Life is Strange Review

"Episode 5: Polarized"

Campaign

Polarized marks the completion for Life is Strange by wrapping up this amazing five part episodic series. I can't say there are many other games which truly bring together gameplay and storytelling better than this series. It's been a great last four games and this one only ends everything with exact finesse.

Anyways, this review is going to cover the final episode of the series that started earlier this year. Things were very dark at the end of the last episode with Max being left in absolute distraught with Chloe being shot right in front of her despite all the effort in the world and herself being drugged. This is where things start to build as Max makes every attempt to control time in order to create the perfect timeline.

Much is learned and changed as this entire episode focuses on the choices you've made across the episodes against their multiple reality paths. I'm trying my best to keep things relatively spoiler free as well as not to ruin the game for those that have yet to try this amazing finale. There were many great emotional points within this final episode and it actually tied things up well with great choices that directly effected how things were to play out.

The game also went far to mock your choices or at times provide the highlights of the season. It did somewhat come to a pinnacle choice which felt wrong, but I was still more than satisfied with the options presented. The story telling brought moments of happiness and gripping action which were instantly calmed to chilling notions quickly. I couldn't honestly have asked for a better ending to this already amazing game that had me intrigued from the start.

Gameplay

The graphics and scenery for the game were very beautiful with the cinematic style being very well done. There also isn't any difference moving from cutscene to actual gameplay which this game had a surprisingly great amount. While cinematic choice games are great, I like more play time then just watching and making decisions which were present here.

The choices are also neat as not much is set in stone, though you can feel at times that certain things may come back against you in the future. Additionally there's a great collectible mode if you miss any photo moments in the story making it easier to get them without ruining choices.

The Conclusion

This is one of the best stories I've experienced within games that had every property of storytelling I could ask for. There were moments of sorrow, heroics and even chilling aspects as the events unfolded. While some may not like stories wrapping up to certain points I felt that the narrative in itself was still perfect.

I had only a general idea of how things were going to turn up as every choice seemed to be evaporating as time was getting torn apart. It's important to remember that things can't always be perfect when you play with time and this a prime example of that. This was an amazing episode and I can't suggest this entire series more than enough as it was one of the best gaming experiences I've been able to witness. From the lovely art, to the flow of the game from cutscene to action every aspect of this game was entirely pleasing.

Life is Strange Review on Xbox One

Rating Overall: 10