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Mucking about with time has been used in many a TV show, which is usually a sign that the writers are running out of ideas. In Life is Strange, however, it's the central premise of the game. You play as Max, a teenager who discovers she has the ability to reverse time, albeit for a relatively short amount of time. Which sounds a bit rubbish, but what it means is that you can undo most of your actions and also use it to solve a variety of puzzles. Cool, eh?
Except that in Life is Strange, Max's powers appear to be linked to some kind of Donnie Darko style impending apocalypse. She and her best friend Chloe are trying to prevent this apocalypse and also find out what happened to Chloe's other best friend Rachel. This entails wandering around, solving the odd puzzle, talking to other characters who may or may not hate you depending on your previous actions.
Because that's Life is Strange's other feature, though it's not staggeringly original since Telltale have already employed this. Your actions affect how characters react to you and, at one point, whether a character lives or dies. Although the game shares Telltale's sort-of-problem which is that your actions don't have a massive impact on the storyline, just whether characters think you are a pillock or not.
Life is Strange's real appeals comes from its emotional depth - none of the characters are two dimensional, and you actually start to care about not only Max and Chloe but some of the other characters. Chaos Theory, however, doesn't advance the plot all that much for the most part, which seems kind of odd given that this is episode three of five episodes.
Until, that is, you get to the game's ending. This episode sees Max using a new power that has a pretty profound effect and delivers a cliffhanger with a real punch. It takes a lot for a game to shock me, but I was genuinely surprised that they pulled it off. Does this excuse the rest of the episode being such a slow burner? Not quite, and Max's new power comes out of nowhere, unlike her second new power which she acquired when she was trying to save someone's life.
So should you buy Chaos Theory? If you've played the previous two episodes and looking for more, then yes. It's entertaining though not quite as much fun as the previous episode. If you've not played Life Is Strange and are looking for a genuinely emotionally engaging game then I'd recommend starting with Episode 1 and working your way up to this.
Score - 7 out of 10.
Pros:
You actually care about the characters.
The game's got a strong storyline.
The ending is superb.
Cons:
The plot doesn't develop all that fast.
Except that in Life is Strange, Max's powers appear to be linked to some kind of Donnie Darko style impending apocalypse. She and her best friend Chloe are trying to prevent this apocalypse and also find out what happened to Chloe's other best friend Rachel. This entails wandering around, solving the odd puzzle, talking to other characters who may or may not hate you depending on your previous actions.
Because that's Life is Strange's other feature, though it's not staggeringly original since Telltale have already employed this. Your actions affect how characters react to you and, at one point, whether a character lives or dies. Although the game shares Telltale's sort-of-problem which is that your actions don't have a massive impact on the storyline, just whether characters think you are a pillock or not.
Life is Strange's real appeals comes from its emotional depth - none of the characters are two dimensional, and you actually start to care about not only Max and Chloe but some of the other characters. Chaos Theory, however, doesn't advance the plot all that much for the most part, which seems kind of odd given that this is episode three of five episodes.
Until, that is, you get to the game's ending. This episode sees Max using a new power that has a pretty profound effect and delivers a cliffhanger with a real punch. It takes a lot for a game to shock me, but I was genuinely surprised that they pulled it off. Does this excuse the rest of the episode being such a slow burner? Not quite, and Max's new power comes out of nowhere, unlike her second new power which she acquired when she was trying to save someone's life.
So should you buy Chaos Theory? If you've played the previous two episodes and looking for more, then yes. It's entertaining though not quite as much fun as the previous episode. If you've not played Life Is Strange and are looking for a genuinely emotionally engaging game then I'd recommend starting with Episode 1 and working your way up to this.
Score - 7 out of 10.
Pros:
You actually care about the characters.
The game's got a strong storyline.
The ending is superb.
Cons:
The plot doesn't develop all that fast.
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Mucking about with time has been used in many a TV show, which is usually a sign that the writers are running out of ideas. In Life is Strange, however, it's the central premise of the game. You play as Max, a teenager who discovers she has the ability to reverse time, albeit for a relatively short amount of time. Which sounds a bit rubbish, but what it means is that you can undo most of your actions and also use it to solve a variety of puzzles. Cool, eh?
Except that in Life is Strange, Max's powers appear to be linked to some kind of Donnie Darko style impending apocalypse. She and her best friend Chloe are trying to prevent this apocalypse and also find out what happened to Chloe's other best friend Rachel. This entails wandering around, solving the odd puzzle, talking to other characters who may or may not hate you depending on your previous actions.
Because that's Life is Strange's other feature, though it's not staggeringly original since Telltale have already employed this. Your actions affect how characters react to you and, at one point, whether a character lives or dies. Although the game shares Telltale's sort-of-problem which is that your actions don't have a massive impact on the storyline, just whether characters think you are a pillock or not.
Life is Strange's real appeals comes from its emotional depth - none of the characters are two dimensional, and you actually start to care about not only Max and Chloe but some of the other characters. Chaos Theory, however, doesn't advance the plot all that much for the most part, which seems kind of odd given that this is episode three of five episodes.
Until, that is, you get to the game's ending. This episode sees Max using a new power that has a pretty profound effect and delivers a cliffhanger with a real punch. It takes a lot for a game to shock me, but I was genuinely surprised that they pulled it off. Does this excuse the rest of the episode being such a slow burner? Not quite, and Max's new power comes out of nowhere, unlike her second new power which she acquired when she was trying to save someone's life.
So should you buy Chaos Theory? If you've played the previous two episodes and looking for more, then yes. It's entertaining though not quite as much fun as the previous episode. If you've not played Life Is Strange and are looking for a genuinely emotionally engaging game then I'd recommend starting with Episode 1 and working your way up to this.
Score - 7 out of 10.
Pros:
You actually care about the characters.
The game's got a strong storyline.
The ending is superb.
Cons:
The plot doesn't develop all that fast.
Except that in Life is Strange, Max's powers appear to be linked to some kind of Donnie Darko style impending apocalypse. She and her best friend Chloe are trying to prevent this apocalypse and also find out what happened to Chloe's other best friend Rachel. This entails wandering around, solving the odd puzzle, talking to other characters who may or may not hate you depending on your previous actions.
Because that's Life is Strange's other feature, though it's not staggeringly original since Telltale have already employed this. Your actions affect how characters react to you and, at one point, whether a character lives or dies. Although the game shares Telltale's sort-of-problem which is that your actions don't have a massive impact on the storyline, just whether characters think you are a pillock or not.
Life is Strange's real appeals comes from its emotional depth - none of the characters are two dimensional, and you actually start to care about not only Max and Chloe but some of the other characters. Chaos Theory, however, doesn't advance the plot all that much for the most part, which seems kind of odd given that this is episode three of five episodes.
Until, that is, you get to the game's ending. This episode sees Max using a new power that has a pretty profound effect and delivers a cliffhanger with a real punch. It takes a lot for a game to shock me, but I was genuinely surprised that they pulled it off. Does this excuse the rest of the episode being such a slow burner? Not quite, and Max's new power comes out of nowhere, unlike her second new power which she acquired when she was trying to save someone's life.
So should you buy Chaos Theory? If you've played the previous two episodes and looking for more, then yes. It's entertaining though not quite as much fun as the previous episode. If you've not played Life Is Strange and are looking for a genuinely emotionally engaging game then I'd recommend starting with Episode 1 and working your way up to this.
Score - 7 out of 10.
Pros:
You actually care about the characters.
The game's got a strong storyline.
The ending is superb.
Cons:
The plot doesn't develop all that fast.