Recent reviews by Natai

At the time of this review, I have played Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace for about 7 hours. That’s one complete playthrough, and it’s my biggest criticism of the game. I still very much recommend it and encourage you to look beyond some of the nit-picking in many other reviews.

First, understand what this game is. It is a dramatic video game rendition board game (Arkham Horror), which is itself a simplified take on a tabletop roleplaying game (Call of Cthulhu). That’s not to say it attempts to recreate a board game, merely tell a story the likes of which you might find in the board game.

Second, this is not some AAA title, nor should it be. Animations are serviceable, but not impressive – exactly what you should expect from something emulating a board game. Surprisingly, it has voice acting. The voices and lines are actually decent, and there are different lines depending on the characters you use in each scenario, but there is very little animation matching up with the voices.

Actually, the decision to include voice acting is probably my biggest concern with the design decisions made by the devs of Mother’s Embrace. While it definitely provides a good feel in terms of the story, it also opens the game up to criticism about the voice animations. More importantly, I wonder if the inclusion of voice acting might be a limiting factor in adding to the game in the future.

Back to the issue of length. I made a point of exploring as much as possible and was done in 7 hours; you could finish it quicker. By itself, having the story only take 7 hours isn’t actually a negative. I think they did a good job of telling a story without padding it, making it more convoluted, or putting a lot of extraneous gameplay activities to artificially extend the length. The length of the story is where it should be. But that story is all there is – there’s basically no replayability here. You could start again with a different character, but you’ll be experiencing the same thing with slightly different lines at times.

As for the actual gameplay, it does a good job of emulating an investigation in the traditions of Arkham Horror and Call of Cthulhu. You’re exploring, looking for clues, finding stuff to help you, finding stuff which disturbs you, and occasionally getting into combat. The combat is decent and balanced – kind of a stripped-down X-Com turn-based affair. It’s not difficult, but you do have to make decisions about positions, when to use what, etc. It’s not the focus of the game, but it is a key part of every scenario. It’s what it should be.

As far as the exploration goes, it’s done well. Points of interest are highlighted without overdoing it, and it’s easy to see if a POI is something you’ve already looked at or not. There are also helpful icons added after you’ve already checked something out so you can easily tell if you left an item there because you didn’t have room in your inventory. You don’t have much space to carry stuff, which again forces some decisions.

You also frequently find things that affect your sanity. At times, it can seem like you’re getting hit with sanity checks a LOT. But that’s actually appropriate for the genre, and the effects of losing sanity are not crippling. Drop to zero and you get a trauma that impacts your gameplay in an inconvenient but not abusive way.

As for bugs, I didn’t encounter any personally. The biggest bug issue with this game has been well-documented and involved the inventory system not kicking in correctly. If it’s working, you’re good to go. If it’s not, you basically cannot play. I also found play to be much smoother and simpler playing with a connected controller, as opposed to mouse & keyboard.

In addition to correcting this inventory bug (quickly), my biggest suggestion for the devs is to expand on this game! The bones are good, and it could easily benefit from expansions that add new stories. I think the biggest challenge would be offering such expansions at an appropriate price point (I’d say $10 for a similarly length story) while still including voice acting and the like.

Alternatively, if they really wanted to open things up, they could look at ways to make the game more replayable. Adding some sort of New Game+ with added secrets or some sort of procedurally generated content would be cool but would likely require a fair amount of development.

If they really wanted to turn this into something that could generate some cash, they should actually make it a platform for others to tell their mythos stories. Create an editor that lets us develop our own scenarios and share them, then the devs could sell asset packs for use with the editor. Lots of details to figure out how to make it work for everyone, but there is a market there that isn’t being tapped.

Anyway, lack of replayability aside this is a solid game if you’re interested in the genre. I’m hoping to see more of it in the future.

I got early access to this game with my purchase of the board game.
First, this game is in a very early state. At the time of this writing, you've got a couple of hours in the campaign - though you could probably get some more out of the Conquest mode. The game is VERY clear about the current state and includes notes and explanations about what's there and how that compares to the planned experience. I wish more early access games were some forthright.
So far, I'm liking what I'm seeing with the campaign. I actually like it more than the board game at this point. (The board game places such a high emphasis on resource management that it distracts from the narrative and decisions that should form the basis of the game. So far, this adaptation doesn't suffer from the same issue.) While this has the same basic starting premise as the board game (The heroes are gone, and you're what's left. It's up to you.) this experience seems a little more finely focused. It's not just a copy of the board game.
Setting the board game aside, this has some real potential. It looks great and has great atmosphere, and the sound and voice acting are solid. The card-based combat (different from the board game) is actually quite enjoyable. Outside of combat, there are plenty of interesting decisions to be made that seem to have a real impact on things. If the ripples from these decisions really do have an impact - and the density of decisions in the rest of the game matches that of the opening hour or so - this should be really impressive.
As for the Conquest mode, I'm definitely intrigued, and I like the idea of being able to play a whole new mode separate from the campaign. That said, it seems punishingly difficult in its current state. Combat is far tougher than in the campaign, and you seem to start of weaker - not a good combo. At the moment, it feel like things need to be made significantly easier or you need a lot more hand holding with regards to how you are expected to progress.
If the premise of a grim and dark variation on Camelot (Kamelot) appeals to you, give the game a try.

This is a quick preliminary review after just under 6 hours of play.
This is Deus Ex; closest to the original I've seen yet. So far, this game actually has the same feel as the original. As much as I liked Human Revolution, it wasn't able to quite achieve that.

Cons:
Yes, Square is unabashedly making a money grab with the store. But in no way does it impact the game, nothing is available to you exclusively through the store. It's really not a big deal. Only downside is that the preorder items are treated like store purchases, so you won't be able to use them on a second playthrough.
Lipsyncing is a little off, and occassionally the enemies are a little jerky, which can make combat feel a bit... twitchy at times.
Software takes up inventory space. Uh, in a cyborg?
Yes, mouse sensitivity is jacked up to 11. Turn it down in the options. Another tip mentioned in a guide is that turning it to 0% effectively turns off mouse accelerations, suggesting it might have been better labeled in the settings.

Pros:
So far the characters are well written and presented. Prague feels fairly open and there is definitely plenty of flexibility in how you approach things. As it should be with Deus Ex, you get a lot more of the story if you take the time to read things. A lot is true to the original game. I found myself cursing not being able to carry every gun around - even after upgrading my inventory - but then remembered that choosing what to carry with you is a standard trope of the series.
If you're wondering, stealth is totally a viable option.
And the game is quite pretty to look at.

Ugly:
Edit: Have to say the interface - it's clunky. While better than many other ports, it's obvious the interface was built around consoles. You have to reach for the Esc key way too often to navigate menus - and sometimes (depending on context) instead of backing out it just jumps to the menu screen. I'd recommend mapping Esc to a spare mouse button if you have one. Might have made sense to actually use RMB to back out of menus, since I believe it is only used for ironsights. Long-pressing the Y key to bring up the weapon menu is another example - no reason long-pressing should be necessary on a keyboard. As a final example, you should be able to mouse over an item in your inventory to see what it is, but instead you have to click on it which brings up a menu and blocks many other items.

Anything that involves item manipulation (throwing, grabbing and moving) is overexagerrated. Trying to stack objects to reach a vent is a pain when each item want to slide all over the place. Throwing an item can send it ricocheting off walls. Why is this not listed under cons? Because it feels exactly like the original Deus Ex.

The really ugly: the ridiculous number of people that are not recommending this game because of one issue (the one issue varies by individual) is absolutely absurd. Also, take the comments about terrible performance with a pile of salt. I've seen very few AAA titles truly optimized at launch. If you expect all the drivers to work perfectly and no need for patching on launch day... go fire up your console. If you're running a 970 or 980, be sure to adjust your settings as widely recommended (disable MSAA and turn volumetric and contact hardening shadows to On instead of Ultra). As to people reporting 30-40 fps on GTX 1080 SLI or other such beastly rig: They likely need to adjust something (game settings, drivers, OS, etc.).

Yesterday I took my aging rig (i7-3820, ROG Formula X79 MB, 16GB) and replaced 680 SLI with a new MSI Gaming GTX 1070. I also went ahead and updated to the latest Win 10 Anniversary patch and updated all my drivers. I am using the default OC mode in the MSI app (not manually OCing). At 1080p, no MSAA, volumetric and contact shadows to On, and everything else using the Ultra settings, I am getting 100fps and my GPU temp isn't even clearing 70°. Not even close to stressing this card, and everything is running great.

I have heard that Afterburner sometimes misreports GPU memory usage, but for those running older cards I will mention that my numbers are showing the game using 6GB of VRAM. If accurate, that might explain why some are having issues.

Short version: Life is Strange is one of the most unusual video games I have ever played – and without a doubt one of the best written and crafted. While the play style and themes will not appeal to everyone, it is an extraordinary piece of storytelling that clearly demonstrates the power of video games as an art form.

It is a game about choices. It is a game about friendship.

If you are reading this, then you more than likely have read a few other things about the game. If you are unsure about trying it for yourself, ask yourself two questions:

Do you only enjoy action games or games that are challenging at a technical level?
Do you have trouble investing yourself in characters while playing games, watching movies, or reading books?
If the answer to both these questions is no, then you should absolutely play Life is Strange.

My intention is to keep this review free of spoilers (You should absolutely AVOID SPOILERS if you haven’t played the game yet. Though I imagine it’s power will be felt even if some of the details are revealed to you ahead of time.), but I will describe what happens in the opening few minutes of the game. You play Max, an 18-year-old girl who has recently moved back to her home town to attend an art school and study photography. While she is struggling to fit in, another girl has recently gone missing. Max has an incredibly vivid dream of a tornado destroying the town, shortly before seeing her childhood friend get shot in the school bathroom. This is when Max discovers she has the power to rewind time…

The rest of the game is all about making choices and dealing with their consequences.

As you might imagine, the power to manipulate time lends itself to some interesting gameplay mechanics. Gameplay revolves around exploring the environment and speaking with characters, then making choices about what to do or say. The ability to rewind means that you can often try different options before deciding to move one. When Max rewinds time it moves around her, leaving her unchanged – along with just about anything in her possession. This enables her to take some creative approaches to problem solving. Overall, the game play is actually very simple, but it is used to great and powerful effect.

The game’s sound is reasonably immersive and helps ground you in Max’s reality, but the music deserves special mention. The indie folk style is not really my cup of tea in the least (I tend towards rock, metal, and blues.), but it fits the game perfectly. The best way I can express just how superbly the music enhances the experience is with these two statements:

I’ve been listening to the soundtrack in my car for the past two days, despite not usually being a fan of the style, just to revel in the experience a little longer.
I suspect that anytime I hear this style of music in the future, I will be immediately reminded of Life is Strange.
As for the visuals, the game’s art direction is beyond good – at once majestic and intensely personal. At first, the emphasis on photography in the game seemed a little superfluous. As the game went on, however, I began to appreciate just well the writers integrated the use of photographs into the themes and presentation of the story. In the second half of the game, photographs are used to great effect to illustrate how your choices have a ripple effect on the lives of those around you, and the importance of photos just increases as you progress through the story.

At several points while playing the game, I was reminded of a couple other stories that involve a sense of mystery in a small town. Last year I watched the TV series Gracepoint (an American adaptation of the British Broadchurch), which is a sort of murder mystery set in a small coastal town. That sense of mystery, combined with the tension felt between a cast of well-rounded characters, was also strongly evoked in Life is Strange. The game also reminded me of my time playing the first few hours of The Secret World. Small town, mysterious sense of danger, coming to grips with forces larger than yourself – all of these ideas exist in both games.

Life is Strange also doesn’t shy away from some heavy topics and themes. Loss, murder, privacy, suicide, quality of life, love, insecurity, sexuality, and personal responsibility are just some of the themes explored in the story. One truly remarkable thing about Life is Strange is how the writers have managed to explore these themes without really steering you in one direction or another – there is rarely a “right” or “wrong” decision, which is often true in the real world as well. Other games have tried to do this, often by making decisions and morality largely ambiguous, but Life is Strange manages to pull this off without the same degree of ambiguity.

A lot of this is accomplished through the fine art of subtlety. For example, I don’t think anyone would reasonably say there is a lot of strong sexuality in this game – although a different developer or medium could certainly have incorporated more sexuality into this story had they wanted to. That said, many who have played the game feel strongly about some of the romantic undercurrents in parts of the game. The beauty of what the writers have accomplished is that a lot of what this game shows you is dependent on what you bring to it and how you perceive things. It can mean different things to different people. Personally, I think one of the great lessons from this game is how true friendship and love are really one and the same – it’s about something deeper than our common thoughts on sexuality and romance. It’s about caring for one another and being human.

Some aspects of the game’s final episode have been criticized as “undoing” much of what occurred in the first four episodes. While I completely understand why someone would come to this conclusion, I do not agree with it. I want to avoid spoilers, so I’ll just say this:

While your decisions late in the game can “erase” some of your earlier decisions, those early decisions are in no way invalidated. They remain relevant to the story, and arguably take on an even larger significance.

That one issue is really the only common criticism I have heard from those that have really played Life is Strange, which is impressive on its own.

I will admit to being a little disappointed that the game was not longer, but that’s just because I wasn’t ready to be done with its characters and story. I should also point out that several of the plot threads could have been taken in another direction and developed into something much different – many of which could have been made into some seriously interesting and fun games. But at the end of the day, I believe the writers likely told the best and most powerful story they could – taking things in another direction or making the game longer would have taken away from the whole and compromised something truly remarkable. Honestly, I’m not sure how DONTNOD (the game’s developers) can hope to top this one, but I’m more than willing to give them the chance.

Life is Strange is an amazing game – an experience – that takes the player on an emotional journey few games can match. As I right this, I’m still having a hard time coming to grips with just how good this story really is and how to explain it. As is true of all great art, it means a lot of different things to different people. It is a story about time travel, loss, bullies, compassion, responsibility, courage, guilt, fear, understanding, and love.

It is a story about choices. It is a story about friendship.

I'll start by saying that a lot of the criticism of this game is well-founded, but that doesn't mean it's not worth playing. If you're just looking for another RPG, Shadowrun may not be for you. It is extremely linear and the included campaign is not what I would call replayable. The biggest negative aspect of the game lies in persistent UI problems. None of them are game-breaking, and most are simply irritating, though once in a while you might have to reload.

On the other hand, if you like Shadowrun, cyberpunk, or if a game world that includes tech and magic interests you, you should give the game a look. The storyline may be linear, but it's well written, full of believable and interesting characters. So much so, that I was immediately looking to see if someone had created a follow-up campaign to continue the story.

Makes me want to find a local gaming group and play some old-fashioned pen and paper Shadowrun.