choices you make.
• Striking, hand-painted visuals
• Distinct, licensed indie soundtrack

   Imagine a game where you can interact with almost everything and anything, take pictures, text with your mobile, use the social media, attend classes, take assignments, get bullied and many more teenage life challenges…this is indeed all in one. It’s not just about you playing the writers idea but you going through series of programmed trajectories in order illustrate who you really are.
   There are a few interesting dialogue and inventory puzzles that involve rewinding time to keep items you shouldn’t have or say something you shouldn’t, as well as some interesting investigation scenes where you can erase evidence of your snooping by reversing the clock. More interestingly, the abilities allow you to instantly go back to any moral choice you might regret. (Source: Hardcoregamer.com)

 

 Although, Dontnod Creative Director Jean-Maxime Moris said "For each one of your choices that you make there's no definite answer. Something good in the short-term might turn out worse later".

    The game will consist of five episodes. With six weeks between each episode, it released its first on 30 January 2015. Life Is Strange is available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360 via digital distribution. (I wonder how Nigerians and countries where internet service is like gold will be able to purchase this game…so sad) 
   The game started development in April 2013. Dontnod co-founder Jean-Maxime Moris said of the setting and art style, 

   "The Pacific Northwest was something that we determined very early in the development process as the place we wanted to set the game in. That's because we wanted to have this very nostalgic and autumnal feel to the game, and in terms of colors ... to me it's really one of those places that bring this kind of nostalgia, and I mean this in a positive way. This sense of looking inside yourself". 

    The development team visited the region, took photographs and consulted Google Street View to make sure the environment was accurately portrayed. For the sake of serving the realism, the supernatural elements that appear in the storyline are designed as a metaphor for the characters' inner conflict. The textures seen in the game are entirely hand painted, adapted to achieve what art director Michel Koch called "impressionistic rendering". Moris remarks, "We’re not only crafting the best game we possibly can, we also feel we’re providing the type of experience that perfectly fits today’s renewed taste for originality and diversity".

   So far critic rate the game 7/10 but I will rate it 9/10 because it’s not all about action or horror rather realism despite the game graphics is hand painted visuals.  (Come to think of it, why haven’t Nigerians come up with a 3D game? Okay Ash7 is making Dave & Golly which is the first Nigerian 3D cartoon but c’mon we need more people in “out of the box planet”)

   The score is composed by Jonathan Morali of the band Syd Matters. Inspired by modern indie folk music, the soundtrack is intended to inform the mood of the game and has been said to "permeate through every layer of story, art and sound”

Let’s look at what game media have to say… 

• “Life is Strange is a world you’ll want to lose yourself in” 
• “Like a Stephen King novel mixed with Gone Home” –Games 
• “Dollops of Twin Peaks…and splashes of Heavy Rain” –Euro Gamer.net 
• When Gone Home meets The Walking Dead…with time travel” –IGN 
• “Plenty of potential to become a critically-acclaimed classic” –Game Reactor 
• “Genuine well written characters I can’t wait to see more of” –IGN 
• “A beautiful little curio. Life is strange has wonderful potential” –Playstationtrophies.org 
• “A nostalgic and intriguing adventure” –Kotaku

   Life is strange Episode 2 "Out of Time" should be coming out soon, last week Friday was Pax East (Penny Arcade Expo) panel where they discussed details of Episode 2. Its coming out this March and I believe if you are just seeing this you will want more, I hope someday it will be distributed in CDs so many people in Nigerians can play. 
(other sources: Wikipedia.com, lifeisstrange.com)

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