Deesxp
Joined Mar 2009
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Reviews7
Deesxp's rating
During a perfect summer in the 90's, four girls feel drawn together to form a deep lifelong friendship. However, something horrible happened. Something they need to forget. They run, from what they did, from each other, from even their own memories. A package shows up, forcing them to reckon with their past.
It's an incredible plot, and the execution pays off. Thrown back into the summer of '95, full of the unrestricted, free feeling of a group of teen girls' last summer before college and "the real world." It's nostalgic and bittersweet. I found myself remembering aspects of my own past I had long forgotten. Sights and sounds pull you into an immersive world. And the music! Oh, the music! It's a fun blend of dreamy pop sequences and riot grrrl punk.
Each character is fleshed out here, even those that could have been 1-dimensional. Turn every stone, try out every dialog option, because there's a deep mystery here, and it deepens the more you look into it.
This is a rich game focused on characters. On growth. On dangerous mysteries and forgotten pasts. It's somehow both cozy and thrilling. I can't step away from it. In just over a month, the second half will land, and you won't want to miss that.
It's an incredible plot, and the execution pays off. Thrown back into the summer of '95, full of the unrestricted, free feeling of a group of teen girls' last summer before college and "the real world." It's nostalgic and bittersweet. I found myself remembering aspects of my own past I had long forgotten. Sights and sounds pull you into an immersive world. And the music! Oh, the music! It's a fun blend of dreamy pop sequences and riot grrrl punk.
Each character is fleshed out here, even those that could have been 1-dimensional. Turn every stone, try out every dialog option, because there's a deep mystery here, and it deepens the more you look into it.
This is a rich game focused on characters. On growth. On dangerous mysteries and forgotten pasts. It's somehow both cozy and thrilling. I can't step away from it. In just over a month, the second half will land, and you won't want to miss that.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a mixed bag of emotions. Some of that plays into its strongsuits. Others leave you wondering why small changes weren't considered.
The game takes place a decade after the events of the first Life is Strange game. We're once again in the shoes of Max Caulfield, and once again, we're snooping around. The first game revolved around a mystery hidden in plain sight, hidden by issues of sexism, money, and power. At its core, the disappearance of a girl. I won't spoil Life is Strange 1 here, but it is the best in the series, and should be played before Double Exposure. Can you jump in without playing the first game? Yes. But it's not as fulfilling without experiencing the backstory firsthand.
We get to see just how far Max Caulfield has come. She's more expressive, more assure of herself than ever, and still a snoop. That comes in handy when her friend Safi is murdered. A case that grows stranger the longer Max looks at it, and her proximity to the case draws the unwanted attention of a detective.
More than even the first game, you'll do some more traditional detective work. Interviewing suspects and people close to the case, without letting them know you're on to them. Press too hard and you may lose a source, don't ask enough, and you may not get the full picture. I really like how this game felt more like a detective story than past mysteries in the series.
Max's new power presents some fun puzzles, but is largely underutilized. Even at times when jumping between realities could provide a challenging puzzle, we're practically handed the solution with hints from objectives and Max's inner monologue. This game could have used a difficulty slider, including an option that turns off all non-essential objectives and lets us fail a little more.
And perhaps that brings me to Double Exposure's greatest flaw: the developers just like us too much. It's clear they didn't want any emotional blow to land like a gut punch and instead feel like a glancing blow. Every chance they had to really deliver a strong, gut-wrenching emotional impact, they found a way to soften it. Whether it's panning away during intense moments, time skips, or only seeing people's first reactions through text messages.
The other drawback is an awkward eavesdropping feature. There are many interesting side stories in this game, from a student facing bias, an art student looking to upset the status quo, a student-ran game, and cryptid enthusiasts on the hunt. However, they're mostly told through standing still near a conversation to overhear it, including waiting multiple seconds between beats in the conversation. It's awkward, and would have been better handled with a few more direct interactions. It's clearly a cost-saving measure to keep mocap and development time down, but I feel like it hurt the exploratory angle when we only can talk to the core suspects and friend group of Max.
Overall, the story opens up more than it wraps up, still giving us both satisfying conclusions and a lot to look forward to in this series. The focus on Max's past, her grief and trauma over previous choices, and her attitude with dealing with these problems changing and growing is well-done and satisfying. Max's previous relationships and history aren't given the attention they deserve, for sure, but as a middle sequel, with Max finding her own footing, it works. Music is incredible and immersive, lending itself to each situation. The voice acting and motion capture brings these characters to life like never before. This is the best we've seen Max Caulfield, not only in her life, but in the performance as well. It's a must-play for fans of the series, and the kind of game that raises the bar for the rest of the industry. Games should have feeling, they should have impact, they should feature diverse voices. Life is Strange continues to push the industry towards better games with Double Exposure.
The game takes place a decade after the events of the first Life is Strange game. We're once again in the shoes of Max Caulfield, and once again, we're snooping around. The first game revolved around a mystery hidden in plain sight, hidden by issues of sexism, money, and power. At its core, the disappearance of a girl. I won't spoil Life is Strange 1 here, but it is the best in the series, and should be played before Double Exposure. Can you jump in without playing the first game? Yes. But it's not as fulfilling without experiencing the backstory firsthand.
We get to see just how far Max Caulfield has come. She's more expressive, more assure of herself than ever, and still a snoop. That comes in handy when her friend Safi is murdered. A case that grows stranger the longer Max looks at it, and her proximity to the case draws the unwanted attention of a detective.
More than even the first game, you'll do some more traditional detective work. Interviewing suspects and people close to the case, without letting them know you're on to them. Press too hard and you may lose a source, don't ask enough, and you may not get the full picture. I really like how this game felt more like a detective story than past mysteries in the series.
Max's new power presents some fun puzzles, but is largely underutilized. Even at times when jumping between realities could provide a challenging puzzle, we're practically handed the solution with hints from objectives and Max's inner monologue. This game could have used a difficulty slider, including an option that turns off all non-essential objectives and lets us fail a little more.
And perhaps that brings me to Double Exposure's greatest flaw: the developers just like us too much. It's clear they didn't want any emotional blow to land like a gut punch and instead feel like a glancing blow. Every chance they had to really deliver a strong, gut-wrenching emotional impact, they found a way to soften it. Whether it's panning away during intense moments, time skips, or only seeing people's first reactions through text messages.
The other drawback is an awkward eavesdropping feature. There are many interesting side stories in this game, from a student facing bias, an art student looking to upset the status quo, a student-ran game, and cryptid enthusiasts on the hunt. However, they're mostly told through standing still near a conversation to overhear it, including waiting multiple seconds between beats in the conversation. It's awkward, and would have been better handled with a few more direct interactions. It's clearly a cost-saving measure to keep mocap and development time down, but I feel like it hurt the exploratory angle when we only can talk to the core suspects and friend group of Max.
Overall, the story opens up more than it wraps up, still giving us both satisfying conclusions and a lot to look forward to in this series. The focus on Max's past, her grief and trauma over previous choices, and her attitude with dealing with these problems changing and growing is well-done and satisfying. Max's previous relationships and history aren't given the attention they deserve, for sure, but as a middle sequel, with Max finding her own footing, it works. Music is incredible and immersive, lending itself to each situation. The voice acting and motion capture brings these characters to life like never before. This is the best we've seen Max Caulfield, not only in her life, but in the performance as well. It's a must-play for fans of the series, and the kind of game that raises the bar for the rest of the industry. Games should have feeling, they should have impact, they should feature diverse voices. Life is Strange continues to push the industry towards better games with Double Exposure.
I don't know why Netflix went through the trouble of special effects. This is, after all, primarily an audio drama. All dialog. All exposition. Tell don't show. It's a pain to watch. Like a podcast at 0.75x speed. Towards the end of the show, you hear about all these supposed adventures and fights team avatar has had. The legend of Aang has spread! Where? What adventures? Off camera? Because on camera it's just three kids talking about how important their duties are. How important everything is. How important this all is! And they skipped Aang training? Maybe he got caught up in talking about training and forgot to do it.
None of the usual charm or humor. On top of it all, so many stories got compressed into a few episodes. What about all the character development? How these characters evolved in the cartoon? Well, just junk to the end! Take away all the development and leave them starting off pretty great already.
Avatar showed flaws, growth, improvement. This is just talking about the Avatar.
God, even the Ember Island Players knew to show a few fight scenes, even if they did get the scar on the wrong side.
Some great casting choices here, while others may need to become a bit more comfortable in their role. Maybe there's a chance for another season, but my guess is, Netflix doesn't want to put in the investment or effort to make this what it should be.
None of the usual charm or humor. On top of it all, so many stories got compressed into a few episodes. What about all the character development? How these characters evolved in the cartoon? Well, just junk to the end! Take away all the development and leave them starting off pretty great already.
Avatar showed flaws, growth, improvement. This is just talking about the Avatar.
God, even the Ember Island Players knew to show a few fight scenes, even if they did get the scar on the wrong side.
Some great casting choices here, while others may need to become a bit more comfortable in their role. Maybe there's a chance for another season, but my guess is, Netflix doesn't want to put in the investment or effort to make this what it should be.