Life is Strange Review (2015)

Max is a quiet and thoughtful girl who does not part with her old Polaroid. Five years ago, she left her small town Arcadia Bay to move to Seattle, but is now returning to attend the elite Blackwell Art School, a famous photographer's class. One day she witnesses a skirmish between a local major and some rude punk, during which a psycho pulls out a pistol and accidentally kills a girl. Max tries to help her - and discovers the power to rewind time like a videotape. A second chance and a fire alarm change everything: Max realizes that she just saved the life of her childhood best friend, Chloe. But she has changed so much … what happened? Max feels that she has left Chloe, and it starts to break her heart. Besides, there are so many mysteries around … Where did Max get this power to rewind time? What is the meaning of the vision of a monstrous storm that hung over the city and its lighthouse? Where has Rachel Ambers gone, who's been posted all over town? And what other secrets are hidden by the quiet, basking in the warmth of the autumn sun, lulled by the sound of the waves of Arcadia Bay?

Max still has no idea what hell she will have to go down to to save those who are dear to her.

***

Life Is Strange is a real multi-part cartoon, a whole drawn movie, conceived as a TV series, each plot twist of which must be controlled. At the same time, the story itself does not change very much (as in the cursed by many Mass Effect 3 - a very good game, the end of a great sci-fi trilogy, the ending of which boiled down to three, albeit logical and beautiful, but equally unhappy for the hero / heroine, ends that do not take into account almost no player's decisions), according to the main plot Max and Chloe will still lead us by the hand - but important accents in the dialogues and relationships of the heroes create a kind of variability in the story, and what will be the fate of the heroes, in the end, depends only on us.

It's a very interesting experience - and very, very emotional. Games are a separate and already quite serious form of art: if in the cinema the viewer is an indifferent object of what is happening and can influence the plot only if he leaves the hall, turns off the film or rewinds an unpleasant fragment, then here the degree of influence is greater. in action games like Call of Duty or Doom, the gameplay consists of a variety of combat situations and rushes from one part of the map to another in order to see a linking plot movie and again launch into battle, then in story-oriented games like the same Mass Effect in the plot-narrative part, the "movie" is interrupted so that the player-spectator makes an important decision for the plot. And this works for engagement much more than a simple, passive movie: in Life is Strange we do not just watch a film about the girls Chloe and Max, unraveling a new riddle, sorting out the relationship and saving each other in another reminiscence of the Butterfly Effect - we play behind Max, we examine the space, look for objects, read diaries and notes - the plot is presented both through the environment and its details, and through the reflection of Max herself, whose inner voice comments on what is happening. An emotional connection is established with the heroine and wrong decisions, as well as the predictable "serial" cliff-hangers (unexpected endings leading to the next episode), are felt really strong.

And yet - the format of the game, not limited to cinematic timing, allows stories to be told in a way that neither a film nor a series can.

For example, in Life is Strange, in the middle of the story, the heroine discovers a new facet of her supernatural talent and decides to use it to change her friend's past. Save her father from dying in a car accident, to be precise. Max succeeds in this - but after she returns to an altered reality, it turns out that the car accident happened anyway, and Chloe herself was driving - and Max is now living with the consequences of this choice. This is a very difficult episode and it is clear that in the end it turns out to be a dead-end in terms of plot and would hardly work in a movie - but in a game that is not limited by the time frame and plot tradition of traditional media, it works, revealing the characters and their inner world more strongly. … The more Max learns Chloe again, the more he wants to help her, breaking, if necessary, the laws of nature and time, and the stronger the feeling of guilt for her mistakes grows in her, the more she values ​​her friend, whom she wants to protect from harm.

The story, which began as a pretty sketch of student everyday life soaring in the clouds of an Instagram high school student and her classmates, turns into a paranoid detective with evidence collection, a fantastic drama in several alternative realities, a "torture" thriller and a psychedelic trip in the spirit of David Lynch. This is a story of friendship that turns into something more - a very touching, emotional, powerful sight.

Visually, the game looks like a drawing that comes to life, which can be traced even in the design of the illuminated objects and the images themselves; the graphics are intentionally not photo-realistic, so the flat hair, plastic skin, and slightly meager facial animations of Life Is Strange can be forgiven. Colors, effects, and moods are reminiscent of vibrant Instagram shots and filters, creating a warm, early American fall on the Pacific coast.

The controls are quite responsive, except for moments with aiming at a photo to move in time. The gameplay is not complicated at all, - Max thinks out loud, examining each item, and it can help if the skills of Sherlock Holmes remained at 221B Baker Street.

The music is indie-indie, only Ed Sheeran is gone (and it's good that he isn't). There is no official Russian voice acting either, but there is one made by the fans, and it is marvelous. Non-professional actors fall into types quite well (especially the actress who voiced Max), and the spoken translation with obscene abuse is extremely convincing and literary. Living people talk like that to each other.

Summary, it's wonderful thing in every way - a wonderful experience that can be a little traumatized at the same time, but … we already know that Life is Strange.

Right, Chloe and Max?