Life is Strange 2

Brothers on the run does not equal fun. (In a good way... mostly!)

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MOVIES

- Guess what? Yep, still no new movies watched or other movies even re-watched, which is a situation I really should do something about.

GAMES

- Having now played all the Life is Strange games, I can now say that Life is Strange 2 lives up to the number in the title and is my second favourite entry after True Colors.

- While I did enjoy it and would say it is a good game, I still don't think it's that great thanks to how the developers chose to tell the story.

- I get the idea behind the road trip aspect, meeting new people and having self-contained adventures in each episode, but it does leave only the lead characters in the Diaz brothers to connect to long-term.

- In one sense it's great as it really paid off for me in the ending, which got me really choked up with its bittersweet nature, but the path getting there wasn't that much fun.

- The upside is that characters you dislike are gone after one episode, but the same is also true for the better supporting characters.

- There's also an element of a 'reset button' due to each episode planting you in a situation that you as the player didn't have any real say in coming about.

- This mostly revolves around the Diaz brothers and the relationship with each other, which constantly feels like 'two steps forward and one step back' and gets a little frustrating as a result.

- That said, the bond between the pair really feels like a pair of young brothers and it does make dramatic sense for there to be setbacks, but repeated minor issues becoming major arguments does get tiring.

- I am glad I played it it though, as the ending I got (one of four, I think) really did hit me hard, so I think I would have to say that Life is Strange 2 is ultimately greater than the sum of its parts.

- It also looks pretty great too, a factor very much helped by the road trip premise, giving players new locations to experience each episode, with some being pretty fantastic.

- The performances are all at least good in my opinion too, even if some of the characters are written in a way that I did not find endearing or interesting at all.

- While I ultimately did enjoy my time with Life is Strange 2 overall, I can't recommend it too enthusiastically as I'm in no rush to play through it again for a different ending. [7/10]

TV

- The West Wing's third season will be posted next week, as I wanted to give it a little break to avoid spamming out all seven seasons in seven weeks.

- I have to admit that I'm also reluctant to get back to the Star Wars stuff either, with my current intention to re-watch Battlestar Galactica again.

- It's all space shit in the end, so maybe I'll alternate between the two...

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