The Worst Thing A Kid Can Say About A Game Is That It's Too Easy

That Time We Discussed Video Games

What The Buzz: Life is Strange

'Life is Strange' is an episodic graphic adventure game developed by DontNod Entertainment and published by Square Enix.

The final episode (#5) is out tomorrow and has been highly anticipated throughout the gaming community.  I have watched several Let's Plays of this game and it is truly beautiful.  The graphics are fantastic and the actual plot of the story is amazingly gripping.  The dialogue is somewhat awkward in places and I don't know which teenagers they based it off but the flow of the game doesn't suffer too much for it.

The game focuses on the main character - Max Caulfield - a photography student at the local college in Arcadia Bay who quickly discovers that she is able to rewind time.  Some strange weather anomalies start occurring and Max foresees a huge tornado ripping through Arcadia Bay.  This together with disappearing girls, a suicidal student and reconnecting with an old friend form the basis of the game.  Max has lots of difficult decisions to make throughout and you normally have a handy 'do-over' button if you decide you don't like the outcome.

But, as Max learns only too well, sometimes you cannot change the course of fate...

The game is full of intrigue and twists enough to keep the player interested but the second episode is a little slow and sometimes the development feels too sluggish as you need to replay certain aspects of the game repeatedly in order to get the information required to progress.  But the graphics are good, the characters are interesting and the voice acting is great (and that is no mean feat given some of the dialogue).  I don't want to spoil too much of the game so I won't go into any more detail about the plot.

This is definitely a game that I would recommend people should play as watching other people can be ridiculously frustrating when you don't agree with their decisions or they miss big clues (Pewdiepie I am looking at you!!) but it runs almost like a film in some places and it really is immersive.

When I have finally moved into my new house and have my gaming PC set up again (sweet baby Jesus I cannot wait!) I will be buying a copy of the game and having a play through of my own - which will be posted on the J Squared YouTube (just fyi).  Hopefully you will tune in for that and no doubt provide lots of advice and criticisms on my poor decision making!

In the meantime, I hope you join me in watching and supporting other gamers playing this amazing game after the final episode is released tomorrow (20th October 2015).

Oh, and also have a #fantasticMonday.

&&Fin.