Life Is Strange. (Review)

So this new game came out and it sure is strange... oh god. Ok right anyway there are some really interesting themes in this otherwise average 'multiple choice' game, I thought I'd take a bit of time to write a short review.

Story

It all starts on a dark windy night, tall looming trees and a spooky feel, the protagonist must make their way to safety in a lighthouse.... wait is this Alan Wake. Seriously look up the opening to Alan Wake, the entire intro is ripped exactly. Its not often a game annoys me right from the start, however this can be ignored as the protagonist then wakes up in her photography classroom.

This is Max, a "hipster". She fits all the generic not-so-generic hipster tropes, like being incredibly skinny and carrying round a vintage Polaroid camera and saying words like "amazeballs and "wacko". I'm assuming every Tumblr girl can relate to her immediately, being the cool but not cool outcast she is.

Anyway things get interesting when she discovers she can turn back time. Things keep happening that she can rewind and do better in (for example impress her teacher with the answer that another girl gave), or in the main case she literally saves a girl from being shot. Its a fun unoriginal thing to do, but things get pretty spooky scary when the bully who had the gun gets angry at her for reporting him to principle. A lot of mundane trivial things happen, but the first episode ends when Max is dramatically transported back into the scary nightmare black & white world. 

Gameplay  and mechanics

Having only played a few 'multiple-choice-genre' games (Tales from the borderlands and The wolf among us), I deemed that I enjoyed the style of game. However I was left wondering what would've happened if I had picked the other options... Well in Life Is Strange you can use the handy rewind mechanic that lets you try the scene again. This is a really nifty trick, It lets you correct yourself when you screw up, or replay the scene just to see what happens if you select the other options. However I feel that this removes the pressure element from it, there's no worry about messing up a situation because with a quick tap of the left bumper you can play it all again. It's a real double edged sword of a mechanic. Aside from that, the game play is average. Max controls fluidly, and the graphics are bright and seem to have a slight filter on them. I blame the hipsters. 

Atmosphere

The town and school have a very niche realistic atmosphere to them. Its one of those small American towns that're sunny and friendly. A huge aspect of gaming is atmosphere, and Life is Strange knew this and carried it out perfectly. The graphics are sub-realistic, but still awe inspiring (note the opening scene). What I'm saying is they did good, great even. The dark scary scenes make you feel threatened and confused, and the generic school scenes are comforting in contrast. It's hard to pull off the mundane everyday-life concept without making it boring, but the game radiates a warm homely feeling. 

Portrayal of gender

Now this is the real interesting part. I'll try this in an unbiased manor, I'm merely going to pick up on how the game portrays both genders. 

- Men
Aside the generic dorky anti-hero guy and the teacher who also serves as a creepy love interest, all the men in the game are jerks. There's male NPCs (non playable characters) outside who're generally goofing around or being super stereotypical (for example skateboarding or playing football). However there are even a few who go out of their way to be rude or even violent even though the situation doesn't warrant it. For example after the fire bell rings and Max leaves the toilet to join everyone outside, the security guard gets really up in her face for no reason. Even after choosing the passive speech options he is still aggravated and even a little scary. The principle seems nice at first, until you mention to him that the star student may have a gun. After that he shrugs you off and goes on about the reputation of the school. It's extremely interesting that the developers chose to take such a negative standpoint towards men, considering that most mainstream games promote strong male characters.
The only guy who isn't there to be part of the background is the cleaner and he only shows up to clean things. There's probably some deep message here.

-Women

The women on the other side are all incredibly unique, even the background characters. Outside in the school grounds all the female NPCs are doing interesting and quirky things, like flying a drone or laying in the grass staring at the sky and pondering on deeper questions. They all have a specific purpose that makes them individual, unlike the guys who all group together and can be easily categorized.
I'm in no way saying"oh this is terrible", I think it's an incredible advancement in how video games treat female characters. However in this case they're making a big deal of it, drawing attention to the way they under-sexed the protagonist and super-enhanced all the female NPCs attributes. I'd love to get to the stage in gaming where we don't even discuss portrayal of gender in games, however I feel that Life is Strange took this idea a step in the right direction.