Its not been too long since we began our adventure through BlackwellAcademy as Max Caulfield; a photography student who has moved back toher home town only to find that she has the power to rewind time.
Those of you who read my last review know just how fond I was of theprevious episode 'Chrysalis', I can happily say I bring good newsthat 'Out Of Time' brings yet another excellent episode to the table,though one that is perhaps not so well balanced as the previousepisode.
'Out Of Time' follows several interweaving storylines in particularthat of fellow photography student Kate and Max's best friend Chloe.
Kate is having troubles with social media and a viral video and Chloeis just attempting to get by in life without getting killed bysomeone she owes.
Of course, being a story driven game I cant really divulge muchfurther into things; however be rest assured that Life is Strangecould be set to be a downloadable GOTY contender if its storycontinues to be as strong and challenging as it is in this episode.
Tackling issues not often explored even in TV let alone videogames,especially having it centred around a set of characters who aren'tquite adults, but not kids anymore. Its classic teen drama, butpresented in a unique and touching form.
The gameplay of episode 2 is where this entry does fall a bit flathowever. Unlike the first episode where you were never stuck doingone thing for too long, 'Out Of Time' has a very bland gameplaystructure. With the majority of the episode focussing around tryingto convince Chloe of your time manipulation powers it actually movesrelatively slowly for an entry that barely scrapes two hours long.
A particular annoyance of the episode is when you are put into anenvironment and tasked with finding 5 collectibles. Only one of thesecollectibles is difficult to find, but that entire task felt likepadding, especially seeing as the task only needed three of thecollectibles anyway.
On top of this episode 2 has some rather irritating puzzle sectionswherein you're expected to rely on the rewind mechanic to complete itrather than your actual skill at solving the puzzle.
Whilst the gameplay it itself is not bad, I certainly hope that therest of the season does not follow suit.
The king of the gameplay is of course, the conversation sections.'Out Of Time' also has one of the most tense conversation experiencesI have had in a game like this, ever. With the consequence of howthis conversation goes dramatically altering the outcome of the game.It was this section in particular that goes to show that this game ismore than just a Telltale knock-off, its playing ball with the bestand showing signs of being able to beat them at their own game.
In short, if you don't own Life is Strange yet, it is one of thisyears best download games so far as well as one of the best episodicadventure games since the first season of The Walking Dead. Thiscould well be 2015's dark horse.
LifeIs Strange
Episode2: Out Of Time – 9/10
+Exciting,Entertaining Yet Sensitive
+BranchingStorylines
+InterestingCharacters
-PaddedGameplay
