Games you've recently beat - Retro & Other Gaming Forum - Page 258

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So I completed my playthrough of Life is Strange 2 (Hereafter oft referred to as LiS2)

There are a couple excellent reviews already on the user review thread and I don’t think I have much critique to add to those, so I’ll try to keep my expansive thoughts more targeted over here, more as mere discussion and reaction.

I was a big fan of the original Life is Strange and even more so Before the Storm. I had my reservations about LiS2 being about completely new characters and situations. Granted, there is actually more intertwined narrative threads with the preceding games than I realized, but it’s still largely an independent story. I had my concerns about the storyline and narrative focus, but with few exceptions (some of which are outlined below), the tale is relatable and reasonable. Nearly every fictional story has moments and beats that fall flat or miss their intended mark. LiS2 isn’t a perfect narrative by any stretch, but it stirred some emotions in me, and that’s really all we can ask for, at the end of the day.

First off, these LiS games are really shoddy when it comes to performance and visuals, but what it lacks in Mo-cap performance, it makes up for in voice acting and script writing. I mean, this isn’t Shakespeare or Hemingway, but there’s some effective storytelling in play and largely driven by good VA and timing. The music in these games is always essential to mood creation and LiS2 does get this right most of the time.

Amongst my early gripes was how lackadaisical the adjacent characters treated the Diaz brothers’ situation. The direness of their plight is well established with Sean and Daniel, but the subsequent carefree approach to harboring criminals accused of murder seemed to be rather half-hearted,