Life Is Strange True Colors Review (PS5)
As an avid fan of the series since its culmination several years ago, I have unintentionally set the bar in my mind for the series to be rather high. Both the first 2 games offered immersive worlds that made us grow to love the protagonists and their company. The choices were sometimes a grueling decision of what the outocome of certain actions may result in for your characters. Most of all, they have all been relatable. I don't know what happened for this formula to up and change here, but if going off True Colors as a future waypoint going forward for the series, its one I believe I would rather skip. The characters are all bland (except for one charming and punk ass chick who I will name later!!), the story is so easy to see through from the very outset of the game that it's almost laughable, and the overall choices and day to day to cycles you play through are all very uninteresting and dull.
Whereas in the first game as Max and Chloe, 2 fan favorite characters of the series (and for a reason no doubt!), you become engrossed in the day to day schedules of a high school girls routine, from the social awkwardness that comes to people of that age in school, to the several friends and possible enemies that can be made through your choices and attitudes and responses to them via dialogue. You never get bored of the bigger mystery at hand and it stays interesting all the way through, becoming more shocking as you unravel new threads. Now, I know that Life Is Strange Part one was developed completely differently as it was created to be an episodic adventure rather than being a day one full title like True Colors was. Even with the explorable town at your disposal in this game, it is a rather uneventful town with very little reason to actually go poking around. Of course, in the first game, exploring every scene and screenshot presented to you in each chapter was a blast and the keen eye would discover a secret or hidden meaning that you may come to understand later or use to change an outcome. The whole time changing mechanic was a blast in the first game but even without that, this game pales in comparison to its counterparts.
You play Alex Chen, a pretty black haired girl who has been through a very tough life. Being separated from her older brother and mother and father and bouncing from orphanage to shelter, her life has not been an easy one. Over the course of her journey to adulthood, somewhere along the way, she realized she had a gift! (Surprise! It would hardly be Life Is Strange if otherwise!!). Her gift is much weirder and more complex than say Max or Daniel's (from LIS 2) for that matter. Rather than being something that is pretty easy to perceive how to best utilize, she can read the aura someone's emotions and basically hear there very thoughts, especially at very emotional moments. She can also influence these moments to happen by escalating the mood of her choice, and it quickly becomes apparent that the game wants you to use this over and over throughout the game, whether you like it or not. It is overused and it produces much more random and often bizarre results. It is not a gift that is fun to use and try to help your favoirte NPC out during the story as in the first 2 main titles, but a hard to read mechanic that the game thrusts on you around every corner. While it may be cool to possess this ability in real life, the game hardly ever interestingly uses this and the few times it does seem like it may go a refreshing route the game goes right back to square one and happening exactly how you knew it would. There are a few high moments in the game where you will enjoy the atmosphere and interacting with it, but these are few and far between and too often the mundane is all you encounter.
Steph is a character who made their debut in Life Is Strange: Before The Storm, a side story where you play as a young Chloe before Max moves back from Seattle in the events that transpire in Life Is Strange part one. Steph comes off as a dorky Dungeons and Dragons cosplayer in Before The Storm but comes to True Colors bringing cool back to the nerd cliche. She definitely made me change my opinion of her as in this game we are able to see who she truly is underneath the exterior of the geeky persona we are solely exposed to the first time around. Here she is sexy, cool and she doesn't mind letting everyone know exactly how she feels. She is very punk rockish, and I believe for more reasons than just these, that this by far makes her the most memorable and lovable character in the game. Alex is voiced by a very good voice actress, but her thought process from things she says when you interact with stuff and dialogue in game just dont make her anything but a rather boring character to make as the protagonist. Max and Sean were much better and had more heart. Thank goodness Steph saves this drag from falling too low.
The idea to make this game an explorable open world game may have been the wrong call for the series. As is evident of the past, Dontnod and Sqaure Enix know what they are doing and manage to put together a much more captivating cast and plot when done episodically, and even the paid DLC that can be added on by spending $9.99 if you so choose after clearing the main game is a snoozefest that really only treads older ground that most people were better off not ever seeing walked in the first place. Steph Gingrich is not big enough to save this DLC and I found myself struggling to play either it or the dullfest Story mode. What happened here? I only hope they learn from this and go back to their roots should there be any new adventures in the Life is Strange universe!!