“Before the Storm” is the prequel to Dontnod’s episodic drama “Life is Strange”. “Before the Storm” follows Chloe Price and her relationship with Rachel Amber. This short three episode mini-series delves deeper into the character of Chloe. Why and how Chloe became who she is in the original.
This series’ Chloe has a much deeper emotional range. In the first game she was not just angry and cold, but this series provides a much more introspective look into the mind of the character. The first episode sets up the friendship, and possibly more depending on player choices, between the two characters beautifully. It reveals that Rachel, the golden child of Blackwell Academy, and Chloe, the school delinquent, were much more similar than meets the eye. Both of them were dealing with family dysfunction and plan to escape from their lives, their family and town. Episode 2, “Brave New World”, starts in a disciplinary meeting that ends in either Chloe’s suspension or expulsion. Chloe then learns that her mother’s boyfriend is moving in and, to make things worse, is going to start cracking down and try to reign Chloe’s wild side in. Chloe refuses to go along with it and runs away. Chloe is later approached by the local drug dealer, Frank Bowers, with a proposition to erase her debt with him and possibly make some money. Frank’s “friend” Damon Merrick, who is a big name in the town’s underworld, is owed money by one of the students at Blackwell. It falls to Chloe to try and collect the money. During her attempt to covertly retrieve the money she has a run in with Merrick himself. There is a decision that players can make at this point to let Damon go about his business and assault the students that owes him or step in. Despite the choice players later meet back up with Rachel and the two finalize their decision to run away together. After reaching the Amber household the pair is caught and forced into a family diner. By the end of the meal the truth is brought to light. Rachel confronts her father about his affair and her father brings a secret that will rock Rachel’s world to its core. Overall this episode is good, but stumbles after the great start in the first episode. The episode still has great writing, but the performance was not up to the level of the first episode’s. It would have been nice to see more of Rachel in this episode. Part of what is made the first episode so great was the exploration of a character who plays a significant role in the original game, but was never seen. Rachel appears at the beginning of the episode and then again at the end. It appears that this mini-series is beginning to fall into the same pitfall that the first game. Instead of telling one concise story, it is trying to do too much and tell this complex winding narrative that is just unnecessary. There are great titles that do tell a story filled with left turns and big reveals, but a simple approach would fit this game better. Deck Nine is telling a great drama, and big soap opera-esque reveals are par for the course. The problem starts when there telling another side story of the darker side of the town or the supernatural/scifi aspects in the original game. They are telling multiple stories of different genres and trying to shoehorn them into one coherent narrative. There are minor complaints to be made about this episode, but it is still enjoyable. Deck Nine still has another episode to work with. Hopefully they will recover from this stumble and finish strong. Rating: 7/10
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Two months ago Bungie released the long awaited sequel to its 2014 sci-fi hit “Destiny”. “Destiny” found success as one of the first pseudo MMOs that have been coming to consoles in recent years as part of the “games as a service” trend.
In “Destiny 2” players create a Guardian. Guardians are beings that have been bestowed a power called Light from a mysterious artifact known as the Traveler. The Light gives Guardians the ability to revive themselves after death and mystical powers depending on their class. When creating their character, players are given the option to choose between three classes Titan, Hunter or Warlock. Titans are more resilient and stronger soldiers. Hunters are more of a speed based class that utilizes knives as a melee weapon. The final class, Warlocks, use their Light as a weapon in a way resembling magic. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses that can be offset by playing with others in three person fireteams. “Destiny 2” builds off of the success of its predecessor. There is not necessarily more content to “Destiny 2”. Everything players can do in the sequel, they could do in the first game to a lesser degree. What “Destiny 2” does so well is adding more depth to the content. The narrative is more involved in the game in the sequel. The first game had a forgettable story that had a weak connection to the point of the game. In “Destiny 2” the story takes center stage and has roots in every part of the game. There is a lore or narrative reason for everything in the game. Every bit of content needs to be unlocked by playing the story. Strike missions, for example, are not unlocked until near the end of the story as opposed to right from the start. Patrol missions have been replaced by adventures. Adventures can be found on each planet in the game. Patrols were small, single objective missions that could be completed to farm experience. Adventures have a similar purpose, but tell adventures are longer and tell a short self-contained story. Players also gain rewards from completing adventures in the form of loot or skill points. Patrol missions do return late game and are very similar to the original. Leveling and outfitting characters is slightly different this time around. There is still a skill tree, but it is laid out in a simpler and easier to understand way. Subclasses are back as well. Each class has three subclasses, each with a unique special ability. Like most of the game, subclasses fit into the narrative and need to be unlocked. This game’s subclasses allow for even more fine-tuning of the character to meet the player’s preferences. Weapon classes have seen a small change. “Destiny 2” does not utilize the primary and secondary weapon system the first game used. Instead, “Destiny 2” divides weapons into kinetic, energy and power weapons. “Destiny 2” gives players more flexibility in how to loadout their character. For example, a player can take an auto rifle and a submachine gun in either slot. In the first game, certain types of guns could only be taken in specific slots. There are certain weapon classes that can only be used as power weapons. Those weapons are sniper rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, fusion rifles, grenade launchers and swords. The Crucible also makes a return. The Crucible is the series’ player versus player arena. This is a feature that saw minor tweaks. The biggest change is that matches have been reduced from 6 v 6 to 4 v 4. Map sizes have also been reduced. By reducing the number of players and shrinking the size of the maps, Crucible matches are faster paced and more fun. Everything “Destiny 2” does, it does well. The game is incredibly fun and will drain hours from anyone who plays it. The game is still in its infancy and it can only be better as more content is added as time goes on. Rating: 8/10 “Bastion”, “Transistor” and now “Pyre”, these are all titles by the hit development studio Supergiant Games.
“Pyre”, released earlier this August, is set in a fictitious fantasy world in which, as opposed to jailing criminals, they are cast down to a place called the Downside. All crimes receive the same sentence, exile. The Downside is an area that has no escape that the founders of this society once found themselves. These founders, known as the Eight Scribes, found enlightenment in the Downside and when they emerged founded the society known as the Commonwealth. The story begins with the player waking the Downside. At this time players are not aware of what crime they committed. The player’s character is rescued other exiles who are part of a triumvirate called the Nightwings. It is revealed that there is a way to escape the Downside and return to the Commonwealth. This is done by competing in Rites. The Rites are the process in which the members of the triumvirates attain enlightenment. The player is then revealed to be a reader. The Commonwealth outlawed reading, so finding a reader in the Downside is rare. The player’s job as the reader is to assist their allies in the Rites. The Rites themselves are the sole aspect of gameplay in “Pyre”. The narrative and plot points are told in a way similar to that of a visual novel, meaning it is all text based. During the Rites, player’s control a team of three exiles. The goal is to take an orb from the center of the playing area and run into the opposing side’s pyre or throw it into the pyre while the other side attempts to stop the player. The game has been affectionately been called wizard basketball by some. Each character on the field emits an aura. If a character moves into an opposing character’s aura they are banished and will return to play after a set time. Auras cannot defend characters when they are carrying the orb. When a character is in possession of an orb their aura disappears leaving them vulnerable. This is where players’ strategy comes in. On each side, only one character can move at a time. This means that placement of the inactive characters is important. Throughout the game, the Nightwings gather more members for the player in their path to liberation. Eventually, the Nightwings benefactor is revealed. He explains to the Nightwings that they are pawns in a larger plan of his to fundamentally change the Commonwealth through revolution. Once players reach what seems to be the end of the game, it is learned that a Liberation Rite must be held to earn freedom. It is also revealed that only one exile may go free. After completing the first Liberation Rite, the game picks up speed and really enters into its gameplay loop. From here on players decide who they wish to face in the Rites and, depending who wins, shapes who they will face in the next Liberation Rite. “Pyre” has an enjoyable if not slow story. It takes a while for the first gameplay loop to close then each subsequent trip through takes less time. This becomes repetitive near the end, but the gameplay of the Rites remains fun until the end. “Pyre” is an interesting game that can keep players engaged all the way through its winding story. It is a slow burn but with entertaining gameplay, an amazing soundtrack and beautiful art style “Pyre” is a piece of art. Rating: 9/10 Deck Nine has released the first episode of its prequel to Dontnod Entertainment’s “Life is Strange”
“Life is Strange” is an episodic adventure game. It utilizes a similar style of gameplay to games by Telltale. Set in 2013, the story focuses on Maxine “Max” Caulfield as she attempts to navigate everyday social interactions, a missing person’s case, an impending natural disaster and a mysterious ability to rewind time. “Life is Strange: Before the Storm” takes place three years prior to the original. Players control Chloe Price, Max’s best friend from the original game. Episode one “Awake” depicts the events that led Chloe and Rachel Amber, character from the first game, friendship and even dabbling with deeper emotions between the two. Gone is the time manipulation, science fiction story of the original. “Before the Storm” tells a much simpler type of story, a teen drama. Going for a simpler concept works this game’s favor. The original seemed like it told two or three separate stories that somewhat tie together in the end. “Before the Storm” has significantly fewer moving parts, allowing the story to flow at a much smoother pace. The writing and performances are a step above the original. “Before the Storm” does what took the original two or three episodes to dial in. The first couple episode of “Life is Strange” had flat performances and some poor writing. “Before the Storm” starts strong from the start. There are still some stiff moments, but not nearly to the frequency of its predecessor. In this style of game, every choice matters. Every choice changes the game world and will have some sort of consequence. “Life is Strange” allowed players to rewind and undo most choices after seeing the immediate consequence. This time around every choice has more finality. Every choice becomes more important, because it cannot be taken back. Eliminating the time travel aspect has an effect gameplay. Max would be able to go through dialogue with a character to get a piece of information, then rewind the conversation and open up new dialogue choices. Without this ability, Chloe has her own way to influence conversation. This is a mechanic called “backtalk”. During these moments Chloe will try to intimidate or persuade the other person. Players will need to listen carefully to a line of dialogue, and then pick a retort from a group possible responses. The overall goal is to fill a meter at the bottom of the screen before the opposition does. The difficulty of these moments fluctuates depending on the person on the other side of the dialogue. This is an example of gameplay meshing with the narrative. It fits rebellious punk personality perfectly. A few of the moments where players engage in backtalk feel overly scripted and fall flat. It is not even the whole event just a line here and there. Despite a few lines, the addition of backtalk is an organic addition to the game. “Life is Strange: Before the Storm” episode one “Awake” is the first of this three episode series. This episode, despite its flaws, is a great first step in this story. Rating: 8/10 |
AuthorI am A.J. Goelz. I'm a gamer first and a writer second. I hope you enjoy the content on this page and check out the rest of my content on YouTube. Archives
April 2019
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